Recognising qualified enquiries: shared criteria for marketing and sales

Agree what a qualified enquiry means for you

The term “qualified” needs a shared definition. HubSpot, for example, distinguishes between contacts that marketing considers ready for sales and contacts that sales has assessed as potential customers. These terms describe different stages of handling a contact. They do not, however, establish universally applicable criteria for your particular business model.

Start with your own offering: which needs can you usefully address, what prerequisites are required, and what next step can you offer? Describe the criteria so that different people classify the same case similarly. A short comment such as “interesting” is less helpful than a note about the identifiable need and the question still open.

Source: HubSpot: lifecycle stages for contacts and companies

Assess needs, scope and the ability to handle the enquiry

First read an enquiry to understand the task the sender wants to resolve. Do the need and expected scope fit your offering? Is it clear which company or project the service is intended for? What information is missing to prepare an initial conversation? Keep this assessment separate from assumptions based solely on the brevity or wording of a message.

A short enquiry may contain a concrete need; a detailed message may still concern a service you do not offer. Record the known facts objectively. Discuss timing and organisational requirements if they are decisive for handling the enquiry. An open budget range or an unclear date initially calls for a follow-up question; it is not automatically evidence against a potential collaboration.

Ask follow-up questions that enable a decision

Choose follow-up questions according to the information missing for the next step. If the desired scope is unclear, ask about the intended uses or services. If an objective has been named, ask for an explanation of the starting situation. Briefly explain why the information is helpful so the person making the enquiry can follow the conversation.

A simplified example: a company asks for "more content". To assess the need properly, the intended channels, existing content, audiences and internal responsibilities would all matter. This may lead to a single production, editorial planning or ongoing support. The initial message does not need to contain that decision already. After clarification, document which need has been confirmed and what still requires investigation.

Document the assessment without unnecessary complexity

Use a clear overview of the need, suitable services, open points and next task. Add a responsible person. If an enquiry is not pursued, the factual reason should be apparent, such as a service area you do not cover or a need that has already been resolved. Distinguish these reasons from the outcome of clarification that is still pending.

Avoid creating an elaborate scoring system before the criteria have been tested in everyday use. First review a range of enquiries together and discuss differences in assessment. If several people interpret the same information differently, the definition needs to be more precise. Only then can you assess which steps your CRM can support or prepare through clear rules.

Connect evaluation with further marketing development

Provide regular, specific feedback on recurring misunderstandings. Do prospects ask for a service outside the advertised offer? Is an important distinction between a standalone project and ongoing support unclear? Such observations can indicate which statement in an advertisement, website, or document needs clarification.

Also check whether suitable enquiries were actually followed up. A lack of a sale can have various causes and should not be attributed to the contact channel without investigation. Based in Hamburg, anwision connects campaigns, websites and sales processes. Shared criteria help compare marketing messages with subsequent handling and identify the next useful improvement. They do not replace an individual assessment of each enquiry.