Co-authored by Karen Jackson - www.cchangework.com

One thing that great business-to-business salespeople do on a consistent basis is focus on the right deals. They seem to have a built-in GPS system that enables them to accurately and effectively assess their current sales opportunities. They don't waste their time chasing every deal that's placed in front of them. It's like they have a sixth sense about working on just the right deals...the deals they have the best chances of winning. They can quickly examine ten deals and determine which ones should receive their immediate attention and which ones can easily be placed on the back burner. They are masters of qualification.

Three Compelling Qualification Questions in Any Sales Campaign

There are three compelling questions that should be used throughout each sales campaign to help you qualify your opportunity. Things change, people change, and as a result, you should not just qualify early-but often!

The three compelling questions are:

• Should We Pursue This Opportunity? Is this project or application (associated with this sales opportunity) connected to a key business initiative and has funding been approved and allocated? Do you understand the client's business drivers, business initiatives and the driving reasons for the client to change or make a decision to implement this project or application...or is the client simply gathering information?
  
  Developing an in-depth understanding of the client's business, their key customers and competitors is an important aspect of this question.
  
  Since time and resources are limited, it's important to determine that the opportunity being assessed is real and represents a worthwhile investment in time and resources.

• Can We Effectively Compete for this Opportunity? Solution fit is but one component of whether you can be competitive in a sales campaign. Are there enough internal or external resources available to compete successfully for the business? Are there existing business relationships established with the client? Does your solution offer specific business value that enables you to differentiate yourself from your competitor(s)?
  
  Knowing how your company, as well as your solution, relates to the specific sales opportunity can be a key ingredient to winning the deal. Being able to realistically contrast that information with that of your competitor(s) is an important factor when assessing this compelling question.

• Can We Reasonably Expect to Win this Opportunity? This question is the one that is most often overlooked in sales campaigns; however, it is clearly the most important one. Many opportunities are lost even if the salesperson has the best solution, the best delivery and even the best terms and conditions. This question deals with how well the salesperson understands the client's organizational structure that ultimately allows them to identify the inside support necessary to win the deal.
  
  The answer to this compelling question also reveals which key executives wield the most power and influence within the client organization, as it relates to this sales opportunity. Most importantly, the salesperson must determine the relevant executive associated with the opportunity - as outlined above - the executive who stands to gain the most or lose the most as a result of the application or project associated with the sales opportunity.
  
  Do the most powerful people in the client's organization want you to win? Do you have credibility with the client's key players? Most importantly, is there political alignment with the key players in the client organization who either affect or are affected by the buying decision? Finally, what facts support these assessments of your client relationships?
  
  Contrasting these factors with that of your competitor(s) can have a significant impact on your decision to continue to pursue a sales opportunity.

These three compelling questions, and the underlying criteria, should be asked multiple times during a sales campaign. They should certainly be asked near the beginning of a campaign to determine if a legitimate sales opportunity exists and should be pursued. They should be asked again if there's a significant change to the client's business profile or to the competitive landscape during a sales campaign. It might also be appropriate to pose the questions again if there is a major change to the profile of the sales organization (i.e., the introduction of new solutions).

Examining each of these three compelling questions at multiple times during a sales campaign can be compared to an airline pilot examining a pre-flight checklist. No matter how many times a pilot has flown a certain plane, s/he meticulously examines that checklist before each and every flight, probing each question, using an exact, non-negotiable approach. S/he clearly doesn't want to be surprised midflight and does not want to leave anything to chance because the stakes are too high.

You have to use the same approach in a sales campaign. You can't leave anything to chance. You have to not only know the information you have, but the information and intelligence you are missing! That can only be accomplished by applying a structured, repeatable methodology that you have internalized and apply consistently.

But, wait, there's more...those same winning salespeople consistently create, maintain and leverage relationships with the most influential executives inside and outside of the client organization. They are able to quickly identify the relevant executive for their sales opportunity and focus on developing lasting relationships with that executive. As previously outlined, the relevant executive can be described as the highest-ranking executive who stands to gain the most or lose the most as a result of the application or project associated with the sales opportunity.

Top performing salespeople clearly demonstrate the proven paradigm that executives don't buy because they understand, executives buy when they feel understood. What do they know that most salespeople don't?

Key Reasons for Losing Deals

Recent surveys have indicated that the four key reasons that salespeople lose deals are as follows:

• Lack of relationships at the executive level
• Client is unconvinced of the service provider's level of commitment and/or credentials
• No clear strategies exist to effectively address the executive's risk sensitivity 
• Inability to effectively articulate a compelling value proposition that accelerates the client's goals, objectives or aspirations

You're probably wondering why price didn't make the list. Price is not on the list because anyone can be a winner for a day. It's called a discount. Funny thing about offering rock bottom prices, once you hit bottom, there's nowhere else to go. But that won't stop your clients for asking for more. There are very few deals that cut to the bone to win a client that have been able to keep that same client long term. In order to consistently win, you've got to demonstrate value above and beyond the price point.

Part 2 of this article will focus on how to overcome each of the four reasons for losing outlined above, so as to position yourself to win the deal.