8 principles to qualify prospects properly

Eight principles to help you better qualify new business opportunities

When it comes to how agencies and clients approach working together, I believe there are too many ingrained behaviours, processes and dated methods that ultimately benefit neither party.

None more so than the pitch process. Too often, it is heavily weighted in favour of the client. They can fire out an RFP to twenty agencies. Some will decline to take part. But most will exhaust every ounce of energy to share their strategic nous or creative brilliance (for free). Only to see the prospect do nothing. Or worse, stick with their incumbent.

This is, of course, an extreme example. But I hear variations of this story every day. Poor positioning, a fear of saying ‘no’ and the pressure to keep feeding the machine, all play their part. Not to mention clients who gladly take advantage of this, intentional or otherwise.

It means far too many hours are wasted writing proposals and pitch decks for ‘opportunities’ that agencies stand little, or no, chance of winning.

Now for the bit you don’t want to hear

It’s easy to blame the prospect in this scenario. But the lion’s share of that blame sits with the agency. I know that’s difficult to accept. But it’s true. Because in most cases, it’s a failure of process.

In their book, ‘Let’s get real or let’s not play’, Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig estimate that 80% of lost sales opportunities are the result of an inadequate or non-existing qualifying process.

Anecdotally, that feels about right.

So, to help you spend less time on opportunities you stand little chance of winning (and more time on those that you do), here are some key principles to apply to your qualifying process:

1. Qualifying isn’t a one-off affair

We’ve all received one of those calls (at 5pm on a Wednesday) where a prospect needs a proposal on their desk by Friday. After dropping everything, we get the proposal in before the weekend. And then chase for weeks, giving up only when it becomes clear we’ve been ghosted.

Trust me, you’ll only make this mistake once. Won’t you…?

For whatever reason, agencies and clients are far too eager to get to the money shot (or proposal, as it is otherwise known). Qualifying is treated as something that is done early and done once. Wrong. Qualifying is not a one-off event. It isn’t something you tick off the list after the first call.

Instead, as one of my mentors taught me, qualifying is about gaining lots of small ‘yeses’ from the prospect. Which, hopefully, combine into one big ‘YES’ at the end.

Gaining these ‘yeses’ means asking A LOT of questions that simply can’t be covered off in one introductory call or chemistry meeting.

A decent qualifying process, whilst never perfectly linear, will encourage you to take stock at different stages. It will encourage you to seek the opinion of others, speak to the prospect more regularly (therefore building rapport) and gain those all-important ‘yeses’ along the way. All of which allows you can put together your proposal or pitch deck with greater confidence. More on that later.

2. If you are going to say ‘no’, do it early

When a lead comes in, give yourself some wiggle room to do a bit of due diligence first. Whilst it’s tempting to jump straight on a call, make of an assessment of how closely they fit your ideal client profile.

Clearly, there are certain things that are difficult to judge without a conversation. But there is a lot that can be gleaned from your desk. If they’re not right, be brave and say ‘no’. Go on, I dare you.

And if they do pass the first fitness test, your homework will stand you in good stead for the next step.

3. Always set a meeting agenda

Assuming you decide to progress, an introductory call or meeting will be the next step.

Always send an agenda and invite the recipient to add to it. Make sure you are both clear on exactly where you want to be by the end of the meeting. That way, the prospect can be prepared with the information you need. And you can be prepared with what they want to hear.

Don’t leave it to chance. I once went to a meeting that I thought was an initial meet and greet. Turned out it was a pitch. I didn’t win the business. And I didn’t make the same mistake again.

4. Put your creds away

As eager as you might be to talk through your creds at the start of the meeting (and even if the prospect asks you to), don’t. I repeat, don’t.

Instead, the spotlight should be on the prospect sat in front of you right now, not your past glories.

So, start the meeting with questions. Talking of which…

5. Go big, broad and bold with your questions

One of the great advantages an agency can create during the pitch process is in the questions they ask. If you’ve ever had a prospect say something like ‘that’s a really interesting question’, then well done. Because your question just provoked a new thought, idea, or possibility in the mind of the prospect. And that’s a good thing.

Questions also put a prospect at ease because they won’t feel like they’re being spoken at or sold to. Someone once said to me I was ‘the most un-salesy salesperson they’d ever met’. I took this as a great compliment. Because they didn’t realise I WAS selling. But I was doing it through the questions I was asking, not by making grand statements about my untold brilliance (if you’ve ever met me, you’ll know this is not my style anyway, I’m pretty self-deprecating). They went on to become a client by the way.

There are literally hundreds of questions you might ask during the qualifying process. I divide them into three categories:

1) Big, hairy questions that uncover where the prospect is trying to get to, the issues they are facing and what success looks like, as well as the needs, desires, motivations and concerns of the people involved.

2) Questions specific to the product or service under discussion, uncovering more granular pain points.

3) Questions that determine how likely things will move forward on terms both parties are happy with. Think budget, timescales, stakeholder opinion, other options, and the decision-making process.

As a rule of thumb, start with the big, hairy questions.

The broader you go in your questioning, the more you will learn. And the more you learn, the better you are placed to challenge the prospect, reveal new opportunities, and offer the right advice. All of which builds trust and elevates you above the competition.

6. Involve the team early and often

The pitch process should be a collaborative one between agency and client. But it should also be a collaborative process internally.

The stories of maverick business developers promising the earth to a prospect, chucking the bomb over the fence and wishing the team luck, are plenty. Avoid the ensuing shitshow this creates by involving those who will be delivering the work at the earliest opportunity.

They will inevitably have different questions, perspectives and ideas. Don’t just wheel them in for the pitch meeting. Make them an integral part of the process to interrogate, shape and respond to the brief.

7. Only put into writing what you have agreed verbally

A proposal or presentation should not be a BIG REVEAL, Don Draper style. There should be no major surprises. Instead, it should be confirmation of what you have broadly, already agreed with the prospect.

Before you put pen to paper, give the prospect a call. Talk through your top-line strategy, idea, or approach to get their buy-in well before the pitch. One of two things will happen. Either they are happy with the direction you’re headed meaning you can write your proposal / pitch deck without any grey areas, guesses or assumptions.

Or they’re not quite sure. In which case you can talk through their concerns and make revisions now, rather than batting away their objections later.