I get many requests each week from readers who want to know how they should deal with incoming leads.  “These leads are more qualified because they are calling in," I hear over and over.  But we all know this isn't necessarily true is it?  In fact this attitude leads to the biggest mistake 80% of your competition is making when they receive warm leads:

They go into pitch mode rather than qualification mode.

80% of your competition mistake the “implied interest" of a call in to mean they are already qualified, and all they need to do is explain their product or service.  Wrong!

The Top 20%, on the other hand, know that incoming leads can be some of the biggest time wasters of all, so they do what they always do -- disqualify people who are “just looking” so that they can identify the real buyers, and they do this by asking questions rather than pitching.

Here are some great questions to ask the next time you get a call-in lead:

“Thank you for contacting us today, what was it about our ad/promotion/website that caused you to call us today?" [Listen for the buying motive]

“Who else are you looking into?” [Listen for your competition]

“What do you like best so far?"

“How long have you been thinking about (buying, investing, changing) something like this?" 

Then,

“What has kept you from acting on this?” [Listen for possible objections]

“When are you looking to make a decision on this?"

You see how this goes. Just remember, to be a Top 20% producer, you have to begin finding buyers -- whatever the lead source.  So stop pitching and start qualifying!  Remember, it's still up to you to find and separate the buyers from the non-buyers.