There are leads, qualified leads and highly qualified leads. Most people don’t differentiate between qualified leads and highly qualified leads but it makes a big difference in sales outcome. When your lead generation efforts involve sharing a lot of information about yourself and your offering, either by phone or online, and little or no information about the prospect is shared, then it’s considered a qualified lead. Companies often put a lot of value on this level of leads but the conversion rate can be less than desired.
The reason that this type of lead is not highly qualified is because the prospect hasn’t had the opportunity to share anything about themselves. A highly qualified lead is generated when the prospect has the opportunity to have a conversation with you, you have the opportunity to ask probing questions, and you learn about their business and issues. This conversation allows you and the prospect to determine whether there is a good fit between you.
Creating qualified leads is one thing, but creating and identifying highly-qualified leads is a procedure that involves several steps working together to move the prospect through the qualifying process. Generating highly qualified leads begins with making a good impression and engaging in a conversation. It involves well thought out, planned and practiced scripting. The goal is to get your prospects talking about themselves and finding out if you are a good fit for one another.
There are several techniques that are used to facilitate the conversation with your prospect. It involves finding common ground to get the conversation started. It includes sharing information about you and what you have to offer. But most importantly it means listening to what the prospect has to say.
Qualified leads will have a lower conversion rate and more effort will be required to convert each lead to a sale. With highly qualified leads a better conversion rate is guaranteed. That’s because highly qualified leads are “sales ready”. Highly qualified leads streamline the sales process and make your sales team more efficient. They are sure to keep your pipeline full and your sales on target.
