Your goal should be to look for sales opportunities. So, qualifying is about looking for ways to expand your client base, not limit it.
What is a qualified prospect?
-They recognize a problem exists.
-They are motivated to solve problems.
-They feel that your product or solution will solve their problems.
-They have budget to make a purchase. They are willing to spend money to solve their problem.
You can qualify your prospects to your definition. Trying to create qualified prospects from poor suspects is one of the greatest wastes of your selling time.
You need to develop a “Fact Finder” which is a tool to collect relevant information. Your CRM system can greatly improve the quality of the information by making it a simple process to collect and store this information.
Fact finding is your responsibility. It will help you get closer to your sale. As needs get exposed, favorable circumstances may prevail. Information collected needs to be relevant to moving the sale to the next step. Listening is a big part of this, focusing on understanding and any hot buttons which may help trigger the sale.