You know those clients that take up way too much of your time? Or the ones who constantly try to get you to lower your price? How about the ones who can’t seem to make a decision?
Yeah, those ones.
We all have them. But those aren’t the type of clients you hoped to get when you first went into business. What you really wanted was clients who value what you do, respect your time, and appreciate your worth.
But where do you find such clients?
It’s easy. Sort of.
It all comes down to a sales tactic known as qualification.
What’s “Qualification”?
Qualification is a process you go through to decide whether a client is worth taking on or not.
Sound harsh? It sort of is. That’s because when you run a business you always have to take your bottom line into account. And sometimes that means choosing to work with some clients, and to not work with others.
Here’s an example.
Jim has a snowplowing business that clears residential driveways. He often has a booth set up in his local mall. When he first began, he would spend lots of time with each person who came to his booth. However, sometimes it turned out that the person he was talking to lived in the country, 30 kilometers out of town. Taking into account the extra gas and travel time to get to such places, Jim wouldn’t be able to make a profit by servicing such customers, unless he charged them a lot more than normal. But nobody wanted to pay that extra premium. So Jim decided that he didn’t want to sign up any clients who lived in the country. He began to ask, at the beginning of each new conversation, where the person lived. He would ask “So, do you live in town?” or “Whereabouts do you live?”.
Basically, he is trying to find out enough information about the person to determine whether the person qualifies to be one of his clients.
It’s a common process, and most salespeople use it.
What criteria do you use to qualify clients?
Each business has its own qualifying criteria.
- A real estate agent might want proof a potential client has qualified for a mortgage. There’s no point spending time showing homes to someone who can’t actually buy one. So the agent requests a copy of the potential customer’s mortgage approval letter before taking them on as a client.
- A petite dog walker might only want to walk small dogs because she is not strong enough to control larger ones. She might also want to only take on clients from certain neighbourhoods that have plenty of nearby greenspaces where she can take the dog. Otherwise she would have to drive to a park, and that would cut into her profits (she will have to spend extra time driving, and extra money on gas).
Which criteria should you use?
Sometimes it’s not obvious what qualifying criteria you should use. But think back to past clients that you feel you would rather not work with again.
Did they:
- Take up too much of your time?
- Want too much for free?
- Not want to pay you what you are worth?
- Not pay promptly?
- Not return your calls?
- Not show up for scheduled meetings?
You get the idea. But instead of dreading your next interaction, use what you’ve learned to create your own qualifying standards. Try to find ways to gauge whether or not a potential client will be the type of client you want to work with.
Qualifying using an interview checklist
One common way to qualify clients is to use an interview checklist. This is a list of questions that you ask people who express interest in your services. Some questions should be about the job they want you to do. But add some questions that give you some insight into what the person would be like to work with.
You can go over the list in person, or over the phone. But don’t just give it to them to fill out. You’ll probably get too little information. You want to engage them in conversation so you can prod more when you need to. Then write the answers, and any notes you have, yourself.
What questions should you ask? That depends on you, and what your business model is. Let’s look at two sample questions that Charlie, a carpet seller/installer, uses.
Get the idea?
Charlie has found that most people who own bungalows only want small areas carpeted. He makes little profit on such jobs. He wants customers with large, 2 story homes. He finds they often want LOTS of carpet, and he usually makes a good profit on those. He has also found that some customers hang around and watch every move he makes while he is installing, questioning everything he does. The job ends up taking way longer than it should because he has to stop working to talk to the client so much. In such cases, Charlie and his staff often end up working overtime to finish, and that cuts into his profit.
Here are two questions that Charlie might put on his interview checklist.
What type of home do you have?
This question let’s Charlie know right off the bat whether the person lives in a bungalow or in a 2-story home. If anyone questions why he wants to know, he explains that he needs to have an idea of the type of home in order to make an accurate estimate (which is true). So it’s not an irrelevant question. It’s just that it also helps him qualify the client.
How much do you know about carpeting and installation?
If the person answers this question with “nothing at all”, that’s a good sign for Charlie. However, if they answer, “Oh, I know quite a bit”, it’s a red flag. He has learned that this is the type of person who wants to watch his every move. So he wants to prod and find out a bit more, to see if this person is going to be easy to work with or not. Asking “how much do you know about carpeting?” might seem like a strange question at first, but, if questioned, Charlie replies that he just wants to know whether he can jump right in and give them specific, advanced carpeting information, or whether he needs to start by explaining the basics. So this is another relevant question which also helps him with qualification.
So, the basic message is this:
Spend your time and energy finding customers that are worth your while.
You do that by qualifying each potential client. It’s all about being smart about how you run your business.
