I have managed and consulted with about a dozen different sales teams over the last 15 years and I continue to discover that most sales reps suffer from a common malady, lack of effective qualifying skills.

Now I am no Sales methods consultant nor am I an author trying to sell a book, I just try to help everyone I work with be more successful. To me there are five things that a sales professional should identify BEFORE investing too much time and energy and ‘Hope’ into a sales prospect. The five things are:

1) Who is the decision maker?

2) How will the decision be made?

3) When will the decision be made?

4) Is there a committed budget of funds for the purchase?

5) Who is the competition?

If we don’t know these answers, we are guessing at the opportunity and going to misuse resources chasing what may turn out to be an unreal deal. Of course these five things mean we have to ask tough questions. Of course buyer’s believe it is in their best interest to keep you in the dark, they get leverage (or at least they think they do).

Improve your sales process by getting more of these answers and I will almost promise improved results.

If a customer won’t share the information, why would you want that type of relationship, how can you serve them if you don’t know the answers?