I’m a storyteller by nature, so here’s a quick one that illustrates a problem I see all too often.
I was working with a client—an $11 million company—running their weekly sales meetings. Every week, we’d review the sales pipeline and talk about potential clients.
One salesperson consistently reported having a $15 million pipeline. Sounds great, right? The only problem? None of those deals were ever going to close.
Week after week, he’d list big-name companies—McDonald’s, Burger King, you name it—as potential clients. Impressive logos, but they weren’t real opportunities. What I realized was that he didn’t have a framework for prioritizing real prospects. He didn’t know how to tell the difference between a dream and a deal.
And it wasn’t just him. As I worked with other companies, I saw the same thing: a lack of discipline around identifying qualified leads. Salespeople were spending precious time chasing prospects who were never going to buy.
That’s a problem. Because time spent on the wrong opportunities is time you’re not spending on the right ones.
So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?
Start by asking the right questions:
- Have they done business with us before?
- Do they have a budget?
- Do they have a timeline?
- Have they clearly identified a need?
These are the kinds of attributes that define a legitimate opportunity. When you understand why people buy from you—and what your best clients have in common—you can start spending your time where it counts. Sales isn’t just about working hard. It’s about working smart. And that starts with knowing who’s really worth your time.