Stage 2: Qualifying
Let's say 200 prospects made it into your funnel at stage 1. The next stage - qualifying those prospects - means ascertaining the opportunity.
An opportunity is something you can do that the prospect might pay money for. Projects, tenders, and RFPs are all opportunities - but not all opportunities result in signed sales. So stage 2 is about quantifying as well as qualifying.
Your first personal contact with a prospect isn't about selling your services; it's about finding out what their problems are. (How you'd solve them comes later.) Once they've defined an issue you'd be capable of solving, that prospect becomes a qualified opportunity.
Opportunities are the lifeblood of stage 2. Give the opportunity a name (company-person-problem) and attach two numbers to it: the value (say £150,000) and a probability you'll win the project (say 15%.) Be realistic.
The sum total of all opportunities is your potential sales figure. The sum total of opportunities each multiplied by their probability is your projected sales, or sales forecast. You're aiming to beat the second figure and get as close as you can to the first.
To do it you need to analyse the opportunity. That's stage 3.
GET ME IN YOUR INBOX: blank email to
What I do for clients: sales[at]redpump.com
Rate card: rates[at]redpump.com
Book links: book[at]redpump.com
Contact info: contact[at]redpump.com
Let's say 200 prospects made it into your funnel at stage 1. The next stage - qualifying those prospects - means ascertaining the opportunity.
An opportunity is something you can do that the prospect might pay money for. Projects, tenders, and RFPs are all opportunities - but not all opportunities result in signed sales. So stage 2 is about quantifying as well as qualifying.
Your first personal contact with a prospect isn't about selling your services; it's about finding out what their problems are. (How you'd solve them comes later.) Once they've defined an issue you'd be capable of solving, that prospect becomes a qualified opportunity.
Opportunities are the lifeblood of stage 2. Give the opportunity a name (company-person-problem) and attach two numbers to it: the value (say £150,000) and a probability you'll win the project (say 15%.) Be realistic.
The sum total of all opportunities is your potential sales figure. The sum total of opportunities each multiplied by their probability is your projected sales, or sales forecast. You're aiming to beat the second figure and get as close as you can to the first.
To do it you need to analyse the opportunity. That's stage 3.
GET ME IN YOUR INBOX: blank email to
What I do for clients: sales[at]redpump.com
Rate card: rates[at]redpump.com
Book links: book[at]redpump.com
Contact info: contact[at]redpump.com