Lead qualification is the process of evaluating potential customers to determine who is more likely to buy your products. It involves assessing your ideal clients based on their interests, needs, budgets, and decision-making power to prioritize leads that are more likely to convert.
Effective lead qualification ensures your sales team can focus resources on high-quality leads with the most promising potential for conversion.
What Does the Lead Qualification Process Look Like?
The lead qualification process follows a funnel-like progression, moving potential buyers through three key stages:
Attract and Determine Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
MQLs are at the top of the funnel. These prospects show initial interest in your product or service after your team has run inbound and outbound lead-generation campaigns.
They may:
- Fill out a contact form on your website
- Download gated content (ebooks, whitepapers, reports, etc.)
- Subscribe to your newsletter
- Engage with your marketing material on social media
Your marketing team uses lead-scoring techniques to determine which leads are ready for the sales team.
Select the Sales Accepted Leads (SALs)
Sales accepted leads consist of MQLs your sales personnel have reviewed and agreed to pursue.
SALs must match your ideal buyer profile before being accepted by your sales team. Meanwhile, unqualified leads are returned to the marketing team for further nurturing.
Determine the Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)
Sales-qualified leads are leads your sales crew has vetted and determined to have a high sales readiness.
The sales team evaluates SQLs based on budget, authority, need, and timeline (often called BANT).
Other qualification frameworks include:
- CHAMO: Challenge, Authority to purchase, Money to the solution, and Prioritization through prior stages.
- FAINT: Funds, Authority to pay, Interest level in your solution, Need and priority of the problem, and Timing of solution need.
- ANUM: Authority, Need, Urgency, and Money.
Sales teams prioritize prospects that check all the boxes to close the deals.
What Are the Benefits of a Lead Qualification Checklist?
Invesp reveals that 80% of new leads never translate into sales. A thorough lead qualification checklist can rectify this problem by helping your team:
- Improve marketing and sales collaboration: A structured checklist ensures your marketing and sales managers have a shared understanding of your ideal customer profile and the overall customer acquisition process.
- Prioritize leads: Your marketing and sales teams can easily prioritize leads based on their potential value.
- Support reps: The checklist ensures sales representatives have all the correct information to spend time on leads with high conversion potential.
Sales teams can also use the lead qualification checklist to optimize their sales methodology techniques. This results in a well-planned sales process and an improved conversion rate.
5 Questions Your Lead Qualification Checklist Should Include
Your lead qualification checklist must ask:
1. Is the Lead Interested in the Product?
This question gauges the initial engagement and enthusiasm to determine if prospective clients truly want your product. Look for indicators such as:
- Webinar attendance
- Resource downloads
- Engagement with email marketing campaigns
- Response to landing page call to actions
Direct inquiries about your product are also good interest indicators.
2. Do They Need the Product?
Consider the leads’ purchase intent to determine whether they have a genuine problem or need your product or service can solve. Focus your efforts on prospects likely to benefit from your offerings long-term.
Consider critical questions about:
- Specific pain points: What challenges are they facing that your product can solve?
- Current solutions: Are they using alternative products or manual processes that your offerings can improve upon?
- Potential benefits: How will your product positively impact their business or personal life?
Use landing page forms, quizzes, polls, and simple customer-need surveys to collect that information.
3. Can They Afford to Buy the Product?
Determine if the lead has the budget or financial capacity to purchase from you. Look at:
- Company size: Is the lead’s organization able to afford your pricing?
- Ideal price range: How much have they budgeted for a solution like yours?
- Income range: For B2C (Business-to-customer) products, assess if a lead can afford your product based on their current earnings.
If the focus is B2B sales, check the company’s funding or recent investments to determine whether they can afford your product.
4. Is Now the Best Time for Them to Buy the Product?
Knowing your lead’s level of urgency helps you align your sales efforts with their decision-making timeline. Ask about:
- Current projects: Is the lead working on initiatives your product can support?
- Upcoming events: Are there deadlines, conferences, or time frames that may influence their buying decision?
- Seasonality: Is there a specific time of the year when potential clients are more likely to need the product?
Have your sales reps follow up to discuss the lead’s current priorities, budget cycles, or any other factors that may influence their purchasing decision.
5. Are They the Ultimate Decision-Maker?
Identifying decision-makers ensures your sales efforts are focused on the person with the authority to make the purchase. Look at:
- Job title: What authority does the lead have within the organization?
- Influence on the decision-making process: Clarify if the lead has the final say or if other stakeholders must be involved.
For companies where buying decisions are made by several people (like enterprise B2B companies), create a lead nurturing plan targeting the key individuals in the buying committee.
How to Take Your Lead Qualification Checklist to the Next Level
Optimize your lead qualification checklist for an improved sales strategy by:
A. Refine It Based on Experience
The more tailored your lead qualification checklist is, the better.
Adjust the questions based on the attributes of actual customers from previously closed deals to enhance your lead qualification checklist.
For example, if you discover that sales leads from a specific industry are more likely to convert, adjust your question to “Do They Work in X Industry?” to focus on these high-value sectors.
Update your checklist regularly based on new insights and company experiences.
B. Practice Data Enrichment
Data enrichment involves augmenting your existing lead records with additional information from various sources. Rich data helps you spot trends and commonalities to refine your lead qualification checklist.
Collect detailed information on job roles, company size, industry, and buying behavior.
And if data reveals that inbound leads from certain geographical regions or company sizes are more likely to purchase, include those factors in your qualification criteria.
How Voila Norbert Can Support Your Lead Qualification Process
Voila Norbert is one of the top email-finder solutions. It helps you discover and verify prospective customers’ email addresses.
Once you’ve acquired the verified email addresses, Voila Norbert’s email sequences feature automates the outreach campaigns to streamline your efforts.
Your marketing and sales teams can create a series of emails that will be deployed to your prospects within a specific timeframe. Sales professionals can also ensure continual interactions by scheduling personalized follow-up emails based on the lead’s response.
Our platform also provides insights into your outreach campaigns. Data like open rates and response rates show your leads’ engagement levels. Use this to improve the lead qualification process and close more deals.
In Closing
A well-crafted lead qualification checklist lets you assess leads strategically, focusing your marketing and sales efforts on those with better potential. The checklist should include critical questions about prospects’ interests, needs, buying power, timing, and decision criteria.
