How to qualify clients in a win win way

Gavin, you recently wrote an article Selling Pies Should Be Easy and you talked about not throwing up obstacles that make it difficult for our clients to buy from us.

I totally agree with this however in our business there are various criteria that we need to meet that, from the customers point of view, are often seen as obstacles.

To be honest, the customer feels it just isn’t their problem. As you say, as a salesman I need to "smooth" this process and act as a go between "fluffing up" the communication and keeping the deal on track.

I just wondered if you had any tips?

Sales professional, 
Building engineering services industry

What a great question! First off, it is important that as a salesperson or company we know what our boundaries are. As I have said many times before, there is little point working with prospects and clients that are going to prove unprofitable or unacceptable to our business.

As a business person, sales professional or entrepreneur, we must decide who we want to work with. Who are our perfect clients? Once we have worked this out we need to check that this market does actually exist and that it can sustain our business. Once we have done this we should avoid working with clients who do not meet our criteria.

As an example, I have a client who sells cars, high end cars. His whole business is based around the concept that he is perceived as a quality supplier of prestige, luxury motors. Much of his business involves sourcing cars for individuals. They approach him looking for a specific car and he locates it for them, handling the search, the negotiation and the logistics.

An elite service for elite clients and a profitable one for my client.

When I first spoke to him his business was getting a lot of calls from not so elite customers asking him to source not so elite cars. He didn’t really want to do the work but my client had been accepting these customers telling himself that "You cannot turn away business".

By accepting this business he is not only dumbing down his brand but also lowering the potential profitability of every deal. After all, it is no easier for him to find a luxury car than a cheaper one! In fact, because of his contacts being for luxury cars, it’s probably harder!

As a business you need to know who you should be working with and you need to put your time, energy and attention into targeting, networking, developing, nurturing, prospecting and adding value to these people. When you reach them you need to ensure that they do indeed meet "your" criteria…

But here’s the snag…

None of this is your client’s problem and nor do they care about it! You cannot do this in such a way that it switches them off. Subtlety is the key. For sure explain that there are criteria but make this an exclusivity thing. Make it something that they want to be a part of not something that they feel is inflexibility.

There is a coach in the US who coaches business owners. He has very strict criteria about what has to happen before you work with him. Indeed, to get onto one of his programmes you have to do a psychometric test! And you have to pay for it yourself.

If you "pass" he will take you on. If you don’t he won’t. No questions answered, no money back!

How does he get away with it?

Positioning. You are made to feel good about this. That it is an exclusive thing.

Protection. He explains also that it’s for your protection too because if the relationship is not right you will not get full value from him.

So the two keys are to demonstrate how these "obstacles" are in the clients interests and to make them feel exclusive or special for working with you.

Your mindset will make a significant difference to your approach here too so keep asking yourself, "How can I make sure that I achieve my objectives and my client feels good about it too?"

Why not share your tips for "qualifying" clients in a win win way below?