Discover the definition of sales qualified lead meaning for Retail Trade

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in my last video we did a deep dive into marketing qualified leads what are they how do you get them what do you do once you do get them but marketing qualified leads are only going to get you so far right like we talked about last time they're only the first step in this process every eventually you're gonna have to sell something the same business so that's where sales qualified leads come into play but just what is a sales qualified lead hey everyone i'm ian campbell i'm ceo of mission suite now before we jump into today's video do me a favor hit the subscribe button and ring the bell so that you're notified every time that we post new videos so creating sales qualified leads is usually what people are talking about when they say i want more leads right they're the ones that you get to sell to the ones that actually potentially mean money but the problem is that they're much harder to create and they usually cost quite a bit more to do so and that's why we start with marketing qualified leads and then refine that group over time now in this video we're going to dive into exactly how we do that and give you some ideas on how to make it easy okay so easy might be a bit of a stretch i'll cop to that but in this video we're going to take a deeper dive into what an sql is what information that you need to collect what you need to identify and how to qualify those leads and of course how to create those leads now last time we talked about sqls we established that you need information to be able to first qualify this as an sql right as sales qualified and then continually qualify them so that your sales team can hit the ground running and actually engage them and sell to them we also kind of figured out that your primary goal for an sql is to get them to buy but you don't want to push too hard now by the time that this video is over you're going to know a lot more about sqls hopefully than you do now so let's jump into it before you can do anything with any lead you're going to need to be sure that you have checked all the right boxes and can confidently put them into the sql category once this is all done and done correctly you'll be able to serve that lead best right and that's what we're trying to do here right let's not that it's important to bear that in mind that sql has shown interest in your product or service they've signaled that they want to know more about you i wouldn't necessarily qualify them as a hot lead yet but they're probably on that path this can mean that they're shopping around or someone has given them a recommendation maybe a referral to your company or talked about your product talk about your services most of the time we're going to see a lead go from an mql to an sql meaning that they've interacted with your company in some way had some sort of positive response to some of your marketing efforts or some of the content that you've put out there and the bigger picture this lead is squarely in between a lead and an opportunity right they're more than a stranger they're more than just a contact but we haven't quite gotten to the point where we can actually identify them as an opportunity yet right something still needs to happen right a conversation still needs to be had we need to gather more information but exactly what we need to know from this lead to turn them into a full-fledged client that's what we want to dive into good news here is that as a warmer lead they're likely to want to actually give you this information they're going to be more open with you than a cold or just simple marketing qualified lead now on the flip side there's no specific set of information that's going to work for every lead and for every company so before we can really work on this lead let's talk about the homework think ahead about what your ideal client would look like right think about exactly who you want to be talking about to start making a checklist right what's your demographic who do they who are they in the company what type of client would your company most benefit from having right who are the best clients for you and what about my company does this lead need to know next think about the things that your sales team needs to know about this lead right where is this lead on your lead scoring model and how did they get there we're going to talk a little bit about a little bit more about lead scoring in a minute here but uh but for right now just just keep that in mind now next thing is what is this leads budget when are they looking to buy what are some of the compelling problems that our team can solve and then of course have i answered any early objections for this lead do they know the information that to actually have a conversation with my sales team knowing the information that your sales team needs is critical because not only is it going to help to determine next steps for the lead but it's going to make for an excellent handoff to your sales team and they're going to appreciate that most of all this educated handoff can go a long way to building confidence think about it if you can hand off your lead to a sales team with continuity they can act more intuitively they may be able to close the lead faster in fact they'll probably be able to close the lead faster they're going to be able to reinforce answers to the objections that you've dealt with and they're going to be able to secure your company as a leader over your competition with that specific lead now i know homework is a drag we all hate it in high school probably in college too but it's going to pay off for you in this case and your team if you can do the work is going to be able to build a lot more confidence and be a lot more effective so let's talk a little bit more about moving this lead from an mql to an sql if you haven't had a chance to check out the video about sqls then go back and check that out too it's going to be here in the screen and because there's a lot of great information in there and if some of what we're discussing here doesn't make sense it's going to give you a little bit more context now since it's unlikely that you have leads calling you and begging you to give you money wouldn't that be nice let's assume that this lead started as an nql so we can assume that they know a little bit more about your company they know about your products they know your brand they know your services and of course more good news your marketing is working and now they've read your content right if they if they're coming from an mql they've probably seen some of your social posts maybe they've liked or followed you and now is the time when we can apply a little bit more pressure and prepare for the move to sql which means you guessed it a little bit more homework now just a minute ago i mentioned the lead scoring model now to best move this lead through your funnel to your sales team you should make some intentional notes on how you can use this leads journey so far to score their likelihood of actually becoming a client if you did not have an existing lead lead scoring model if you don't have one now you need one right get with your sales and marketing team get them into a room and start talking about this start talking about what me what equals a good lead if you don't know where to start well pl reach out to us we'd be happy to help and well you might think oh well my company isn't that big or our sales process isn't that complicated well i'm here to tell you that this is something that you should really should be considering for a lot of reasons a lead scoring model however informal or brief it is is an essential piece of information for that lead as much as it is for you for example if you're tracking and scoring how your lead has interacted with your company so far you can offer better smarter safer next steps for this lead this builds confidence it builds trust and it makes the journey significantly more pleasant to actually becoming a client if they've read all your blogs and your updates but not interact with you on any of your social channels maybe ask why maybe they're just not a social media person and that's okay too but maybe they don't know about your social media right i mean those types of things are important to know yeah the lead scoring model is an excellent tool for you and your sales team but can also be a good jumping off point for your crm with this lead even as they become a client use every tool that you have in your toolbox to get to know your lead doesn't matter how big or small you are but it's going to pay off over time especially when a client considers the care that you've taken with them against your competition right because other people just aren't doing this just as the lead scoring model can help you qualify those leads it can also help you disqualify them too one of the most critical thresholds might be determining a lead is qualified but just not ready to buy so make some allowances in your funnel to back that lead up and maybe send some educational and non-sales focused information so that you can keep them so that you can keep them on your radar and not scare them off with some sort of a preemptive sales pitch right more importantly you're going to keep yourself on their radar additionally that lead scoring model is also going to be able to effectively help you determine if this will ever become qualified because some of them just don't determine who's a lookie-loo right who's just competition scouting for some uh some general information about you and your team right so save yourself the time save yourself the money again if you'd like to know more about lead scoring let us know right keep it keep in touch drop down in the comments and and drop something down there because we'd be happy to talk more about how to create an effective lead scoring model for your company so once your sql has reached a certain threshold then you can safely and confidently send them along to your sales team whether it's done through your lead scoring model or maybe through some internal criteria you you can feel confident moving them along and data has been your best ally up to this point and it's going to continue to be a good crm like mission suite is going to give your sales team helpful information about this lead making it more likely to succeed with an actual qualified lead qualified being the most important term here so let's discuss a little bit about that next now how can you know for sure that your sql is truly qualified you probably already know the answer to this by now it's going to be homework just like passing some sort of a test in high school or college you have you have to have done your homework and probably done a little studying to know for sure best advice i can offer here is to get your sales team and your marketing teams together and take a long hard look at your funnel from top to bottom right the absolute best way to make this ride efficient and effective for you and for this lead and hopefully client is to do that homework and to plan your funnel carefully successful collaboration here is vital and it's challenging but since everyone in your company is going to benefit from this lead becoming a client their input is going to be important and it's going to be worth it talk so talk to your sales team talk to your marketing team talk to fulfillment talk to everybody who's impacted by this and find out the key things that make your clients successful what's possible from a marketing standpoint how can we best capture interested parties what is not possible from a marketing standpoint what information is someone just going to have to pick up the phone and find out right what's going to make the leads most successful once they become a client right from day one your bright and shiny new funnel is ready for action cut to day 35 and you see too many unqualified leads making their way into your sales team or over your sales team or worse you don't see any qualified leads well now it's time to go back to the drawing board you got to start working out those kinks of course even the best laid plans here have missteps right so don't be reluctant to make changes if you find something it just isn't working often what we think should be working just isn't and we have to make some adjustments right time and time again this is not a failure right getting it right the first time every time is a fluke it's not gonna it's not gonna happen so if you do get it right the first time then i need to talk to you because i've got a lot of questions for you but look at your lead scoring model right look at your funnel and look at all the associated qualifying techniques and find out where there might be a glitch right and then think of how you can maybe uh shift some some things or maybe test measure refine you know find some sort of a better fit right again pull in your sales team your marketing team your fulfillment team everybody that's going to be impacted by this to make sure that you're not missing anything remember that as you're going through this the most valuable skills that you're going to be utilizing are your patience and your flexibility and i know that it's going to be frustrating but the successful lead generator the successful person to the successful team that's going to move leads from marketing qualified to sales qualified are going to be the ones that actually know how to use those and the last point that i want to kind of underscore here is to be patient with your leads all right remember that very rarely is a sale going to happen on your timeline that person needs to feel confident confident in their decision so you need to make sure to give them that right ask questions find out how you know you can help them solve your pro their problems offer education and be ready to wait right think about think about what if you lose the sale because you have a specific timeline in mind and your lead doesn't know that right it's about them not about you they're going to buy when they're ready right and there are things that you can do to move that along but overall you've got to wait for their timeline to come along and of course be flexible every lead is going to need something different right every customer needs something a little different so understand where you may have a little flexibility and where you have rigid boundaries the client shifting needs and wants are not necessarily a disqualifying event it's not something that's going to necessarily knock them out but you can't sell ball bearings if you're a flower shop so if you've done your homework you can best serve that leads changing needs so to recap here your sqls are an incredibly special and distinctive set of leads that you have some information on but aren't quite ready to be closed just yet they are some of the hottest leads that you have and just like your marketing qualified leads they need some special attention so do your homework know your boundaries and act with intention and you'll be able to move that lead from step one to step two right from marketing qualified to sales qualified your client and your team are gonna thank you for this hey i hope you got something out of this video if you did do me a favor give it a thumbs up give it a share maybe comment on it you know whatever it takes to get get some other people to see it too that helps us a lot with this youtube algorithm and don't forget to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell so you're notified when we post new videos and while you're at it you'll see some videos up on your screen so check those out too and we will see you next time around cheers everybody