Do you know what the main obstacle between planning, execution, and results is? The qualifications of the people involved in the process. When it comes to digital marketing, this qualification isn't just necessary for your marketing and sales team, but especially for their ability to qualify your customers. leads, to filter and find those who can actually be converted into buyers.
For those just starting a digital marketing strategy, this may seem incoherent. After all, theoretically, every lead is a sales opportunity and should be passed on to your sales team, right? Not really. At least, not immediately.
according to your strategy While your marketing strategy is productive, there will come a time when the number of leads generated will no longer be compatible with the number of available salespeople. At this point, it's natural to want to hire more salespeople to avoid losing sales, but this may not be the best solution, as you risk burdening your company with a large payroll, and these leads won't generate business because they're not qualified.
Lead qualification is nothing more than the process adopted by companies to identify, among the various leads generated, those with the greatest sales potential.
Typically, each company uses its own method based on specific criteria, such as the lead's demographic profile and level of interest.
This process should be integrated by the marketing and sales teams. Marketing typically has a more objective and automated model, while sales tends to rely more on contact impressions. Ideally, the methodology should filter step by step until reaching the most qualified leads.
Qualification funnel
Companies have different profiles and objectives, so there's no definitive model. It's recommended that each company adapt its practices to its needs; therefore, the stages of the qualification funnel tend to be different for each company.
Discover the most common stages of the marketing and sales funnel:
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
The first three steps are handled by marketing. Marketing is responsible for attracting, engaging, and establishing a way to collect visitor data. In short, marketing is responsible for lead generation. When a lead meets the prerequisites established by the company for passing them on to the sales team, they are called a Marketing Qualified Lead, meaning they were qualified solely by marketing. Since this is often done automatically, someone must verify their data.
Still at this stage of the funnel, the pre-sales sector, also known as Sales Development Rep (SDR), has the mission of confirming the data collected by marketing, through surveys.
Sales Accepted Lead (SAL)
When filling out an online form, it's more common than you might think for users to register with incorrect or inaccurate information, either because they're not truly interested in the offer or for security reasons.
If the SDR certifies that the data coming from marketing is reliable, it is called a SAL, which means it has been accepted by the sales team.
After the MQL becomes a SAL, it returns to the SDR, who will then contact the lead and confirm whether or not it actually has potential.
It is through this contact that the lead is directly qualified, following some strategic methods also determined by the company.
The main ones are:
BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing)
An acronym that in Portuguese means: budget, authority, need, and time, Bant is one of the most traditional methods of lead qualification and consists of passing only leads that meet these four points to the sales department.
The downside of this system is that it's very rigid. For companies with less established segments or products, it can prevent less qualified leads, but still likely to buy, from reaching salespeople.
ANUM (Authority, Need, Urgency, Money)
An acronym for authority, need, urgency, and money, ANUM works according to the need to provide leads to the sales team. In other words, the score assigned to leads will depend on the company's needs and the sales team's availability.
The first point confirms whether the Lead fits the ideal customer profile, has authority or influence over the purchasing decision, and has minimal interest in learning more about the offer. The next qualifying points that can be added are a defined need, a defined urgency, and, finally, a defined budget.
PACT (Problem, Authority, Consequence, Target profile)
Unlike the previous two, PACT (problem, authority, consequence, and ideal customer profile) is much more permissive and seeks to discover whether the lead has any problems that can be solved by the company and what they may entail.
PACT is ideal for companies that are new to the market or that are launching a product that has no previous references and is therefore unknown to the lead.
It seeks to determine whether the lead has the power to make a purchase decision and whether the company fits the customer profile. The advantage of this method is that often seemingly unpromising leads, when given more information, end up converting. Even if the lead doesn't become a customer right away, they are being nurtured for a future opportunity.
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
After these steps, leads are called SQLs because they are sales-qualified leads. This means the lead has met all the company's criteria to be forwarded to the sales team. If the company has a sales department, it's up to the salesperson to decide whether the information is sufficient for the lead to become an opportunity. If they're not satisfied, they should gather any relevant information during their first conversation with the customer. In small and medium-sized companies, the SDR stage is typically handled by the sales team itself, which streamlines the process and prevents the customer's profile from being misinterpreted at the time of sale. In larger companies, it's best to establish a single form template and answer key questions as objectively as possible.
It may seem like a lot of work, but following lead qualification processes prevents your sales department from wasting time. When a lead is qualified as an opportunity, the chances of conversion are much higher and your customer acquisition cost (CAC) becomes lower.
