Sales · Beginner

Qualify against your own criteria

Two hundred leads a month from Indiamart, a trade show and your website.

Score this lead against my qualification criteria. Be sceptical -
I lose more time to unqualified leads than to anything else.

MY CRITERIA (a lead must meet these to be worth my time):
- Minimum size: [state it]
- Geography: [state it]
- The problem they must have: [state it]
- Budget signal: [what indicates they can pay]
- Decision timeframe: [what is too far out]
- Deal-breakers: [what disqualifies immediately]

THE LEAD: [paste the research brief and the enquiry]

Give me:
1. SCORE against each criterion: MEETS / DOES NOT MEET / UNKNOWN.
   Do not guess an UNKNOWN into a MEETS.
2. VERDICT: PURSUE / QUALIFY FURTHER / DECLINE
3. If QUALIFY FURTHER - the single question that would resolve the
   most important UNKNOWN, phrased as I would actually ask it
4. If DECLINE - a short, warm decline message that says why and
   leaves the door open for when their situation changes
5. THE RISK - if I pursue this, what is most likely to waste my time

Note: most leads should have several UNKNOWNs after a first pass.
A brief with no UNKNOWNs usually means you inferred too much.

The note at the end is deliberate. A qualification that resolves everything from a website has invented most of it.

Before you rely on the answer

Open the LinkedIn post before referencing it. If it is six months old rather than two, the hook lands differently.
Note that turnover was NOT FOUND and was not inferred. Referencing an invented turnover figure would have ended the conversation.
Item 4 is explicitly inference. Do not present it to the prospect as though you know they have a stock visibility problem — ask.
Three UNKNOWNs after a first pass is correct. Resist the urge to fill them in from the website.