How to Convert Leads into Qualified Prospects
Most sales processes begin with prospecting. Prospecting is when you identify potential leads, vet them based on your ideal client profile, and start to develop a relationship with them to sell your services—or at least, that is the approach that should be taken! But more on that relationship piece later.
When you learn how to convert leads into qualified prospects, your sales process becomes more efficient. You learn how to better evaluate leads and decide who is the right fit for your services. And once you have your prospecting step in place, you can add it to your proven & repeatable sales process and teach this important step to your team. As a result, your team will be more confident, efficient, effective, and autonomous.
Before we discuss how to convert leads into qualified prospects, let’s further distinguish the difference between the two.
Leads vs. Qualified Prospects
Leads are people or companies that may be interested in your services. For example, if you are a law firm that services businesses, you can consider any business as a potential lead. Leads are plentiful and can be found in all sorts of places, from online platforms like LinkedIn to in-person events like tradeshows and networking groups. A more qualified lead comes into play when a person or company actively seeks out your services or your content. For example, when a person visits your website, downloads materials, or signs up for your email newsletter.
Qualified prospects have been assessed as a fit for your ideal client profile and are determined to need your services. So, using the same example of a law firm that services businesses, a qualified prospect would be a business that has the right size, location, and characteristics you look for in a client, as well as one that actively needs your services.
Your Ideal Client Profile
Before you begin the prospecting process, you must identify your ideal client profile. An ideal client profile is what your “dream” client would look like—their industry, location, size, etc. Some people believe that any client is a dream client while trying to grow their business, but casting a wide net creates more problems than it does solutions. Defining and recognizing the characteristics of your ideal client establishes a clear target. The closer to the bullseye, the more time you can invest in converting a lead to a client.
To learn more about identifying your ideal client profile, please read our blog post here.
Determining Qualified Prospects
The key to converting leads into qualified prospects is to build a relationship with the leads that fit your ideal client profile. To build a relationship, you need to begin a conversation with the lead to determine if they are, in fact, a qualified prospect. Come up with a set of questions and criteria that help you determine if they fit your ideal client profile and if they need your services. Once you have these questions—and have proven them to be effective—your service professionals can also use them as a guide for their first conversations with a lead.
Sometimes a lead will fit your ideal client profile, but not the other criteria set. Perhaps they already have a service provider in your area or do not need your services currently. In these cases, it is best to keep track of these leads and come back to them after a certain period of time. Just remember that to be as effective and efficient as possible, you cannot dwell on leads that do not fit your criteria.
The Importance of Building Relationships
In order to truly be effective and well-respected as a professional services firm, you need to be in the business of building relationships. People want to work with professional advisors that take the time to get to know them and their concerns. Develop a relationship by asking questions and truly listening. Whenever possible, offer advice or referrals that help alleviate their most pressing problems—even if those solutions fall outside of your scope! By building quantified trust, your value will elevate and the prospect will likely become a client.
If you have questions about prospecting, call Sebastian Lane Consulting at 443-534-6783 or email us at jesse@sebastianlaneconsulting.com. For ¼ of the cost of an in-house sales manager, we create a proven & repeatable sales process that is tailored to the core values of your organization.