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tags: Module 7
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# Introduction to qualification using need discovery
Let's assume your prospecting efforts doing cold calling, emailing and social were successful and you managed to schedule a meeting to get to know each other.

🤔 Now what?

## Enter the qualification process

The goal of an SDR/BDR is to qualify and disqualify leads / prospects so that your sales organization knows which leads are worth spending time on. A lead is qualified, if you are a great fit for each other. Basically this means that the lead has a need that you can help with. In that case, you schedule a follow up meeting - often a demo - for your AE colleagues. If you are not a good fit for each other, you disqualify the lead and hand it over to marketing to be nurtured for the future.

Companies define their own criteria to when a lead becomes qualified. These are criteria they want their salespeople (often SDRs/BDRs) to validate before passing them on for a meeting with the AE to make sure they don't waste their time on unqualified prospects.

Examples of qualification criteria:
- [ ] **Need or pain** (do they have a problem we can help with?)
- [ ] Urgency (does the problem need to be solved now or in the future?)
- [ ] Goal (what do they want to achieve?)
- [ ] Decision Making (do you understand how decisions are being made by whom?)
- [ ] Priority (is the need pressing enough to allocate budget to our solution?)
- [ ] Decision criteria (based on what metrics will they decide for a solution?)

**Again, the motive behind going through a qualifcation process is making sure that you are spending your time on those leads that are most likely to convert.**

At times, having identified a clear need or pain point you can solve is not the only factor that determines whether a lead will become a customer.

Some may have a real need but they don't make it a priority to implement a solution now. Others may have a problem but it's not a priority enough to invest money on your solution now. In that case, meeting with your AE does not make sense *at this point*.

Regardless, the most important aspect for a lead to be qualified is identifying a need. That's the foundation for everything else.

That's why we are going to focus on need discovery for effective qualification.

## Welcome to need discovery

Great, you convinced someone to jump on a call with you. Now, the WORST you can do is make it all about you - your company, your product, your features. Nobody cares (yet). Many salespeople still start by selling right away. It's a waste of time.

Your goal is not to sell. Your goal, especially in the initial meeting - often the "discovery" call is, as the name implies, to discover your prospect's pain.

⛔ Need discovery is not about selling or convincing

✅ Need discovery is all about diagnosing your prospect's current situation and determining whether they have a problem or challenge you (your company) can help with

Let's repeat that to make sure you will always remember: need discovery is NOT about convincing your prospect. It's not pitching how great your company and product. Need discovery is about asking questions that diagnose your prospect's situation, determine a pain and listening attentively.

In a nutshell, need discovery is about:
* Find out if your prospect has a problem with a resulting need
* If they do, understand the problem in depth, including what it means for them and how urgent it is
* Using a mix of effective questions and active listening

:::info
**Practical Tip:** **Always be curious.**

Meaning, go into your conversations with the goal to really gain an understanding on your prospect's problem - in the context of your company - and what it means for them.
:::

### Curiosity is the key for earning trust and adding value

Always be curious. If you truly respect that and make it your priority to get to the core of your leads' needs, you will earn their trust. They absolutely feel if you care or just work off a list of questions. Only if they trut you, will they answer you truthfully.

Ideally, by asking great questions, you are letting your lead recognize whether they have a problem with a resulting need and what the actual impact of the problem or solution can be. This is how you add value.

🤓 We will teach you how to do it in the upcoming learning units.

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