Page 310 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

APPENDIX H

A Worksheet for

Qualifying Your Lead

any people believe that lead qualification is a single step in the business-
Mdevelopment process that occurs early on. Once the lead is qualified,
according to this belief, and the decision is “Go” rather than “No go,” it’s full
speed ahead and never look back. Of course, that belief is mistaken because the
quality of a lead is always in flux. What once appeared a done deal can quickly
become a dead deal. New competitors could enter the picture. The economic
buyer could change. One of your key subject-matter experts might find herself
otherwise engaged. A new and negative buyer could join the consultant-selection
committee. In short, relationships are always changing, and situations are never
preserved in amber. As a result, you must keep qualifying to determine how to
apply your limited resources most effectively.
To help you qualify your leads, I’ve developed three worksheets based on the
concepts in this book. Most likely, you have your own criteria for qualifying
leads, and these worksheets are not intended to replace those criteria but to aug-
ment them. The worksheets are automated in Excel via some truly elementary
programming and can be downloaded at: http://web.me.com/rfreed/Writing
_Winning_Business_Proposals/Home.html. As with all the downloadable mate-
rials, feel free to modify the worksheets as you please.

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