“Beware Buyers!”, We’ve all heard that phrase before, and it’s due to the fact that buyer-seller interactions haven’t always been ideal. Old-school salespeople were known for using pushy and selfish tactics to win business before disappearing like Sasquatch in the Canadian mountains, so knowledgeable purchasers knew they had to do their homework to avoid being duped.
However, in the age of inbound sales, more and more salespeople are changing their ways. The phrase “buyer beware” is becoming the new standard.
The onus is on the salesperson and vendor in modern sales to choose, or qualify, the correct type of client. Why? Because it’s the ethical thing to do, because you’re only as good as your public reputation in the twenty-first century. This lays the groundwork for a long and fruitful connection, as well as ensuring that you’re cultivating a high-quality customer environment and reducing churn. As a result, I’m not a huge admirer of the one-call close.
Churn is a risk with every new customer you bring on who isn’t a good fit. And if they don’t follow through, don’t listen when it comes to implementation, or don’t see the value in the product, it reflects badly on you and your firm.
Some traditional sellers believe this is a ridiculous mentality. They’ve been trained to sell to anyone who wants to buy and to make the buying process go as smoothly as possible. However, as inbound sales professionals, we understand who our goods are designed for, and we should only sell to consumers who will leverage value over time.
Salespeople that follow the inbound sales process should constantly review their prospects at each level of the process to ensure that they give the best outcome for their prospect and their firm. Some of the traits and actions that constitute a good-fit buyer are self-evident, while others are more subtle. Here are 21 signs that a customer is a bad fit, aligned with each step of the inbound sales approach shown below.
Table of Contents
Identify
Salespeople conduct research in this stage to begin the sales process with prospects who appear to be a good fit. Disqualifying in the Identify step is mostly about ensuring that you’re targeting the proper leads and is broad-based, so you’re making an educated guess in most cases.
Disqualification Warning Signs
The scale of your company differs significantly from that of your typical consumer.
The company’s revenue is significantly more or lower than that of a normal consumer.
Your target market is not a vertical market (i.e. industry).
Your vertical market is not the same as your target market.
Prospect isn’t in your territory of sales.
Prospect is not in a time zone or country that can be supported by your country.
Connect
The Connect stage is where you’ll speak with prospects for the first time. The purpose of this stage is to determine whether your individual point of contact is the correct person to speak with, whether they have a perceived need, and whether that need will be met (or if the company is still in the educational phase).
Disqualification Warning Signs
The prospect is impolite, rude, and makes interaction difficult on purpose.
The prospect answers with feelings rather than facts (this can be a favorable or negative response, but it usually implies that the prospect lacks sufficient knowledge of the company’s priorities to make a decision).
The possibility is erratic, swinging from ecstatic to disinterested and back again.
The prospect refuses to respond to any of your questions.
The prospect wants to be in charge of the sales process and will not make any concessions.
Explore
A salesperson’s purpose during the Explore process is to grasp the complexities of their buyer’s goals, plans, and issues. Begin by looking for a match between your prospect’s objectives and your abilities. You should also keep exploring to see if your candidate is the best contact person.
Disqualification Warning Signs
The prospect makes contradictory or false remarks that do not add up.
Instead of cooperating with you to build a strategy, the prospect is unwilling to take direction and appears competitive.
The prospect lacks the necessary resources to deploy your product properly (time, money, or staff)
The prospect is chaotic and unable to devote attention to you.
Your product is needed, but it isn’t a top priority for the organization right now.
Advise
Salespeople provide a personalized strategy suited to the prospect’s individual wants and goals during the Advise stage, using all of the information obtained during the sales process. Examine whether or not your prospect is ready to authorize the agreement, and whether or not they will be successful if they do.
Disqualification Warning Signs
The prospect has “magic wand syndrome” and doesn’t grasp that putting your solution into action would take time.
The prospect refuses to follow your instructions (for example, you ask them to read a specific piece of material or do an exercise to teach them anything, and they refuse).
Several times, the prospect cancels appointments with little or no notice.
The prospect appears to be going through the motions and isn’t really interested in following your instructions.
It takes more than three times of going over the same stuff before your prospect “gets” it.
It takes a seasoned salesperson to know when a deal should be disqualified. Almost all prospects will exhibit some of these signs, so it’s up to you to determine if it’s due to a lack of experience or fear rather than a genuine lack of fit. The goal is to be completely transparent with your prospects, have open talks with them, and set expectations at every stage of the process.
