{mosimage}I was up in Oakland last week training some inside sales software reps, and I asked the pivotal question - "Out of 10 leads you send out, how many end up buying?"

Answer? One or two.

Sound familiar? You would be amazed at how many times I hear that ratio (or something similar), from the hundreds of sales reps I work with each year.

The awful thing is that all the reps spend most of their time chasing and pitching leads that ARE NEVER GOING TO BUY! No wonder most reps (80%) leave work on Fridays beaten down and dreading Mondays.

It's not like that for the Top 20% though. In fact, in the same group of sales reps one of them told me about a top producer at Hewlett-Packard who earned seven figures. His secret? If a prospect didn't answer 8 or 9 out of his 10 questions, he didn't pursue the lead. Period.

{mosimage}So what can you do to get better at identifying non-buyers? Ask what I called "The Disqualifying Question." It goes like this:

If, while you're qualifying a prospect, you begin getting too many red flags instead of going on and on trying to generate a lead, ask this question:

"________ if I get this demo, info, etc., off to you, what do you think might/could happen that would stop you for moving ahead with it?"

Then shut up and listen. The answer you get here will be the same one your prospect will give you when you call back and lose the sale. The Top 20% would rather know this in advance.

{sidebar id=1}Important note -- I realize this is a negative question and one you would normally never use. You use it only when your gut tells you there's going to be a problem here -- when you get too many red flags. Make sense?

The problem with 80% of your competition is that they ignore these red flags and send out junk -- Remember the Golden Rule about leads: LEADS NEVER GET BETTER!

The Top 20% would rather know on the front end. And really, wouldn't you? So use The Disqualifying Question today. You'll get out less leads, but your closing ratio will improve. And you'll make more money!