Want Software Sales Leads? Avoid Being A Yes/No Man

Want Software Sales Leads? Avoid Being A Yes/No Man:from Business 2 Community by Matt Ford
When some software vendors are so eager to please, so eager to qualify business sales leads, the reduce themselves to being yes men (or women). On the other extreme, you have vendors who are so critical and so stubborn, they do not cut their lead generators any slack and as a result, they waste what could have been a substantial flow of sales leads.

Avoid Being To Quick To Agree Or Disagree When Qualifying Software Leads

Do not be fooled though. The problem is not because you are constantly saying yes or no. The problem is that you are too eager and too quick while at the same time being so shortsighted when it comes to qualifying your sales leads. If you are going to be fast, make sure you already have all the reasons to say yes or no to a prospect. Otherwise, your software leads (or lack of them) are just going to create trouble:

• If you are too quick to agree – You might be doing so on a whim but when these sales leads become sales and these sales become implementation projects, you start receiving extremely negative feedback. It is just not from your clients by the way. It is from the project managers, engineers, and basically all people who are wondering why you gave in to such an impossible demand.

• If you are too quick to disagree – It is but the reverse. You disqualify sales leads via a cynical attitude that is more than willing to disappoint the expectations of hopeful clients. You say what they ask for is impossible. You would rather do it your way. Forget about what they want (never mind that sales leads are supposed to indicate that). No means no.

If sales leads were like fuel, the above describe a situation where you either choose explosive fuel or have no fuel at all. Why though would you want either for your business? It makes no difference whatsoever! You either blow up your car or you will not get anywhere.
Instead of this obviously false dilemma, just be more thorough your thinking and in your lead generation strategy? Tell your salespeople to consider finer details in your sales leads before considering them qualified or rejected. Never forget that software sales leads represent only one half of the entire B2B sales process. Unless your salespeople would just want to facilitate the purchase and be done with it, you cannot let marketers do your job.
In fact, sometimes your final decision is not so final. You may not have to say yes or no completely when qualifying your sales leads. What else are follow-ups for if there was never a chance for needs (or budgets) to change? Again, it all depend on how much you listen and engage prospects before qualifying your sales leads. Get all the facts before deciding to go with them or against them.
In short, make sure your decision to qualify sales leads comes mostly from well-gathered information and simply attitude. You cannot expect much success from being either a yes man or a no man. It is more common sense for your B2B lead generation strategy to consider the middle-road!