Lead qualification is the process by which you determine the potential of a prospect. If your prospect fits certain criteria such as income level, interest, need for the product, or their past buying behavior indicates they are someone who patronizes your types of products or services, they become a qualified lead.
Lead qualification is not the same thing as lead generation. Lead generation helps companies in various industries increase consumer interest in their products and services. Lead qualification takes those leads and goes a step further in assessing those who showed interest to determine their likelihood to convert.
This process is considered “top-of-funnel” marketing activity.
As your marketing team drives leads into your pipeline, the next step is to qualify that lead and turn them into a “prospect.” Your sales teams have a higher percentage of closings with qualified leads than they do with cold leads.
Lead qualification is the development of the criteria based upon your past successes and demographic research and behavior and then applying that criteria to your contact list.
Often, leads are graded from 1-4 or A-D, based upon their quality. ‘A’ leads are “hot” leads that are ready to buy from you right now. ‘B’ leads may not be ready to buy immediately, but will be in the near future and are likely to buy a product or service from a company like yours. “C” leads show some interest, don’t have a timeline to buy, and are not sure where they will purchase. “D” leads are learning more about the product or service and may be in the information gathering stage. They are not sure whether they are going to buy or not, but if they do, you want them to think of you. These leads should be developed and nurtured into a higher grade.
Once you have gathered data on your leads, you will begin to notice certain trends which will help you further refine your lead qualification process and your marketing strategies.