Everyday we talk to our clients and contacts and the one thing we hear time and time again is this... The customer seemed interested, our price was competitive and we offer a service which is exactly what we need- yet somehow we didn't manage to get the order.

Does this sound familiar?

We have been faced with many situations ourselves when sales representatives have came and met with ourselves, listed the endless benefits, gave a competitive price and even reduced the price- however one critical aspect is missing from this and so many are guilty of forgetting.

Whenever you meet with prospective clients or before you even arrange the meeting you need to do one thing (it will save your time and theirs!).

QUALIFY!!!

Lets use Hockey Sticks as an example.

You work for a company and they sell THE BEST hockey sticks on the market. Not only are they the best, every famous hockey player known to man uses this hockey stick and to top it all off - not only are they competitively priced, you can provide me a deal if I buy here and now...

The catch: I don't play Hockey and therefore have no requirement and wont be making a purchase regardless of any of the factors above!

It seems obvious but in actual fact by asking the right questions you would save yourself and your prospective clients a lot of time.

So the moral of the story is:

Identify if there is a need- if not, save their time, your time and move onto the next prospect who does have a need for what you do!