In order to truly understand your leads and if they are indeed a good fit for one or more of your products or services, your sales teams need to know the important questions to ask. Remember, you’re trying to get to the bottom of exactly what your prospects are trying to accomplish: what their goals are, how they want to reach them, how much they are willing to spend, why they want or need to reach these goals, and when they need to reach them.

Here are 21 base conversation starters that will help you and your team recognize future business when you see it.

1. What is the business problem that you are trying to fix with our product or service solution?

2. How are you currently trying to manage or overcome this challenge?

3. What has triggered you to do something about it now?  Why not earlier?

4. What goals are you prevented from achieving due to this problem?

5. If you do nothing about this problem, what will happen? 

6. What is your budget for a solution? If you don’t currently have a budget, what do you need in order to have one secured?

7. What are you currently spending on this problem, or because of this problem?

8. What return on investment is necessary to invest in a solution?

9. What is the decision process for implementing a solution? Are you the main decision-maker? What are the roles of any others in the decision-making process?

10. Has your company ever used a solution like ours in the past? If so, what happened? What did or did not work?

11. What else has worked well for you in the past? What hasn’t?

12. What potential issues could disrput the success of this solution?

13. Are you evaluating any other solutions or options?

14. What will success look like?

15. What is your top priority this year in your business as a whole? What other company goals are important this year?

16. What is your timeline for a solution? When is your hard deadline to have a solution in place?

17. What do you stand to gain if this problem is resolved? What do you stand to lose if it is not resolved? Will it effect you personally?

18. How will the business be impacted if these challenges were fixed?

19. If you fix the problems and your goals are achieved, what will you do next?

20. How do you think our product or service offering could help you with your problems?

21. What are the next steps in the decision-making process for your company?

*BONUS*

22. When would be a good time to schedule the next call or meeting to discuss our solution?

This last question doesn’t really fall within the ‘qualification’ category, but it is a smart sales practice in order to move the conversation along the sales process with a solidified follow-up date. If your team has qualified correctly, then the prospect should be interested and committed enough to agree to the next call or meeting.

Are there any other qualification questions that you’d add to this list?

In the meantime, make sure your sales process doesn’t clash with your buyer’s expectations by downloading a free copy of our guide, ‘Buyers Speak Out’. Find out how your sales team may need to evolve.