Stage - Qualification

Definition This stage is where we begin our sales pipeline. Once a lead has expressed any signs of interest in Gradients' offerings, or has mentioned, even if just vaguely, some sort of opportunity that would be a good fit for Gradient, we enter the qualification stage.

The primary objective of the qualification stage is to assess through one or a series of discovery conversations whether the account or prospect you are in conversation with meets the target ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) attributes, and if they have a real opportunity for us to work together.

We want to show up prepared to make the most out of the opportunity. This means we need to be informed about the business, the audience and have a POV on how we could add value either to the business. Below are some action items to take in preparation for a Qualification call.

• Research company website (what does the company do, where are they based, what products do they sell, etc.)
• Research audience LinkedIn profile (who are the attendees, how long have the worked at the company, what is their role, what mutual connections do you have, what persona do they tend to have in the buying cycle, etc.)
• Do a quick Airtable search (have we been in conversation with this company in the past, if so what was the nature of the conversation and with whom did we speak with. Socialize the opportunity internally to get any relevant intel on the account.
• Send a pre-wire email confirming the meeting, highlighting the agenda and soliciting feedback.
• Ensure you are using the latest Gradient Metrics deck.

• Are they an ICP fit (i.e. does the person or company match the profile of folks we can work with and sell to)
  • Do their needs and wants, match our offerings and capabilities
  • Do they have the potential to be a market advocates to help build GM brand.
• BANT-related questions for Discovery & Qualification. - B: Have you given any thought to how you would go about budgeting for this project? - A: Who else on your team would be part of the evaluation? - N: Do you have an in-house research and data science team? - T: When would you ideally like to be up and running with the project?
  • Where is the prospect / company in their evaluation of market research and data science partners?
    • Deciders: These are folks who already have in-house research and data science teams with active projects and are looking for more capacity or to up-skill / fill gaps in their capabilities.
    • Explorers: These are folks evaluating research and data science vendors - exploring build vs. buy models internally.
    • Unawares: These are folks who are unaware of market research and data science opportunities to unlock growth in their business. This is more of an educational sale.
  • What goals does the prospect have or would have in a research project?
    • Revenue, retention, customer acquisition, etc.
    • The situation they are trying to solve for - are they looking to upskill their research and data science team, is there a strategic initiative they have been tasked with, etc.
    • The extent of the situation and how critical it is for growth or to fill strategic initiatives or customer demands.
    • The impact the research could bring to their company - ROI focused
  • The current setup of the research and data science department
    • Do they have an in-house team, who is on the team, what is their focus, what projects are they working on actively, where are their skillsets and where might there be gaps
    • Are they working with an outsourced research partner, if so who is that partner, what projects are they working on with them, what gaps does the research partner fill, are they looking to bring in-house in the future, etc.
    • What are they looking to solve?
  • What is the prospect’s path to evaluating potential partners?
    • Who is involved in the decision-making process?
    • What will each person be looking for as they evaluate Gradient Metrics?
    • What are the evaluation milestones and associated timelines?
    • What is most important to them?

• We want to get folks excited about what we do and show them we are the best partner for all their research and data science needs, while at the same time mining the organization for information by doing thoughtful discovery. The objective if they are a fit (i.e ICP and have an immediate need) is to socialize the opportunity across relevant stakeholders at the organization and work to identify specific projects we can start working on. We use the Gradient Metrics deck to facilitate the conversation to surface the below:
  • Who we are and what makes us qualified to have a voice in the space
  • What we do - what is our core offering and service we provide
  • Our approach - what makes our approach unique, what is it about our research methodology that puts us ahead of the pack
  • What does an engagement look like at a high level - how we work with companies like X (onboarding, support, product, deliverables, etc)
  • Walk through a couple relevant case studies highlighting the nature of the problem, our approach, the results and impact.
  • The next step - where do we want to take the conversation from here

EXAMPLE QUALIFICATION CALL THAT’S WELL DONE

• We are showing up prepared with information on prospect and a POV of their business and where there is potentials for collaboration.
• Established clear expectations of call and met those expectations in the time frame given for meeting
• Conversational meeting where we both shared about our companies and our roles
• The prospect gains clarity on Gradient Metric’s domain expertise, product offering, and unique selling propositions for market research and data science capabilities
• We leave with an understanding of the prospect’s research and data science capabilities and upcoming needs, an understanding of potential projects, key stakeholders to engage with to socialize the opportunity and further establish need and authority.
• Developed a Gradient Metric “Champion” with a preferred channel of communication (slack, email, text, etc)
• We have a clear next step and ideally an upcoming meeting on the books pre-scheduled prior to call ending
• Note: this information may take several calls depending on the size of the company, seniority of the initial point of contact, relevance in title of the initial point of contact, pipeline of research prohects and associated needs.

• General best practices:
  • Your goal should be to follow up within 24 hours if not the same day of the meeting. Templatizing the follow-up emails will help save you time.
    • You can include a Loom video detailing out a specific area of the research, methodology, deck, demo the team was interested in seeing. This is where you record a short video, walking them through what you attached. Great way to also make it easy to catalyze follow-up conversation on specific elements of your offering.
    • If you had a “good conversation”, it always helps to summarize their questions, and your responses in a document to make it easy for them to reference back. This is also an important foundation for threading across and up. You want to make it easy for someone who was not in the room to be able to read the email and get the main takeways of the conversaiton.
  • Always have a direct person the email is directed towards (a message to everyone is a message to no one).
  • Always include the EA’s if you are speaking with senior contacts.
  • Always have an action item request to advance the conversation. The action item highlighted in the email should already have been discussed and agreed upon at the end of the call. Avoid multiple action items in a single email - you want to manage to the single next step.

EXAMPLE FOLLOW-UP EMAIL THAT’S WELL DONE