Are You Wasting Your Time With the Wrong Prospect?

Who is the right prospect? That´s the question Dan Kennedy asked before giving a brief list of the four qualities of a good prospect. I was skimming through his book No BS Sales Success earlier this morning (tips, how-to, and thought provoking - a good read) and this question caught my eye. This is the question for sales people. Selling to the wrong person is probably the greatest sales mistake made by new and seasoned sales professionals - especially in B2B and complex sales. If you´re selling to the wrong person you´re

• wasting your time;
• inaccurately forecasting revenue;
• often killing the deal by aligning yourself with the wrong person in the organization;
• likely opening yourself to undue competition;
• artificially extending the sales cycle.

None of these are good things. They make you an underperformer. So, what did Dan list as the right prospect? The right prospect is

• someone who has reason for interest in your proposition;
• someone with the financial ability to say yes;
• someone with the authority to say yes;
• someone that is predisposed to say yes.

Have you ever found yourself selling to the wrong prospect? If so, how did it affect the sales opportunity. Is there anything you´d add to Dan´s list?