In one of my clients in the food engineering sector, I estimated that only 1:12 quotes were successful.  What are the implications of this situation, apart from not making your “Nut”?

• Effort devoted to lost causes
• Good opportunities starved of resources at the right time
• Internal relationships between sales engineer and other suppliers
•  Damaged Sales credibility due to poor forecasting
•  And??????

 A Test

So, here’s a test. At your next Sales Meeting checkout to see if people are on the same page. You might use different terminology but the principle is the same. Can you get your people and those that support them “on the same page”. Here’s some definitions to check out with them.

Qualifiers

 How can we improve our hit rate?
Many companies struggle for consistency when it comes to judging the merits of each opportunity to quote. One way is to think of a qualifying balance. Each weight  on the balance being a qualifier
 

Qualifier’s Definition

 
Situational information used to decide if it is worth investing effort in a sales opportunity. Then, criteria used at critical points in the sales process to help answer,

 “Is it worth putting in more effort or should we withdraw?”

 
There are two types of qualifier- positive or negative. It is essential that the sales organization and its support functions decide what they are and how they are used. The goal being to more consistently put its limited resources to good use.

Disqualifiers – Examples

1.            Unsolicited quotes from companies who you haven’t dealt with before.
2.            Poor credit rating or payment record.
3.            Quotes done by the sales engineer with no reciprocal commitment by the prospect to advance the sale
4.            The Prospect gives very specific specifications, when asking for a quote favoring a competitor’s equipment or solution.
5.            Negative reaction by the prospect when the sales engineer gives ball park figures.
6.            Customer still owes you money for earlier work completed a long time ago.
7.            Request to quote by a sales engineer acting on behalf of a company.
8.            The prospect doesn’t have a budget or timeframe for the project he is asking you to quote on.
9.            Specification is ‘wishy-washy’.
10.         Unrealistic time pressures to quote by the Prospect.
11.         Person requesting a quote is in a junior position.
12.         Needs of company not known at the time of quoting.
13.         Decision Guidelines – unknown or not prioritized.
14.         No access is either possible or prevented to clarify the Prospect’s specifications or requirements.
15.         No reciprocal commitment offered by the requester, like, “when I receive your quote I will take it to the budget committee for approval on the 15th”.
16.         No permission granted to present solution in person.
17.         There is no strategy to win the business recorded in such as a Deal Tracker, Campaign Planner, Fox Guide, Blue Sheet etc.
 

Qualifiers – Examples

1.            Quote requested from a strategic customer.
2.            Clear performance specification which favors you and disadvantages the competition.
3.            Project has a budget.
4.            Known timeframe for order placement.
5.            Request for a quote on a standard machine and/or solution
6.            Request for quote includes anticipated delivery date.
7.            Prospect’s questions are focused on implementation rather than specifics of the machine/solution performance.
8.            Interest shown in improved performance.
9.            Requester makes comments comparing specifications for example better, worse, comparable.
10.         Request made by decision maker.
Overall
Major sales need time resource devoted to them.  To be successful they need those where you are competitively strong and the profit margin is best.  Overall ask yourself

• How does this request for a quote advance the sale?
• How else does it affect our SE’s role in A ‘n’ A’s?

Team Exercise

In groups review at least one lost sale per person.
Group members will question each sales engineer using the above lists to explore which failures were avoidable, what resource and time was wasted.
The group will return with a positive and negative qualifier they used or developed during the discussion.
 
Groups will then ask to proposed ways of using the finalized list to improve qualifying sales opportunities.
Suspects and prospects – a crucial distinction
A clear consensus is needed on – What is a major sales opportunity?
To do this we need to agree criteria to find such opportunities. Without this clarity, effort will go to lost causes and, good opportunities resource starved.  This is why the concepts of Suspect and Prospect are vital to success.  They are normally defined as:

•         Suspects are companies who fit the profile of a potential major sale opportunity with some sign that the Buying Cycle is starting. 
•         Prospects are where there is evidence that you stand a reasonable chance of getting the business.  This is usually established through meetings or other contracts.  It is during these early contacts the Seller is seeking to investigate the absence or presence of ‘Qualifiers’.

 Typically, clients develop specific Qualifiers based on, for example:

•                     Has a budget been agreed?
•                     Has a budget quote made?
•                     What access is there to different Key Players?

Sales People and their Sales engineers need to uncover: 

•      Disturbers – problems which are going to get bigger quickly enough to make the buying group see the need for change. 
•      Enablers – clear intentions to develop solutions which the sellers want to sell.
•      Decision criteria which the seller cannot meet.
•      The type of competition involved, like ‘entrenched – weak – neutral’ and direct or indirect
•      The presence of key players who do or do not favor.
•      Past supply history.
•       Others????? 

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