Outbound Sales Qualification Process

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That doesn’t mean you should focus only on the highest converting lead funnel. Like a well-balanced diet, a revenue stream requires a variety of leads from the prospecting pyramid to live a long and healthy life.

As your pipeline grows, you’ll be able to set more specific goals based on the lead source and build a more predictable sales cycle for both inbound and outbound sales campaigns.

To optimize your MQL to SQL conversion rate, refine your team’s relationship-building skills with these qualification processes designed to take things to the next level.

Outbound and Inbound Qualification Sales Qualification Frameworks
The approacher and the approached play by different rules when it comes to selecting a mate or, in this case, a vendor. To avoid seeming pushy or aloof, the qualification process for outbound and inbound prospects varies depending on the situation.


In outbound, you are approaching the prospect. You haven’t built enough interest or trust to start demanding any sort of commitment, so you can’t expect to be met with open arms when diving right into the big questions. That’s why when converting MQLs to SQLs, you can’t go straight into Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing, or BANT, to qualify outbound prospects.

Why BANT Qualifying Doesn’t Work with Outbound Prospects
You wouldn’t ask someone if they’re ready to start a family on the first date. So it stands to reason that asking BANT qualifying questions to convert an MQL to an SQL will send your prospects running in the other direction.

Instead, you need to engage in more subtle tactics to gauge compatibility without making things awkward. Here’s what that looks like.

Budget > Company Demographics: Think about your current accounts china cell phone number database and the companies’ attributes. How many people are employed? What’s the estimated revenue? Did your clients use a competitor before switching to yours? How much did the competitor’s solution cost? All of these questions can help determine if similar prospective companies are in a position to buy.

Authority > Prospect Demographics: Before an outbound campaign launches, create documents detailing ICP and buyer persona data to take the guesswork out of identifying decision-makers. Every company’s procurement process is a bit different, but this way, you’ll be more likely to land in the right inbox.

Need > Intent and Keyword Data: The most advanced lead databases give you insight into the pressing problems specific companies are trying to solve through 2nd and 3rd-party cookies that track keyword queries and search engine user behavior. Putting this robust data to work can help you eliminate the need for extensive account-based research.

Timing > Expressed Interest: While the intent and keyword data help narrow in on the companies searching for your solution, interest in your outbound outreach is the best way to tell if the prospect is ready to have a serious conversation about developing a partnership.

As you can see, when it comes to vetting prospects in outbound outreach, a significant portion of the process is done in the list-building phase. But that doesn’t help you convert prospects from MQLs to SQLs. You need stellar messaging, valuable sales assets, and a playbook of rebuttals to lead prospects through the sales funnel to make that transition.