Why You Should Never Qualify Sales Prospects Too Early: Building Relationships for Long-Term Success

Discover why letting go of early qualification methods can open doors to valuable sales opportunities and long-lasting client relationships.

In the past, you would be taught and trained to qualify each client. The idea was that if the prospective client didn’t have budget, authority, a need, and a timeline to buy, that the salesperson should not waste their time.

If you have never been qualified, you may not know how awkward it feels to a buyer. Some will reject the qualifying questions by telling the salesperson that they don’t want to waste their time. This tends to cause the salesperson to try to reengage the contact.

A number of us have jettisoned the idea of qualifying clients. Instead, we move forward with the sales conversation, preferring to spend time with a buyer or decision-maker. Much of the time, we are able to qualify the client through this conversation. But even if the prospect isn’t quite ready, it’s better to take the first meeting and create value by helping your contact consider a change initiative.

Reasons to Prioritize Building Relationships Over Qualifying Sales Prospects

There are many reasons why you should take a meeting without being concerned about whether the prospect is qualified. Unless you have too many meetings and can’t put a date on your calendar, you are better off spending time with a prospect.

1. New Relationship Opportunities in Sales: It is a mistake to worry about whether the client is prepared to make a change. By giving your prospect your time, you create a relationship with them. The more people you know, the more chances you have to identify prospects that, over time, will reach out to you. By not taking these meetings, you will not have new relationships.
2. Helping the Prospect Recognize the Need for Change: Many contacts are not aware of the need to change until you have an opportunity to help them understand that they will need to change, sooner or later. In a first meeting, you are able to help the contact recognize that what they are doing is no longer able to give them the results that it once provided. Even if the contact is not fully qualified, you can help them with a business case for making the change.
3. Acquiring Multiple Stakeholders for Better Sales Outcomes: You may take a meeting with a contact, only to find that the main contact invited a number of their peers to join in the first meeting. More contacts are better than fewer most of the time. This experience suggests that the contact is interested in making a change. You may walk out of the meeting with a second meeting, something that will not happen if you don’t take the first.
4. Leveraging Regular Communication for Future Sales Opportunities: Once you have a new relationship, you are free to stay in constant communication. If you decide not to take a meeting because the contact was not qualified, you miss the ability to reach out to them, keeping them abreast of what has changed, and eventually find them ready to buy whatever you sell.
5. Understanding the Value of Initial Meetings in Sales: The value of a meeting is better than the time you save by avoiding an unqualified prospect. Waiting to qualify contacts makes it harder to make new relationships because most of the contacts you call on are not ready to buy. My strategy is to build a large number of contacts. In my business, I will take a meeting with anyone who is open to a conversation.
6. Why Unqualified Contacts Can Become Future Clients: You may have a meeting with a contact that is not qualified, only to find that some time later, the contact comes back to you. If you have created value and built a relationship, you may be the only salesperson that the contact knows. Done well, you will be the first person they call.

How to Qualify Sales Prospects without Losing Potential Opportunities

Your first meeting should have you creating value for your buyer or decision-makers. Just by having the meeting, you can easily assess where they are in their buyer’s journey or if they are not quite ready to make a significant change. Whether the contact is ready or not, you are better off building relationships.

Every meeting you reject because the client isn’t trying to buy is a potential lost opportunity. Eventually, many of the relationships will turn into opportunities. Let your competitors qualify early, alienating their contacts while you create value and relationships.

Do good work, and I’ll see you tomorrow.