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Today, I’m going to share the number one reason deals fail to close, how to identify the primary culprit, and the correct way to fix it permanently.
During the early stages of founder-led sales, there can be a lot of confusion around what constitutes a real qualification call and what does not.
Implementing this one improvement will significantly increase your top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) metrics with better qualified leads and reduce the frustration of not closing deals.
Alluding to my earlier point, the problem is that there is so much confusing content and sales methodologies out there that are too ambiguous, and quite frankly, just straight-up bullshit. It’s difficult to execute on step C if you do not first understand steps A and B.
Before we jump in let’s define the two different calls.
Product calls: Designed to solicit feedback and insights from potential users and get a sense of whether or not you are building something that the market needs. These calls are typically generated from intros, via VC’s and your internal network. These are favors, not qualifications.
Qualification (discovery) calls: Designed to find people who actively have a problem and are looking for a solution. They are considered qualified once they’ve been qualified, via BANT.