Sales Opportunity Evaluators

If you don’t yet measure that opportunity with a set of sales qualifiers then this article may be of interest. What I call sales evaluators are a set of sales qualification instruments that enable us to measure, score and then assess the opportunity.

Such tools and processes have been around for years, the best are custom built tools, calibrated to work in and fit each business, yes it takes a few hours to complete but it might save you a hundred or more hours later!

These tools use corporate terminology and soon become an essential part of dealing with all major accounts, and an indispensable process behind every large sales opportunity and prospect worked on.

Once correctly implemented into the business this best practice almost guarantees to improve the bottom line, and can be proven in the saving in lost sales time alone. If only due to the disqualification of unsuitable or unviable and loss making opportunities, some of which will only come to light when such a process of due-diligence like this is followed.

When the results of improved focus and correct time investment in the right projects becomes evident, the improvements in profit and conversion rates will become visible to all.

As soon as we accept the need for such a process the better, then the hunt for the right set of tools and a specialist to calibrate the tools and train them in becomes critical.

The starting point

There is a real need to evaluate the opportunities in most sales businesses, be it as an account manager looking at a loyal client with a new requirement, or as that Sales Director faced with the decision, passed up to them to go for that multi-million pound opportunity with a new giant of a prospect.

Such an opportunity to win could look good for us politically for years, but will we have to compromise our profits? So is it really worth it as it will take a lot of effort to win? Should we commit and go after the opportunity or not is the first real question.

Our due-diligence starts by asking ourselves the following four questions: -

• What is the value of our solution to the customer?
• Should we go for this piece of business or not?
• How competitive are we?
• How well aligned are we politically so we can win? 

We then turn each of these four questions into its own set of tools so we then have four stages to the process. Each tool is then split into six sub-headings allowing us to go into depth to address the four important questions, some 18 to 24 evaluators in all.

The first two are objective, and facts about the real potential in the opportunity. The results will reflect whether or not we have the balance required between the prospect and ourselves.

Ranging from our solution and their perceptions of its added value, to the impact it will have on their business and how they can track that.

We will get results ranging from solid, and a good opportunity not to be missed to weak or nonexistent, when we start to realise we would be far better off not getting involved and refusing to play that tendering game in the first place.

Sometimes, even part of the way through the sales process, it can be wiser to use our time better and play elsewhere on a pitch where we know we can play and win.

The second set i.e. the third and fourth evaluators, “How competitive are we?” and “How well are we aligned politically so we can win?” Are more subjective and all about our chances measured directly against the competition, and the support we will get in the client when compared to the support the opposition can expect.

I hope this is of some help, if you need more contact me.

John Herbert