How Do You Pre-Qualify Your Leads

There can be a number of ways to do it...

If direct mail is used, have the list with a revenue over a certain amount.

In the ad, sales letter, qualify them with language like you only work with business owners with revenue over X dollars.

You can have a application form where revenue multiple choices are given.

All done before you talk with a prospect.

Best,
Ewen

For those prices you better have lots of proof in terms of sites ranking 1 in Google and that you did the work !
Otherwise you will be out of business very fast !

Best of luck

"Now i don't want to keep the trying to sell to the people who...

don't see the value in how we go about our work...

just don't have the budget."

Those can be two different groups of people and are pre-qualified accordingly. The latter group by screening, the former group by educating.

Obviously you are not going after hair dressers, so do a little research on the industry and determine what a completed "deal" could profit them. Let them know that your services could bring in "x" additional deals, which would result in "$x" additional revenues after your service costs of "$x" amount. This way it is spun as a profit potential, and not a pure expense potential.

the easiest way I've found is to have them call YOU first

Maybe I've been lucky but I haven't had any trouble finding serious clients. Usually my pricing alone is enough to scare away tire kickers. I don't charge much over a grand on average so at three grand I'd think they wouldn't bother. Other than asking for a deposite before starting any work, I ask them a ton of questions about there expectations, business, where they see themselves, why they what a website or online marketing, and any past designers they might have worked with. Educating the client about your process and the work involved helps too.

How much we pre-qualify is generally directly related to our confidence and how much we need the business.

I don't take on many clients so I just plainly state how much I will cost as close to the beginning of the funnel as possible. I won't meet/skype with someone for example if I have not told them the minimum budget they would need for us to work together. If I needed many more clients I would obviously be more gentle about it and try not to scare them off but at this point I would rather they run for the hills if we are not a good fit.

What I have found interesting over the years is HOW people answer what they cost. I have worked in many corporations and been in on meetings that involved sales of just about every type of product or service. Some people when asked how much answer almost apologetically with fear in their eyes lol. I have even watched decision makers choose the more expensive guy based on how easily he answered how much. He conveyed confidence and that closed the deal.

For web design, I have a private rates url that I can send them upon request. But I won't send an invoice or run a card until we've agreed on the terms, and they've selected a package that suits their needs.

For SEO/Social Media/PPC/Leads packages I require prospects to fill out my questionnaire before meeting/talking in depth with them. Otherwise I wast too much time.

I will pick up the phone when it rings, and listen to their needs but until I get that questionnaire back and know what i need to QUALIFY THEM I won't give out specific quotes.

I sell life insurance, which is sold less effectively by Type A personalities, as in life insurance, it is not what you sell that counts; it is what you keep, since clients can cancel policies anytime, which puts your commission in jeopardy.

With that said, life insurance is complex, and really needs a face-to-face appointment to sell effectively, as you could adding to or replacing existing coverage, which could be a myriad of programs. Additionally, there is a the factor of health problems, as well.

Due to the complexity of the deal, we utilize one simple step to qualify a lead:

1) Will he agree to a 15 minute appointment to deliver the information he requested?

That's it -- if a prospect simply agrees to have me visit, with him understanding the purpose of my visit is to deliver the information he requested about life insurance, I have pretty good odds I'm dealing with someone who is actually INTERESTED in life insurance, enough to buy some from me.

When we are in the home, I train my agents to do the following the pre-qualify a lead, after sufficient trust and rapport has been built.

1) Pre-qualify health (health must qualify for an agent to sell them)
2) Pre-qualify bank (prospect must have a bank account to set up EFT payments, otherwise, odds of sale is minimal).
3) Pre-qualify budget (this is like a trial close -- we need to know HOW much they can comfortably afford if we can qualify them for a program today).

If the prospect does not meet any of the criteria above, the presentation (which really hasn't begun), is over. On to the next one.

If they pass my criteria, I've got 3/4 chance I'll sell them. ONLY THEN I begin to educate/sell them on my product, by comparing it to the competition. Luckily, my competition sucks so bad that all I need to do is show them what they send out, and 99% of the time the voluntarily agrees my product is the most desirable.

Then I present the company, the product, and 3 choices within the budget range they provided earlier, then make my recommendation, and simply ask which one works best?

Usually they buy.