It always seems to start with Salesforce – someone has to decide when to put an opp in the system. I’ve lived through all the gameplaying people who get nervous to put an opp in there….the point here is to figure out what is the bare minimum for a qualified opp.
Basically, I came up with 3 core things:
1. Pain
This is a Sandler concept I got in some training – I like to focus on a definable problem. The problem has to be more than just theoretical – it needs to be hurting someone who can get money for a deal. You also need to be able to explain this pain in your own language – you need to explain why they have this problem. You product also better solve this problem…..
2. Money
They need to have some way to solve the problem – without any budget, they have to live with the problem. This one is tricky – you will need to check it over and over. In today’s crappy economy, getting money is harder and harder. I would check for money at every stage possible and bring in a lot of doubts.
3. Decision
Finally, you need to have some idea on how this will get decided. If someone will not tell you this, then it is hard to believe there is a real opp there. Red flags go up when they especially want a quote.
If you’ve got a good sense of these, then you’ve got a real opp. Put it in Salesforce…..talk to your boss about it……shout out loud about it. Then, keep double-checking it to make sure it is real.
