Qualification and discovery in sales is just as valuable to you as it is the customer

Some things just aren't meant to be

I often talk about the value in finding out about your customers needs and pains so that your product can fit with the customers problems. What I don't often mention is how valuable it is to make sure the customer fits you as a product. Whilst qualifying and researching sales leads to prove our worth is important, it also assists to identify whether or not you're on a hiding to nothing, distracted by the whiff of a sale.

Whether we like to believe it or not, some deals are simply not worth pursuing and stopping them early enough to save time and money is a necessity. Often these deals are left to drag causing both sides a lot of discomfort when ultimately each camp knows the relationship is going nowhere. It's a bit like being set up on a blind date with someone you have nothing in common with. The sensible thing to do would be to part ways as soon as you realised. Most though, will hang around for the duration of the evening until it reaches a respectable time to go home.

The deal might even have looked promising at the start, but then a trigger may have altered the situation. A sponsor may have left, new vision put in place. Yes, trigger events are fantastic for knowing what your customer wants, but the point here is that they are equally good for identifying bad deals before it's too late. As long as you're taking the time to monitor prospects, you're the one dictating the action. That's the position you want to find yourself in.