The question that I was asked recently – How do I spot the signs that a client is interested in working with me? When are they just being polite and taking an interest, and when are they serious about working with me? In this blog post we explore how to spot when you have a warm lead talking to you. Our definition of a lead is someone who has pro-actively approached you to explore whether you will be able to help them. Sometimes, a lead is obvious, i.e. you get an email or a tweet from someone saying “I think I want to work with you” (or something along these lines.) However, it isn’t always that clear cut. Typically a prospect has to go through 2 or 3 distinct stages before, to coin a phrase used by David Tovey, author of Principled Selling, they will be ‘motivated to meet you’ and talk about how you can help you. These three stages are:
- Awareness – they have to know you exist
- Interest – they need to know you can help them
- Evaluation – they want to be able to trial or test using you.
Very often, the evaluation stage will happen when you meet them or talk with them over the phone. Here are the 7 signs to look out for that a prospect is likely to become a lead:
- They ask detailed questions about how you work with others
- They are keen to know costs
- They will relatively easily agree to a conversation or chat with you
- They may look at your LinkedIn profile a couple of times over a period of a few months
- They will frequently engage with you on social media or with the regular marketing emails that they send to you
- They will ask interested questions about your services, and the typical results you get for your clients
- They will recommend you to others and talk positively about you
What do you look out for when speaking to a potential client? To find out whether I can help you, have a look at “our services” Connect with me on Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter
