sales-qualification

Sales Qualification

Scope

Covers

• Defining what “qualified” means for your business (fit + need + access + urgency)
• Writing explicit disqualification rules to avoid time sinks
• Creating a qualification scorecard that produces consistent decisions across reps
• Designing a discovery/qualification call script that surfaces deal reality quickly
• Setting stage exit criteria + “no next step, no stage” pipeline hygiene rules
• Implementing a lightweight rollout + measurement plan for adoption

When to use

• “Our pipeline is full but nothing closes—help us qualify better.”
• “Create a lead qualification scorecard and disqualification criteria.”
• “Write a discovery/qualification script for SDRs/AEs.”
• “Define stage exit criteria so deals don’t rot in CRM.”
• “We’re spending time on bad-fit leads—create rules to stop it.”

When NOT to use

• You don’t have an ICP hypothesis or you’re still pre-problem/solution fit (start with founder-sales or problem-definition)
• You need a full sales org design (roles, hiring, enablement system) rather than qualification (use building-sales-team)
• You need to navigate a complex multi-stakeholder enterprise deal already in flight (use enterprise-sales)
• You need to design OTE, quotas, or commission mechanics for reps (use sales-compensation)
• You need pricing/packaging strategy, contracting, or legal/security review
• You want lead scraping/spammy outreach or anything deceptive

Inputs

Minimum required

• Product + target customer (1 sentence each)
• ICP hypothesis (industry, size, buyer titles, “not for” exclusions)
• Sales motion (inbound/outbound/PLG→sales/enterprise) + current stages (if any)
• Typical deal profile (ACV range, cycle length, required stakeholders)
• Current pain: what “bad leads” look like (examples of 3–5 recent losses or stalls)
• Constraints: rep capacity, required response times, tooling (CRM), and handoff (SDR→AE)

Missing-info strategy

• Ask up to 5 questions from references/INTAKE.md (max 3–5 at a time).
• If data is missing, proceed with explicit assumptions and ship two variants if needed: (A) “Simple SMB motion” vs (B) “Complex/enterprise motion”.