Qualify ten contacts

Why qualify before calling

A list exported from a database or LinkedIn always contains rows that do not belong: the right company but the wrong person, the right person at a company that is too big, a switchboard number, a year-old signal. Each of those rows wastes a call, and the worst waste a conversation: the out-of-target prospect who listens politely while the right one is still waiting to be called.

Qualifying the list takes a second per row when the ICP is clear, and it changes the day: a calling block on a clean list produces more conversations, and conversations that lead somewhere.

The three-drawer rule

Every record goes into one of three drawers. In the target: the company fits the ICP, the person is the persona, the number is usable, the signal is recent. It goes to the dialing list. To verify: the company is in the target but a doubt remains before calling, a missing or doubtful number, a size on the border, a contact to replace, an old signal. It goes to enrichment or research. Out of target: an ICP criterion is not met or an exclusion applies. It leaves the list, whatever the quality of the number.

The difficulty is not in the clear cases, it is in the borderline ones. Nineteen employees when the ICP says twenty, a CFO when you want the sales director, a toll-free number for a founder: these are “to verify”, not bets. A lost bet costs a call; a check costs a minute.

Go further

• Phone number validator The “to verify” drawer often starts with a number to validate.
• When to call your prospects For a contact abroad, local time and legal calling hours.
• How to qualify leads on the phone Once the list is qualified, the questions that qualify the conversation.