In this guide, discover data-backed ways to:
- Identify the right buyers
Set your company up for success by identifying the right buyers. With these questions, you can focus your sales efforts on areas that have the most impact. - Guide the conversation and establish your expertisePosition yourself as a trusted advisor and ask questions that get your prospects to think about their problems in new ways.
- Boost your win ratesGuide your prospects through the sales funnel. Learn how to present your solution and get more opportunities to take the next step.
FAQS
These ultra-specific sales qualification questions will help you lead more strategic discussions and get to the root of buyer needs. Some examples include:
- Uncover quantifiable goalsDiscover what your prospects want to achieve and learn what success looks like. The answers you get will help you craft more compelling pitches.
- Position your solutionThe right positioning communicates the value of your offer. Find out how to position your product or service as a solution to the challenges your prospects face.
- Identify pain points and challengesDiscussing budgets can be tricky. These questions help you see how much your prospects are willing to spend to solve their problems.
- Discuss budgetsDon’t jump straight into a sales pitch without learning your prospects’ pain points. Ask these questions to understand their biggest challenges.
- Evoke longer responsesYou’ve qualified a prospect and they fit your customer profile. Find out how successful sales reps lay out clear next steps to boost their win rates.
- Move more deals forwardLonger responses often correlate to higher success rates. Use these simple question starters to get richer replies from each sales prospect.
- Rephrase your questionsHow you phrase your sales questions matters. Learn how to word your questions in a way that gets prospects to divulge more about what they want and what their processes look like.
- Improve your sales processesThere’s always room for improvement. Add these questions to your sales playbook and watch your success rates soar.
In this comprehensive list, you’ll get sales qualifying questions that cover each stage of the buying journey. They’re grouped into the following categories:
- Authority Questions: Find out who has the final authority to make buying decisions.
- Metrics Questions: Discover the quantifiable goals that potential customers want to achieve and what success looks like to them.
- Team Questions: Ask these questions to learn more about your prospects and their team.
- Technical and Process Questions: Get prospects to share details about their business processes.
- Need Questions: Use these sales qualifiers to uncover your prospects’ needs.
- Timing Questions: Get an approximate time frame for when potential customers are looking to buy.
- Process Questions: Learn your prospects’ internal buying process during sales conversations and the next steps for getting decisions approved.
- Criteria Questions: Understand exactly what criteria are important to your prospects so you can tailor your sales pitch accordingly.
- Pain Questions: Uncover prospects’ pain points and learn what their biggest challenges are.
- Budget Questions: Learn how much your prospects are willing to spend to solve their problems.
- Next Steps: Ask these questions to build momentum and turn more opportunities into conversions.
These questions help with 3 critical focus areas. You’ll learn how to:
- Create an ideal customer profileYou need a clear picture of who your ideal customers are. Create an ideal customer profile and share the details with your sales team.
- Equip your sales teamDownload this list of questions and add them to your sales qualification process. They’ll help your sales team identify the right buyers for your business.
- Fill your pipelineStop wasting time on customers that aren’t right for your business. Qualify prospects early in the sales process and fill your sales pipeline with high-quality opportunities.
These questions are perfect for the following groups:
- Sales managers: Use these questions to augment your sales processes. Provide these resources to your sales teams to boost your chances of long-term success.
- Sales reps: Struggling with low-win rates? These sales qualifying questions help you identify the most promising opportunities, so you can spend more time on closing.
You’ll receive this list of effective sales questions in a single PDF. Open it in your web browser or save it to your desktop for easy access.
Qualifying questions are questions that you ask to determine whether a prospect is a good fit for your products or services. They’re typically open-ended questions, which get prospects to shed more light on their needs and decision-making process.
Here are a few examples of open-ended sales questions:
- “What goals are you hoping to achieve and what is your time frame?”
- “What solutions have you tried in the past to resolve your [pain point]?”
- “What’s prompting you to solve your [pain point] now?”
Qualifying is important because it helps you identify prospects that are a good fit for your products or services. If a potential prospect has requirements that you can’t meet, they’re not the right fit. By qualifying prospects early on, your reps can focus on opportunities that are more likely to convert (and not waste valuable time on unqualified prospects).
A qualified prospect is a potential customer that has gone through the sales qualification process. They also fit your ideal customer profile (ICP) — a description of the type of company that benefits from your solution. Focusing on qualified leads is key to driving long-term business growth.
We have tons of content on how to boost revenue. Check out a few of our most downloaded resources:
- The Ultimate Guide to Asking Sales Questions (And 29 Questions You Can Use Today): Asking the right questions is one of the most valuable skills. The good news is that it’s a skill you can develop. Learn how to reframe your questions to get the responses you want, regain control of a conversation before a deal slips away, and more. Plus, get a list of powerful questions that you can start using today.
- 15 Sales Skills That Separate The Best Reps From The Rest: What separates the most successful sales reps from the rest of the pack? We analyzed MILLIONS of sales data points to find out. In this blog post, we cover the ideal “talk-to-listen ratio,” the most effective opener for cold calls, the 9-minute pitch rule, and much more.
- This 12-Step Sales Process Guide Is the Only One You’ll Ever Need: Having a harder time closing deals? Then it’s time to revisit your sales process. Fortunately, we’ve got just the thing. Use this 12-step guide to completely revamp your entire sales process and boost your win rates.
Start qualifying your prospects now
Get the sales qualification checklist now to improve your sales process. And the best part? It’s 100% free.