3 questions to fast-check your leads & fill your business with ideal clients.

Honestly, I have spent an embarrassing amount of time chasing leads that were less likely to convert than the odds of a unicorn sighting.?

An insight I got in hindsight, of course.

How many times did I ecstatically leave a sales talk thinking ‘if this doesn’t turn into a project, I don't know what will’, only to never hear back from anymore? I’d rather not share, but what I can say is this: receiving false positives can be the ultimate time waster.?

Receiving false positives can be

the ultimate time waster.

With time being a scarce resource in any business, you want to find out as quickly as possible whether a lead has a good chance of converting. Are you walking towards a pot of gold or a dead end? It’s better to know as early as possible, right?

If only I knew how to when I started as an entrepreneur many years ago. So, let me share with you what I’ve learned:

A Red Flag test with three questions to stop wasting time on imaginary leads and fill your business with ideal clients.

Question 1: Should we work together?

This step is all about discovering ideal clients with a compass pointing in the same direction. Do you share the same vision and values? Do you want to build towards the same kind of future?

Do you share vision & values?

Failing to notice a mismatch here can quickly turn the high after sealing a deal into project execution hell. A client may drain all of your life’s energy when you have to bend over backwards to make things work.?

For example, at Prototype You we want to build people-centric organisations where employees have a big say in shaping the organisation and their way of work. We know that our ways don’t match well with the more traditional organisations that wish to hold on to a command & control type of management.

A client mismatch on vision & values can turn tempting short-term financial gains into long-term execution pains ánd opportunity cost.

Don’t get me wrong. You can seal the deal with a mismatch, but the question is whether you should want to. Tempting short-term financial gains can turn into long-term pains and opportunity cost. Saying yes to a frustrating mismatch, could mean saying no to a fulfilling and energising experience with an ideal client.

Question 2: Can we help each other?

So, there’s excitement to mobilise around a shared mission? Great! Now first validate if there's a real problem to solve, and only then start offering solutions. The worst thing you can do is to immediately start pitching your solution. It can very well lead to a false positive from your lead.

What you first have to do is validate whether your lead perceives to have a real problem that you can help solve. If people don’t perceive that they have a painful problem, they will not look for a solution. It’s as simple as that. If the main problems on their shortlist are not the ones you help solve, there will most likely be no genuine interest in what you have to offer. No match? Great, that has just saved you a lot of time (and you don’t even have to pitch your solution)!

If people don't perceive they have a problem, they will not look for a solution.

There is a match? Awesome! I’s only then that you should start offering solutions. Often, problems can be solved in more than one way (e.g., workshops, training, software). Does the lead belief that your solution is the right way to solve (part of) their problem and fits their specific context? Are they excited about your solution and to work with you? Do they trust you can deliver?

Question 3: Can we make it happen?

You’ve come all this way, congrats! You would love to work together and strongly believe that you can help each other. Awesome!

Now check if all the right conditions are in place for a successful collaboration. Think of available budget, time, active buy-in from leadership, but also the lead development process itself. For example, if you’re a small company, then a big tender process possibly takes up too much time, resources and opportunity cost.?

Be careful. This is the most risky place to get stuck. Psychological principles of sunk cost can work their dark magic to make you keep trying to convert an imaginary lead.

It's better to have a true negative that helps you move on, than a false positive that drains your energy and resources towards a dead end.

So, always keep considering whether you have received a false positive in the first two steps. People can find it difficult to state a clear no. So, keep testing genuine interest & commitment. It’s in the interest of both parties to be mindful with each other’s time! A true negative that helps you to move on is better than a false positive that drains energy and resources towards a dead end!

Good luck putting these steps into practice!

That’s it! Those are three steps to fast-check your leads and fill your business with ideal clients. Sometimes a 30 minute talk is all that it takes, sometimes it can be a multitude of conversations. Sometimes there's just one person to talk to, in other cases a lot more. Perhaps you already know (or think you know) part of the information in the steps or you start completely fresh. This sequence of steps often works for me, but I deviate from it when needed.

BONUS TIP: Read the Mom Test from Rob Fitzpatrick if you are looking for further practical insights, tips and scripts to fast-check genuine interest from leads. It has completely changed the way I go about doing lead development. READ IT!

Naturally, there’s much more to say about the topic. Feel free to share your insights and let me know if you want me to dive a bit deeper into a certain topic.