When the Prospect Should Be "Disqualified"

by Graham Denton

One of the most difficult things for a professional seller to do is to turn down business that the customer is begging to sign for, that is, to effectively "disqualify" an eager prospect. Of course, we do this all the time when it comes to credit ratings, and we seldom regret the decision, because we understand (unless we manage third-world loans) that taking on an unsecured credit risk is blatantly bad business. But bad credit is only one of many signals that should lead you to consider disqualifying a prospect. It's even more difficult to do this than it is to say it, yet sometimes such discretionary refusal is absolutely called for. If you take qualification seriously, you've got to acknowledge that not everybody can be qualified, and that not every sale you can make should be made.

In his book Secrets of Closing the Sale, Zig Ziglar relates a personal experience that beautifully demonstrates the truth of this selling principle. While shopping for a new bicycle for his son some years ago, Ziglar visited a bike shop in North Dallas. There he overheard a negotiation between the owner and an elderly woman who was intent on buying a bike for her very young grandson. The child had his heart set on a particular model-one that the boy next door had just been given--and he was insistent that his bike be identical to his friend's.

Unfortunately, as the shop owner politely pointed out to the grandmother, the child was too small for that model. There was another bicycle in stock, identical to the first except for the size, and he recommended that the boy start with this smaller model-one that he could handle safely until he grew taller.

Nothing doing. Ignoring the owner's caution about the potential danger, child and grandmother alike refused to waver. If they couldn't have a bike exactly like the one the other boy had, they would leave without buying anything. After a bit more wrangling, that's exactly what they did. The owner was flat out unwilling to sell the woman a bicycle on which her grandson might have injured himself, and figuring that the customer was always right, they left in a huff.

As Ziglar concludes, the owner's refusal of obviously "disqualified" business "set the standard for what I consider the 'professional' in the world of selling." Because of his willingness to sacrifice a sale in defense of integrity, he secured the absolute confidence of another potential customer: Ziglar acknowledges that, on the basis of that one refused sale, he would be willing to send his son into that shop with a blank check.

Equivalent examples could be drawn from any number of sophisticated venues. No matter what you sell, whenever you permit a customer to purchase something that you know doesn't fit his or her real needs, you're doing something that's just as short-sighted as accepting a bad credit risk. The immediate outcome might be a fat commission. But the eventual result will be Buyer's Remorse.