In the past few years, companies large and small have called on me to get help with their non-performing sales team. The described symptoms are different from one company to another. Some need more revenue. Others complain about unreliable forecasts, with deals slipping constantly from one quarter to another before being lost or even abandoned a few quarters later. Some CEOs notice unproductive sales teams with an unusually high number of non-quota-carrying people needed in the sales force, hitting the bottom line hard. All these symptoms are related to the same illness: inability to qualify.

Since most sales teams put in place organizations including SDR (Sales Development Representatives) or BDR (Business Development Representatives) who qualify leads for Account Managers, there is a wrong unstated assumption, widely spread, that once a lead is qualified, the inside sales or field sales will have to work on them until they are won or lost. Ongoing qualification is often the issue. Qualification is not a binary step of the sales process. Qualification is a mindset and a habit to apply throughout the sales process, from the first call to closing. This book covers both the Why and the How of sales qualification.