Qualify Buyers Over The Phone with This Unusual Method

For many sellers, it’s easier to close a sale in person vs over the phone. The reasons for this vary. For one, meeting in person allows people to connect a lot easier under normal circumstances: it’s easier to read body language (and the room in general). 

There’s also something about being able to shake someone’s hand, look them in the eye, and instill a sense of trust and solidarity at the start of a meeting. Some sellers find that their in-person closing rates are as high as 60 - 80%, while over the phone, there’s a significant dip (as low as 20 - 30%). 

So what happens when sellers have to qualify over the phone, due to a lack of resources (or maybe that’s just the nature of your business)? How do you match that 60 - 80% success rate? 

The IN-Take Scorecard Method will blow your mind 🤯

It Begins at the Top of the Funnel

Disclaimer: Today’s technology allows you to rate prospects by simply using AI. But assuming you don’t have that technology at your disposal, you can simply prepare them for your reps. 

Once the prospect reaches out, the rep at the top of the funnel will ask the potential buyer a series of questions, each of which will award the prospect a particular score.

The Point System And What It Means

Victor Antonio (the originator of this method) shared examples of this system as seen below: 

The rep assigns a score to each answer provided by the prospect. These scores will then be tallied at the end of the call allowing a rep to more easily qualify the prospect at the top of the funnel. In the above example, the rep is working for a cleaning company. If the prospect answers ‘yes’ to working with a similar company in the past, the prospect is then awarded the highest point – 5. 

The reason is simple: If they’ve worked with a similar company in the past, then they are already used to the process of getting started, not to mention the relative cost associated with the service. If it’s a case where they are accustomed to working with an individual, things like cost may turn off the prospect early on, making the lead not as strong as it could have been had they been awarded 5 points as opposed to 3.  

The Tally

FYI the overall example had about 9 questions; that means that the max score a prospect can get is 45. The make-believe prospect in the example landed a respectable score – 31.

What to Do with Your Tally

In cases where a prospect scores less than 25, go ahead and price them over the phone. Depending on the flow of the conversation, you can choose to give them a range (if that’s suitable with your service) to not potentially shock them. But if they score over 25, go ahead and move forward with the next steps (in the case of this scenario, you would push for a home inspection). 

One More Thing

One of the best things about his method is that should most prospects who call in score below 25, then that’s also useful for your company. It tells you your marketing is a little off as the leads aren’t quite a fit. 

Sales Q&A

How Do You Build a Qualified Prospects List?

Read more here.

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