Getting leads is one thing, but figuring out which ones are worth more of your time and effort is quite another. For conversion rates to increase, your pipeline to expand, and transactions to close more frequently, you must understand how to optimise your lead qualification process.
Companies can focus their marketing efforts in this region to increase return on investment. (ROI). According to a Rakuten survey, excessive spending on futile marketing initiatives is alarmingly prevalent. Marketing managers acknowledged spending 26% of their budgets on unsuccessful projects, particularly choosing the incorrect channels or strategies and conducting ineffective performance monitoring.
Here is a deeper look at how setting up a lead qualification process can assist your business in focusing on leads who are prepared, willing, and capable of using your product or service and turning into clients.
But let’s begin by defining the word “lead.”
What is a lead?
Any person (or individual acting on behalf of a company) who shows interest in your goods or services is a lead. A wide variety of individuals fall under the category of leads, many of whom are unlikely to ever become clients.
While some leads are very likely to become customers, some leads may not be prepared to buy despite their desire. These prospects might later prove to be excellent customers for your goods or services.
Determining which leads fit into each of these categories is the key to closing a deal. Lead certification is useful in this situation.
What is classification of leads?
The process of classifying and ranking leads according to how likely it is that they will make a purchase is known as lead qualification. To determine whether and when a lead is likely to turn into a sale, it utilizes information about the lead.
Consider the simplest demonstration of lead qualification: a salesperson giving out coupons. Consider that the salesperson works for a store that specialises in selling children’s apparel. By handing out coupons to people who pass the shop, they hope to boost sales.
An adult with children is more likely to be greeted and given a discount than an adult without children. The salesperson qualifies their leads by separating clients with children from those without children.
It is a lot more complicated than storefront marketing for the majority of companies. As a result, marketing teams have access to a wealth of information about leads as soon as they interact with a website, email, or social media post. Leads can originate from a variety of sources.
Because it saves money and reduces waste, lead screening is crucial for marketing and sales teams. Lead qualification processes enable teams to focus their time and resources on customers who are most likely to make a transaction.
In other words, by giving priority to leads that are the best fit for the goods or services they are offering, it aids sales and marketing teams in increasing their conversion rates.
How are leads qualified?
Depending on the product and business, different leads meet different qualifications. Additionally, the B2C and B2B business models will vary.
Lead Types
Leads may be divided into various categories during the qualification procedure. These categories help marketing and sales teams target their strategies for the particular sort of lead by ranking the quality of the lead (also referred to as a “lead score”).
Marketing qualified lead
An individual who shows interest in your marketing materials or a member of the target market is referred to as a marketing qualified lead (MQL). To focus your marketing efforts on customers who are most likely to be interested in your goods, you must first define your MQL. An MQL must satisfy fundamental requirements, such as going to a particular landing page, subscribing to an email list, or selecting a link to your website.
Sales accepted lead
An MQL that satisfies additional requirements to join the sales pipeline is referred to as a sales accepted lead (SAL). The sales and marketing teams typically contribute to these factors. Finding SALs who are most likely to react to the particular offers, strategies, and materials they will come across once they reach the sales pipeline is the objective.
Sales qualified lead
One who has successfully navigated the lead qualification procedure for both the marketing and sales teams is referred to as a sales qualified lead (SQL), also known as an opportunity. These prospects’ main quality is that they show a desire to make purchases or sign up for your services. Typically, SQLs have already done a number of actions that demonstrate intent, such as subscribing to a newsletter and clicking on links in marketing emails.
Comparison of qualified and unqualified opportunities
After reviewing the lead qualification procedure, let’s take a look at some of the most typical lead qualities used in lead qualification to evaluate qualified and unqualified leads:
| Qualified lead | Unqualified lead |
| Decision maker | Not a decision maker |
| Controls spending | Does not control spending |
| Has identified a specific need | Has not identified a specific need |
| Product or service meets the need | Product or service does not meet the need |
| Familiar with the product or service | Unfamiliar with the product or service |
| Has engaged with marketing activities | Has not engaged with marketing activities |
What makes lead qualifying crucial?
Lead qualification is crucial because it increases convert rates and boosts sales and marketing effectiveness. It aids in the development of plan and the effective resource allocation for sales and marketing teams. The sales and marketing teams are not forced to waste time on customers who are unlikely to make a purchase, which is the most essential benefit.
Lead qualification also gets benefit like:
-Increasing return on investment for marketing and sales projects
-Increasing belief in the calibre of the sales flow
-Enabling personalized service in marketing and sales
-Keeping expenses in check and avoiding waste
-Minimizing churn
How can one effectively qualify leads
All leads should be evaluated as part of your lead qualification procedure to determine which have the best chance of becoming customers. The appropriate step of the funnel should then receive these qualified leads. The stages to building a sales qualification framework are as follows:
evaluate the client’s requirements
Make sure you have the funds
Measure activity and look for possible problems