Lead Qualification and How It Can Make Your Business Leaner

Qualified leads... don't we all wish they were the only ones we have to deal with?

When starting a business or freelancing gig, you will come across people who are very far from your ideal clients. However, once you have the experience and have worked with a few nightmare clients, you will realise what to look out for.

I've been there, done that, and have the T-shirt to wear...

But how to make sure you are not wasting time on unqualified leads? That's what I'm going to cover in this article.

What Is Lead Qualification?

Simply out, lead qualification is a process during which you evaluating a lead's characteristics and behaviour, such as their level of interest in the product or service, their budget, their decision-making authority, and their timeline for making a purchase.

If you don't ask the right qualifying questions, you might end up chaing the wrong people who have no means to buy from you.

Qualified Lead Behaviour Traits

A qualified lead can be spotted from a mile away, even without asking questions, Here are the main behaviour traits of qualified leads:

• Engaging in a conversation
• Asks about the price
• Wants a timeline
• Interested in what you offer
• Doesn't ghost you after sending a request
• Checks out your ratings and reviews
• Reads your content
• Already has allocated the budget for what you have to offer

How to Prioritise Your Leads

By qualifying leads, you can prioritize your sales and marketing efforts on those who are most likely to convert, saving time and resources.

• Email Marketing

In email marketing, you can create a different email sequence for people who are less interested, and focus more on those who showed interest. As we are ActiveCampaign partners, we have set up a few of these sequences. Basically, in the funnel builder of Active Campaign (automations) you will need to split the list in two whether or not they clicked on a link or downloads previously or showed interest in a webinar, presentation, or meeting.

Here's an example of how to do this in ActiveCampaign:

This way, you can tailor the content to the interest level of the prospect and push for a sale when you "spot" buying signals based on the lead's behaviour.

• Website

The easiest way to qualify leads on your website is to create a detailed application form, contact form, or quiz funnel. We have built a lot of these over the years, and they are great for getting to know your visitors and understanding your market.

We use Typeform for building quiz funnels, but you can use any other platform. We are also currently experimenting with ChatGTP and ScoreApp. If you are thinking about implementing any of these, please do not hesitate to contact us. Happy to give you some advice.

• Retargeting Campaigns

Another great way of focusing on the "warm" leads is to create a retargeting campaign based on site and page visits. For example, in eCommerce, if someone visited the checkout page but hasn't completed the order, you can send them retargeting messages. The same applies to appointment bookings. So, don't leave money on the table by not sending follow-up marketing messages. These people will be much easier to convert than those who showed little or no interest.

Main Qualifying Questions

To ensure that you are dealing with the right leads you will have to check whether they are the right fit. They need to share your values, find out how urgently they are looking for a solution, whether or not they have a budget, and what the timeline is. You will also have to make sure that they have realistic expectations and are looking for the solution you are offering.

Do you currently qualify your leads? Are you asking the right questions? I would love to hear your views.

Read More on our blog about lead qualification.