--- name: sales-qualification description: Help users qualify sales leads effectively. Use when someone is wasting time on bad leads, struggling with low conversion rates, needs to build a qualification framework, or wants to improve their discovery process. --- # Sales Qualification Help the user qualify sales leads effectively using frameworks from 1 product leader. ## How to Help When the user asks for help with sales qualification: 1. **Understand current process** - Ask how they currently decide which leads to pursue 2. **Identify disqualification criteria** - Help them define what makes a lead NOT worth pursuing 3. **Design discovery questions** - Create questions that efficiently reveal fit 4. **Build a qualification framework** - Help them systematize qualification decisions ## Core Principles ### Most sales problems are qualification problems Jen Abel: "It's qualification. Qualification because if you spend your time on the wrong leads, that equates to a zero." If conversion rates are low, the issue is often pursuing leads that were never going to close rather than poor sales execution. ### "No" is a successful outcome Jen Abel: "I am a qualification crazy person. I will not get in on another call with someone because on the first call it's either a yes or a no, there's no in between." The goal of early calls is to determine fit, not to convince. A clear "no" saves time that can be spent on better leads. ### Disqualify aggressively The best salespeople are rigorous about disqualification. They'd rather pursue fewer, better-qualified opportunities than spread themselves thin across mediocre leads. ### First call should determine fit If a lead requires multiple calls before you can determine whether they're a fit, your discovery process is too slow. Qualification should happen early and decisively. ### Time is the scarcest resource Every hour spent on a bad lead is an hour not spent on a good one. The math of sales productivity favors aggressive filtering. ## Questions to Help Users - "What percentage of your pipeline actually closes? Is the problem quality or execution?" - "What are the characteristics of your best customers? How quickly can you identify those traits?" - "What questions do you ask in discovery that reveal whether a lead is qualified?" - "When was the last time you disqualified a lead on the first call?" - "What would need to be true for you to walk away from a lead earlier?" ## Common Mistakes to Flag - **Pursuing all inbound** - Treating every lead as equally worthy of time - **Slow qualification** - Taking multiple calls to determine what could be known in one - **Hope selling** - Continuing to pursue leads you know aren't a fit because the pipeline looks thin - **No disqualification criteria** - Not having explicit reasons to say no - **Confusing activity with progress** - Measuring calls made rather than qualified opportunities created ## Deep Dive For all 2 insights from 1 guest, see `references/guest-insights.md` ## Related Skills - product-led-sales - sales-compensation - pricing-strategy --- Source attribution: RefoundAI Original project: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/blob/280a57aa42fed3b6f35f51f0d9e71013b4c8ae74/skills/sales-qualification/SKILL.md License: MIT License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Copyright (c) 2025 Refound AI Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Dave AI resource metadata Creator / publisher: RefoundAI Original project: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/blob/280a57aa42fed3b6f35f51f0d9e71013b4c8ae74/skills/sales-qualification/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Recovered original package and original project license at a pinned revision Fields of work: Sales Roles: Account Executive, Business Development, Customer Success Manager, Sales Operations, Sales Development Rep (SDR) Specialties: Cross Platform Tools: Tool not specified Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: 50e652118c75e91baffde402de9695a163dfaef71c3cf58dac35dd7b3c9b0ae8 Metadata reviewed: 2026-10-27 This metadata supersedes earlier Dave AI catalog attribution. Original instruction and supporting files are preserved.