5 Tips For Proper Lead Qualification In The IP Industry

Sometimes the sales process gets off to a slow start; the customer does not seem to understand why an intellectual property service is needed. If lead qualification is inadequate, it's easy to fall into the trap of talking to a company that, for whatever reason, is not ready to buy. In this article, we will go over the 5 best practices for proper qualification.

1 - Using current customers as an example

Map the cases your existing customers have come to you with. Then, ask yourself the following questions:

● What size of business have they come to your firm?

● Who was the first point of contact?

● Did they know what service they needed?

● What was the final agreement? Did you represent them in intellectual property litigation? Or were they fresh inventors seeking assistance in filing a patent application for their first invention?

Based on your answers, you can outline the types of buyer personas you were most likely to do business with. And if the recipe has worked before, it's worth repeating before you open yourself up to new types of customers.

2 - Allow time for the qualification

In many sales organizations, the work is like an assembly line where quantity takes precedence over quality. While this may work in some cases, it is unlikely to generate high revenue in a B2B services market in an IP services environment. So, instead of targeting many customers with your services, identify those that are the best fit for your business.

3 - Use the right tools

To qualify appropriately, you need the right tools. Based on phone numbers or a website alone, you can rarely decide whether or not you should contact a company. Instead, use the tool Linkedin Sales Navigator to find decision-makers who meet all aspects of the buyer persona you have previously defined.

4 - Check the decision-makers activity

In addition to looking for a company that fits the image of a potential customer, the decision-maker must also be active on online platforms. And if they share content on social media, such as LinkedIn, you can use it not only to qualify them but also to contact them later. If pre-screening is done correctly, you have potential customers on your list that you can target with personalized messages.

5 - Continue qualification after the conversation has started

Qualifying leads is an ongoing activity - and proper pre-screening is only the first half of the job. Often, it's only after the conversation begins that you can ask the questions that will reveal whether the person you are talking to is a potential customer.

The most important questions are:

● What is the potential customer's biggest intellectual property challenge?

● What is the solution they are currently using?

● Can you offer support that will make solving the problem significantly cheaper or more efficient?

The answers to these questions are also the topics of a meaningful first phone call.

Even the most diligent qualification is no guarantee of a sure sale, but it is essential that the sales team does not spend time on leads that will not generate revenue. Therefore, proper qualification will be one of your most essential tasks whether you handle sales internally or outsource it.