Help! I’m being qualified!

[JonPayne]

We’ve all been there, you’re in the process of buying something - typically in real life - and you suddenly realise you’re in a lead qualification process. What are some of the best (and worst) experiences you’ve had as a lead being qualified? No shaming of people or brands please - it’s just for fun (and for us to learn).

*To learn more about this, check out the Developing a Lead Qualification Framework lesson via HubSpot Academy. 

[JonPayne]

😡 @SuzC it's amazing that this sort of stuff still happens! From a sales perspective I can almost understand why the dealership would prefer to have all family decision makers there. But to assume that you have a husband and that he is key to these decisions is archaic and closed minded. Hope you bought somewhere else! 🙂

[SuzC]

Love your bio on your company page Jon 🤣

I did buy elsewhere, and by email!  The salesperson didn't understand the job I needed to get done, had no clue what my buying journey was and the dealership had a curious sales process that enabled him to disqualify without asking questions😂

[JonPayne]

👌

[ThaynáSantos]

Chatbots with slightly aggressive responses. Totally frustrated my experience.

[JonPayne]

"Chatbots with slightly aggressive responses." sounds like one of Dante's Circles of **bleep**! 🤣

[MSNovelli]

I recently was checking options for training material and entered my information to get the "free" fundamentals video, only to get bombarded with emails and calls with offers to close NOW. Mind you, as it turns out it's the end of their fiscal year and they needed to close on those leads. As understanding as I am, it was very annoying to get my inbox filled, and I ended up sending them to spam.

[JonPayne]

Thanks for sharing @MSNovelli  - it's a useful reminder of how easy it is for the bad habits of some sales people (me included!) can impact the deliverability of emails for a whole brand. 😣

[PChiu]

I have had some bad experiences with clients who just want to pry information about us when in fact they have their own team and thankfully I haven't gone further with them to reveal too much about us. I think it's important to follow nda whether you are dealing with clients or seeking sellers.

[MBostic]

I like when they follow up to learn more about my goals. If it's a B2B product it's important they understand my goals first before proceding with a sale.

[DWarner86]

They let me control the conversation 

[FKhadraoui]

a qualified lead is the result of an accurate well done job  by marketers which will end in the right hands of salers who will execute sales and close them...

[FDignan]

For me in certain scenarios the prospector has not done enough dudilgence given we belong to a world of social platforms that can present enough data to help with objections. 

Callers who attempt to promote something you do not have any interest in but still try to close creates a tension where as the customer,you are now trying to find excuses as to why you now have to leave this situation and inevitably feel dishonest. This experience can leave you now loosing out on opportunities because there is hesitence to engage in a sales call do due to bad experiences. 

When there is an authetic approach to the engagement and you come awat feeling like, you were not pushed to make a decision, invariably you will always come back to that person for guidence which has resulted in my buying process beacuse ther prospector realises that the market can be saturated however the first step in creating the relationship is why people invest. 

[JReisig]

Similarly, I had a company send me what I'm sure was a very expensive prospecting gift. It got my attention, but my company was in no way qualified for their service and I still feel guilty today for the money they wasted. I don't even know if we ever spoke on the phone either before or after the gift. It was odd. 

[tkbabington]

I was shopping several companies for refinance quotes - of note, I'm a veteran and had planned on using a VAIRRRL program so I could really only work with companies that had qualified veteran loan reps.

Had some really weird experiences since the companies had my credit report and some basic income and debt leve information, and the floodgates just opened. I was obviously an MQL for several companies, and it was like they were all just trying to outcompete to get my attention for the refinance. One company that was local (my own qualification system checkmark) had tried to convince me to refinance using some other loan type that had less favorable conditions for me (VAIRRRL programs are very generous). 

In the end, I just went with the company who had originally underwritten my first mortgage since they hardly reached out at all. 

[JonPayne]

Love the ending of that story Tracilyn! Seems like since they didn't bother you (and therefore fitted more easily into your actual journey), they were actually the most helpful. 👌

[LSalcedo]

I've had a bad experience with an insurance company. I was interested in buying one of their products and contacted them for more information, then I said ok let me think about it, I will check my other options, and I will call you if you are my decision.

The next day they started calling every day and trying to push me to buy from them; of course, I was an MQL, but I decided to buy in another company because it was overwhelmed. 

[JonPayne]

Classic example of a company not understanding when their buyer is actually ready to buy and lost the business as a consequence. I wonder how many times this has happened? Might be costing the company a lot of lost revenue - they could check this lesson out on the HubSpot Academy 😂

[ARubbani]

Hi When i was thinking to join a networking group. I wanted to know a little bit more about the network and how I could benefit from being a member. I reached out to get more info and found myself sliding down their funnel which i could not stop. Unfortuntely, I started as a lead & ended up as customer in a single meeting...

[DHeron]

I had a gym membership to a local gym that is all about sales. I don't think I'm marked correctly in the system because I get blasted all the time even when I opted out of message from pretty much any new sales rep that comes into the place messages me.

[JonPayne]

They need a little sales enablement there! Maybe you should invite the owner to join this group 😊

[SRCHAUDHURI]

#1: In 2018, I was travelling from Bangalore to Hyderabad. At the Hyderabad airport a luxury SUV was on display. A lot of people were checking the car out. I was one of them. The sales reps were collecting contact numbers from the people. I ended up giving mine (mindlesly). To my utter disbelief, I got a call on the 5th day after returning to Bangalore and one of them from that car company asked me to take a test drive of that car. I had to tell them that I wasnt ready yet.

#2: Recently on one of the insurance products portal, I was checking out products in a specific segment. Withing 30 mins I got a call from a rep trying to sell me one of his chosen products.