In Sales and Marketing, sometimes digging into the past can be helpful. Recently, while speaking with a colleague, an episode from many years ago came-up. As we discussed how to determine a qualified lead, I remembered a meeting from about ten years ago.

The company CEO and I had traveled overseas to essentially meet with a pre-qualified lead that would represent a significant deal to the business. It would have boosted our revenue by about 40%.

When we arrived at the meeting, and greetings were out of the way, the potential customers Managing Director started the meeting off right away by saying:

“I have some good news and I have some bad news…so let me start with the bad news. We aren’t going to do business with you”

I don’t recall what the good news was, but I’ll never forget the instantaneous sense of dread when we were told right from the start that they weren’t going to do business with us.

Undoubtedly warning signals were missed leading up to the meeting. Perhaps our drive to simply get a meeting, and then misinterpreting a meeting as being a buying signal led to this folly. When you think of the time and cost, however, it was a poor business mistake to make.

In the end, it takes time and effort and asking the right questions to bring forth a qualified lead. If your Winnipeg business is looking for a better way to qualify leads and increase revenue than it might be time to look into a targeted and fully integrated sales and marketing program.