Pre-qualification education…

I’m looking for a used car. Don’t know what I want, yet, so, I stop to look at a lot of interesting cars for sale by owner.

Usually there’s only a phone number in the window. No mileage. No make, model or year. And most importantly, no price.

I called one this week. Here’s my side of the conversation:

“Hi, I’m calling about the Mitsubishi …what are you asking? …What year is it? …What engine is that? … How many miles? … That’s a lot of miles for that year. Thanks anyway. Bye.”

This guy will probably get dozens of calls like this. What a waste of time!

He probably doesn’t get calls from prospects that don’t want to waste their time. And many of those people might be the perfect fit for his car.

Not really marketing genius.

Advertising’s purpose isn’t just to get the phone to ring. It’s to get the right people to call.

By pre-qualifying customers, good advertising doesn’t just build a random list. It builds a list of likely customers. Not “suspects” but “prospects” in marketing speak.

One old-fashioned selling process believes the salesperson should try to sell anyone with a pulse. So, he or she doesn’t really need to get pre-qualified leads. I disagree.

Salespeople have more important things to do with their time than to take or make unprofitable calls to filter out people who aren’t ready or able to buy. Their job is to close sales. Of course the best salespeople still pre-qualify each lead before even beginning a presentation or proposal. But advertising can do much of the grunt work of pre-qualifying and pre-educating prospects.

What do I mean about pre-educating? Research shows that today’s buyers tend to do a lot of online research before making an offline purchase. They don’t want to talk to a sales person until they feel informed. This is good -- if your marketing is good. These prospects often come to you pre-sold. They’re ready and able to buy. This cuts the selling cycle considerably and takes a lot less of a salesperson’s time to close.

Jacques Werth, author of High Probability Selling has pioneered a sales process that is all about narrowing the list of prospects. Based on studying top performing salespeople, HPS isn’t about pushy sales techniques. It’s about building mutual trust and respect. But it requires you throw out almost everything you’ve ever learned about selling. (You can read the first four chapters of his book online free.)

I may or may not buy a car soon. But it looks like I’ll learn a lot in the process.

Homework: Does your advertising pre-qualify your leads? Are you losing sales because you expect prospects to waste their time calling you for basic information? Do your ads and website work together to educate customers? Do your ads generate leads that are curious or convinced?