Lead qualification

Lead qualification is deciding whether a lead is worth a sales rep's time, by checking it against a written set of criteria such as company size, industry, geography, deal size, and who the contact is.

The criteria have to be written down before the first email goes out. Not because anyone's being difficult, but because "qualified" means something different to everyone in the room until it's on paper, and the argument about whether a lead counts is the most common reason a company and its agency fall out.

A written qualification line has six or seven items: minimum company size, industries in and out, geography, deal size floor, the title or role the contact has to hold, the disqualifiers the sales team already uses, and what to do with replies that miss. If a reply misses the line, we hand it over as a note and we don't count it. If it meets the line, it counts, and the rep can still reject it.

An example

A staffing firm's line: direct hire only, accounting and finance roles, salary $70,000 and up, within 60 miles of the office, hiring manager or controller as the contact, no companies that run a vendor management system. A reply from an HR coordinator at a company on Fieldglass is a note. A reply from a controller with a senior accountant seat open since July is a lead.

Why it prevents disputes

Because every reply gets checked against the same line, and the client can see every reply, including the ones that missed. Nobody has to trust anyone's judgment about what counted. They can look.

Related terms

Sales accepted lead (SAL) · Ideal customer profile (ICP) · Lead generation · Positive reply

If you want this run for you, see our lead generation agency, or lead generation for staffing agencies.