✌️ The only two sales-qualifying questions you need
Stop trying to sell to everyone.
Your solution shouldn’t be for everyone.
But how do you figure out who to say “no” to?
You don’t need some complicated formula or lead scoring system—especially when you’re still small and scaling.
There are only two simple questions you need to ask about your lead:
1. Can I help you?
2. Can you help me?
If the answer to both of these is “yes,” then selling is easy. Here’s why.
Can I help you?
Selling isn’t actually selling… it's helping. Help other people be more successful and there will be no need to pull out sales moves from the Wolf of Wall Street playbook.
The challenge here is to be honest with yourself about whether or not your solution can actually help your prospect.
If your solution truly isn’t right for them and can't help them, and you accept that up front, you’ll save yourself the headache of trying to convince your prospect to believe something you don’t even believe.
First, you need to sell yourself on the idea that you can help them—then, selling becomes a breeze!
Once you’re fully convinced, you’re no longer asking them questions, but telling them exactly what they need to do to be successful. You can lead the conversation more confidently when you believe in what you’re saying.
But beware: Being honest with yourself is hard because we want all leads to become customers.
Founders want more customers because they’re chasing growth. Sales reps want commissions, and a deal that doesn’t close is a deal that doesn’t pay.
We want to make all the numbers go up, so it can be hard to say “no”—but you need to, otherwise you’ll have a hard time answering “yes” to the second question…
Can you help me?
Are you the right type of customer for me?
Gather enough of the right customers and you’ll achieve long-term growth. Gather the wrong customers and watch the churn floodgates open.
A customer who can’t be successful with your product will just end up being a pain in the ass. They’ll require a ton of attention from customer support or implementation—and then they’ll still end up leaving, becoming a detractor, and writing a scathing review about you on Reddit.
Even worse: The wrong kind of customers can be a bad influence by confusing you about what you should build and putting pressure on your product roadmap to solve their unique edge cases.
It’s like dating someone completely wrong for you—it’s not worth it! Work it out in therapy, girl!
Finding customers who can be successful with you—and turning away those who can’t—is the root of all product-market fit and ICP frameworks. It needs to be your North Star.
