We marketers have a long-held, completely erroneous assumption that more data collected on a lead registration form means a more qualified prospect. But just because someone has time to fill out your long form doesn’t mean they’re any closer to buying.
We also assume that only qualified prospects will give you their phone number, so we require a phone number on our registration forms. But what if I prefer to use email? What if I prefer email, and am ready to buy right now, but you won’t know because you’re forcing me into your definition of qualification instead of mine?
I’ve had sales reps tell me we need at least 30 minutes for an initial meeting so they can walk me through their solution. They sometimes get annoyed when I tell them they actually have 10 minutes.
Don’t take it personally. It’s not you. But if you can’t give me a high-level overview in 10 minutes, enough to get me interested in learning more and taking the longer demo, then the up-front 30 minutes is just going to waste both of our time.
Your arbitrary definitions of lead qualification and sales readiness are killing your pipeline. Ironic, but true.
