# 🎯 Qualification Strategy Overview | Element | Summary | |---|---| | **Offer** | Website messaging strategy service | | **Ideal customer** | B2B SaaS company with an active product, a marketing owner, and an upcoming website redesign or positioning project | | **Sales goal** | Prioritize *qualified consultation calls* (the goal is to protect and fill call slots, not to close deals) | | **Context** | Founder-led sales, limited capacity, projects need several weeks of strategic work | **Known vs. assumed** | Known (from your input) | Assumptions to validate | |---|---| | Positive signals: active redesign, clear marketing owner, established product | Company size, funding stage, or revenue that indicates fit (not provided) | | Red flags: no clear project, no decision-maker access, expectation of free strategy work | Budget range and how they fund this kind of work (not provided) | | Sales is founder-led with limited capacity | How many consultation calls you can hold per week | | Projects run several weeks | Whether the marketing owner can approve the engagement or only recommend it | **How to use this:** The score supports *consistent prioritization* of your limited calls. It does not predict who will buy. Treat every score as provisional until the unknowns are resolved. --- # ✅ Core Fit Criteria | Criterion | Question it answers | Source | |---|---|---| | **Need / project clarity** | Is there a real, active project (redesign, repositioning, launch)? | Your signal: active redesign | | **Relevance (ICP)** | B2B SaaS with an established, live product? | Your ICP | | **Champion / owner** | Is there a clear marketing owner driving this? | Your signal | | **Authority** | Can you reach the person who approves the work and spend? | Your red flag | | **Timing** | Is the project near enough that messaging work must happen first? | Assumption to validate | | **Urgency** | Is there a trigger (launch, rebrand, weak conversion, new market)? | Assumption to validate | | **Budget readiness** | Is there evidence they pay for strategic work? | Unknown, validate; never infer | | **Complexity / scope fit** | Is the scope a multi-week strategic engagement, not a quick copy tweak? | Your constraint | | **Strategic fit / expectations** | Do they value paid strategy, or expect free strategy on the call? | Your red flag | --- # 📊 Lead Scoring Framework **Weights (total 100)** | Criterion | Max pts | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | **Project clarity** | 20 | No project / vague "someday" | Project idea, no scope or owner | Defined project, no date | Active redesign/positioning with scope and date | | **Decision-maker access** | 20 | No path to approver | Approver exists, access unclear | Approver named, joins later | Approver on the call or committed to join | | **Timing & urgency** | 15 | No timeline | 6+ months, no trigger | Within ~3–6 months | Within ~3 months or tied to a hard trigger | | **ICP relevance** | 15 | Not B2B SaaS or no live product | Adjacent (e.g., pre-launch, non-SaaS tech) | B2B SaaS, product early | B2B SaaS, established active product | | **Marketing owner** | 10 | None identified | Owner is unclear or part-time on this | Owner named, limited authority | Clear owner with real authority over the project | | **Budget readiness** | 10 | Explicit "no budget" | Unknown after asking | Signals of investment (past agencies, funded initiative) | Confirmed budget or approved initiative | | **Engagement fit** | 10 | Expects free strategy work | Skeptical of paid strategy | Open to paid, needs education | Understands and expects a paid multi-week process | **Points by rating** | Weight | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |---|---|---|---|---| | 20 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 20 | | 15 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 15 | | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | **Scoring rules** - **Unknown ≠ bad.** Score unknowns at 0 *provisionally*, mark them "?", and record a **confirmed score** and a **potential score** (unknowns scored at 2). - Score only on what the prospect actually said or showed. Do not estimate budget, intent, or company data. - Re-score after the call. Pre-call scores are for deciding *whether to book*. --- # 🏷️ Lead Tiers | Tier | Rule | Meaning | |---|---|---| | **🟢 High-fit** | Confirmed score 70+, no hard gates triggered | Best use of a limited founder call slot | | **🟡 Medium-fit** | Confirmed score 50–69, *or* potential score 70+ with key unknowns | Worth a short qualifying step before a full call | | **🔵 Nurture** | Score 30–49 *or* strong ICP relevance with weak timing | Right kind of company, wrong moment | | **🔴 Low-fit** | Score under 30 *or* any unresolved hard gate | Do not spend consultation capacity | **Hard gates** (from your red flags; they override the score): 1. No clear project after discovery 2. No access to a decision-maker, and no realistic path to one 3. Expectation of free strategy work that remains after you explain the process A gate is "unresolved" only after you've asked and tried to address it. Until then, treat it as a **medium-fit hold** with a clarifying step. --- # 🚦 Positive Signals & Red Flags | ✅ Positive signals | 🚩 Red flags | |---|---| | **Your list:** active redesign, clear marketing owner, established product | **Your list:** no clear project, no decision-maker access, expects free strategy work | | Mentions a specific redesign or positioning date or trigger | "Just exploring" with no scope, owner, or timeline | | Names who else is involved and offers to include them | Asks for a messaging audit or homepage rewrite "to see if you're a fit" | | Describes a messaging problem in their own words (unclear value prop, mixed audiences) | Vague or shifting description of the problem | | Asks about your process, deliverables, or timeline | Focuses only on price or turnaround before describing the need | | Has worked with agencies or consultants before *(validate, don't assume)* | Owner has no path to the approver and can't say who decides | **Signals to validate before weighting** (not in your input): company stage, team size, past spend on similar work, and whether messaging work happens before or during the redesign. --- # ❓ Discovery Questions Keep these conversational. Aim for 5–7 questions in a first call, not a checklist. | Goal | Question | Listen for | |---|---|---| | **Project** | "What's prompting the redesign or repositioning right now?" | A real trigger, an owner, a scope | | **Project** | "Where does the project stand today: planning, in design, or already in build?" | Timing relative to messaging (messaging ideally precedes design) | | **Problem** | "What's the website not doing that you need it to do?" | A clear messaging problem, not just aesthetics | | **Owner** | "Who's leading this on your side, and who else weighs in?" | Champion identity, stakeholders | | **Authority** | "How does a project like this typically get approved?" | Decision path without asking "are you the decision-maker?" | | **Authority** | "Would it make sense to bring [approver] into our next conversation?" | Willingness to give access | | **Timing** | "Is there a date you're working backward from?" | Launch, board, campaign, or event deadline | | **Budget** | "Have you invested in strategic or messaging work before, and how did you structure it?" | Comfort paying for strategy (avoids demanding a number) | | **Expectations** | "This work typically runs several weeks. Does that fit your timeline?" | Understanding of process and duration | | **Fit** | "What would a successful outcome look like for you?" | Realistic, measurable expectations | **Reframing script for free-strategy expectations:** *"The strategic thinking is the work itself, so I do that inside an engagement. What I can do on a call is understand your situation and tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit."* --- # 🧩 Handling Missing Information | Situation | Action | |---|---| | **Unknown decision-maker** | Ask how approval works; request that the approver join the next step. Don't schedule a full call if there's no path at all. | | **Unknown budget** | Ask about past investment and how the project is funded. Never guess. Score 0 provisionally, flag "?" | | **Vague project** | Send 2–3 short pre-call questions by email. Book only if the answers show a real project. | | **Unclear timing** | Ask for the trigger date. If none, route to Nurture. | | **Conflicting signals** | Record both, use the lower-confidence rating, and resolve on the call. | | **Too many unknowns** | Cap at Medium; don't promote to High-fit until the key gates (project, authority) are confirmed. | **Rules of thumb** - Two or more unknowns among *project, authority, timing* → Medium at best. - Record *what you don't know* as explicitly as what you do. - Update the tier when new information arrives, in either direction. --- # 🔄 Follow-Up by Lead Tier | Tier | Action | Response time (adjust to your capacity) | |---|---|---| | **🟢 High-fit** | Offer a consultation slot; send a short pre-call brief; ask the approver to attend | Prioritize; respond first | | **🟡 Medium-fit** | Send 2–3 clarifying questions or a short 15-min screen; re-score after answers | Within your normal window | | **🔵 Nurture** | Reply warmly, share process info or a relevant resource, and set a check-in tied to their stated timeline | Low-touch; scheduled reminder | | **🔴 Low-fit** | Decline politely, explain what you do, and optionally refer them elsewhere or point to self-serve material | Brief, courteous reply | **Capacity rule:** Set a maximum number of consultation calls per week (your number, not an assumed one). When full, hold new High-fit leads in a short queue rather than lowering the bar. --- # 🗂️ CRM Tracking Recommendations | Field | Type | Purpose | |---|---|---| | **Fit score (confirmed)** | Number | Score based on verified information | | **Fit score (potential)** | Number | Score if unknowns resolve favorably | | **Tier** | Dropdown | High / Medium / Nurture / Low | | **Score confidence** | Dropdown | High / Medium / Low, based on unknown count | | **Project status** | Dropdown | None / Exploring / Scoped / Active | | **Target project date** | Date | Timing and nurture triggers | | **Marketing owner** | Text | Champion name and role | | **Decision-maker** | Text + access status | Named / Access confirmed / Access unclear / None | | **Budget signal** | Dropdown | Confirmed / Signals / Unknown / Explicit no | | **Hard gates** | Multi-select | No project / No decision-maker / Free-work expectation | | **Stated problem** | Text | Their words, for future messaging | | **Unknowns to resolve** | Text | Open questions per lead | | **Source** | Dropdown | Referral, storefront, site form, etc. | | **Next action + date** | Text + date | Prevents stalled leads | | **Disposition reason** | Dropdown | Why a lead moved to Nurture or Low-fit | **Review cadence:** Periodically compare your tiers against actual call outcomes to adjust the weights. Do this from your own data rather than assumptions. --- # ✅ Final Qualification Scorecard **Lead:** __________ **Date:** ______ **Scorer:** ______ | Criterion | Max | Rating (0–3, or ?) | Points | Evidence | |---|---|---|---|---| | Project clarity | 20 | | | | | Decision-maker access | 20 | | | | | Timing & urgency | 15 | | | | | ICP relevance | 15 | | | | | Marketing owner | 10 | | | | | Budget readiness | 10 | | | | | Engagement fit | 10 | | | | | **Confirmed score** | 100 | | | | | **Potential score** (unknowns = 2) | 100 | | | | **Hard gates (check any that apply and remain unresolved):** ☐ No clear project ☐ No decision-maker access ☐ Expects free strategy work **Tier:** ☐ High-fit ☐ Medium-fit ☐ Nurture ☐ Low-fit **Sales-use checklist** - ☐ Scored only on information the prospect actually provided - ☐ Unknowns marked "?" and listed, not guessed - ☐ Hard gates checked before assigning a tier - ☐ Approver identified, or a path to reach them confirmed - ☐ Project trigger and timeline recorded in the prospect's words - ☐ Free-work expectation addressed if it came up - ☐ Duration (several weeks) and paid-engagement process explained - ☐ Call slot allocated within your weekly capacity - ☐ Next action and date logged in the CRM - ☐ Score re-checked after the call; tier updated - ☐ Score treated as a prioritization aid, not a prediction of purchase **Two caveats:** the weights and thresholds above are starting assumptions, so adjust them after you've reviewed real calls. And none of the categories imply a budget size, so decide your own minimum investment threshold before applying the Budget readiness criterion.