Part 3 in Dick Lee Series: Inquiry Qualification

Inquiry qualification: If lead management has a “holy grail,” inquiry qualification is it. Ironic that it’s so pivotal yet still so rarely performed. While from a lead management standpoint failing to qualify inquiries is indefensible, it’s at least understandable. No other aspect of sales lead management is more labor intensive—and no other aspect requires a skill set less likely to be found in marketing, where lead management customarily resides.
Regrettably, inquiry qualification is virtually always the first cut when companies start fudging on their lead management commitments

Inquiry qualification typically goes out the window first when companies start bailing out of lead management responsibilities. Marketing says, “It’s too expensive,” and “We don’t have staff for it.” Sales says, “We don’t want marketing talking to our customers, even potential customers,” plus “We don’t have time for it.” Unfortunately, throwing qualification overboard is the epitome of “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.” A self-inflicted injury with dire financial consequences. But…dispensing with inquiry qualification does allow marketing and sales to point fingers at each other, shifting the blame back and forth so neither has to accept accountability for the lousy lead generating campaign performance. How convenient. And senior managers who could intervene usually go blithely about their business paying no heed to this debacle. After all, aren’t inquiry qualification and lead management as a whole just inconvenient “zits” that don’t merit management’s attention? Too bad senior managers don’t recognize that a marketing budget is a terrible thing to waste. As is scarce sales time.

Fortunately, amidst all the bad examples of inquiry management, or lack thereof, are some shining examples, including an express courier company that took head on the inquiry qualification challenge—and lived to reap bushels of ROI.

A CASE FOR STICKING WITH INQUIRY QUALIFICATION

Historically, this small package carrier hadn’t bothered generating sales leads. The marketing folks knew full well what sales would do with them. But along came a new marketing team charged with revving up sales—and soon. However, despite the “soon” edict, marketing proceeded at a deliberate pace. Before jumping into lead generation, marketing first contracted with a third-party service for comprehensive lead management: receiving 800# inquiries; receiving mail inquiries; tele-qualifying each inquiry and rating its sales potential; fulfilling each inquiry according to sales potential; issuing qualified sales leads to field sales; and tracking sales outcomes.
Among all the lead management aspects marketing put into play when the program launched, inquiry qualification was the deal maker. Following the “let Mikey try it” principal, the sales force as a whole waited for its more adventurous members to try out some of these “supposedly” qualified leads. And to their amazement, they were qualified. And they quickly turned into new business. And before long, new customer revenue numbers were up over 25% in some regions, and almost all reps nationally were willingly participating in the program.

Hey, there’s nothing like issuing quality sales leads to catch sales’ attention. Sales reps are naturally skeptical of sales inquiry quality—and deservedly so, with all the crap that gets forwarded to them. But when you send them only good stuff, visions of commission checks soon dance in their heads. Plus, marketing and sales can finally stop pointing fingers at each other. Even hold hands. Maybe........NEXT UP, Part 4: Sales Lead Nurturing