Lead qualification is an assessment of whether it makes sense to devote sales time to an enquiry. Without it, capacity dissolves among enquiries that have no budget, no decision-making authority and no real need. Established frameworks differ in name but establish similar things: whether a budget exists and roughly what size, who decides and who influences the decision, what problem is being solved and what happens if it is not solved, and within what time horizon. It is also worth adding whether the enquiry matches the ideal customer profile and who else it is talking to. Carry out qualification during the first conversation and record its outcome, so that the quality of individual marketing channels can be evaluated, not just the number of enquiries. Establish a simple rule for when an enquiry is marked as unqualified, so it does not linger in the records for months without progress.
See also: Ideal customer profile, Offline conversion import, Discovery Call.
