If They’re A Pain In The Neck, They’re Not Your Prospect

Ever felt that sting of pouring hours into a “hot lead” who ghosts, lowballs, or admits there’s no budget? We’ve been there, and we built a simple filter to make sure it rarely happens again. Today we break down the four traits that separate real buyers from time sinks, and we share the exact words to use when it’s time to bow out without burning bridges.

First, we tackle the hidden cost of pursuing the wrong people—lost momentum, crowded calendars, and frayed confidence. Then we lay out a practical checklist you can use on the very first call: clear need and value for your solution, the ability to pay, direct access to the decision maker, and basic respect for you as a professional. Hit three and move forward. Hit two or fewer and move on. It sounds firm because it is, and that discipline is what protects your pipeline and your sanity.

You’ll hear why sunk-cost selling keeps you stuck, how to spot red flags like chronic disrespect or endless “maybe later,” and how to handle exits with grace. We even offer plug-and-play phrases you can copy: straightforward, kind, and final. By the end, you’ll have a faster path to yes, stronger boundaries, and a calendar filled with people who can actually say yes.

If you’re ready to qualify faster, sell smarter, and reclaim your time, this conversation gives you the tools. Subscribe for more practical sales process coaching, share this with a teammate who needs a gentle nudge to say no sooner, and leave a quick review to tell us your favorite qualification question.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open: The Odds Game
• 0:38 Show Purpose And Host Intro
• 2:07 The Cost Of Chasing Bad Leads
• 4:19 Why Qualification Protects Your Time
• 6:01 The Four Qualification Criteria
• 8:19 How To Exit Unqualified Prospects
• 9:45 Wrap Up And Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

There's a 97.64% chance that the qualified prospect will buy, while the chance of the non-qualified prospect actually doing business with you is less than 8%. Okay. Yeah, I made those numbers up. But the concept is absolutely accurate. And while I can't back up those numbers with a blind research study, I can tell you from 40 years of experience, don't waste your precious time with a non-qualified prospect. Welcome to the Commission Code Podcast. We're here to help you overcome the challenges that most of us face in our business from time to time. You know, it things like feeling like you're on a plateau and you just don't seem to grow your business, or maybe feeling overwhelmed and trying to make things leave, and yet it seems like you're always working. Or maybe you've done quite well for a while, but you know, nothing seems to be working anymore. Well, we want to help you solve those problems and many more. Our objective is to provide you with practical solutions so you can grow your business and have more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. My name is Morris Sims, and I'm going to be your host for this show. I've spent years, okay, decades really, in the corporate world teaching business owners how to increase their revenue and use professional sales processes and run their business more effectively and efficiently. I started my own consulting and training business about seven years ago, I guess, and I'm helping my clients do just exactly that. Get more revenue, increase their revenue, and have more time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I gotta tell you, I'm having more fun than ever helping people build successful businesses. So, with all that said, let's get on with today's episode of the Commission Code for Your Success. Welcome to Friday. Hey, we got another short one for you here today, but it's it's really cool. We're moving into qualifying the prospect. Yeah, and you know, do you find yourself sometimes you work very hard with a prospective buyer, you you invest a lot of time and energy just to find out that for whatever reason they don't want to proceed. Or maybe you can't get them to return a phone call or an email. Maybe, in all reality, they never plan to purchase anything. They just wanted to get whatever they could get from you. Or maybe they really had no idea whatsoever what they needed or wanted. And when you taught them, they decided it was not right for them. The bottom line is they chose not to buy your product or service. So, how many times have you engaged in that and and had that happen to you? Because I know it's happened to me a lot over the years. But when you do engage in that sales process and somebody, because you really thought they were a top prospect, and certainly they had all the characteristics of a long-term client, yet when you started working with them, you found out that they were just not very nice people and they weren't treating you with respect. They talked down to you and basically treated you very badly. I I know I've run into that before myself. Now, last question. How many times have you gotten into the process and made a recommendation just to find out that in all reality they just simply couldn't afford to do business with you? It just didn't it cash flow wasn't there, don't have the money. Well, certainly we all try to see these kind of things coming before they get to that point, but the problem is that we get so involved in the process that we miss the warning signs and we don't ask any follow-up questions. Well, the process I'm talking about here is called qualifying the prospect. A qualified prospect has certain characteristics that you can assess before you go too far down the path of the of the whole process and waste a whole lot of your time. When you find out they're not qualified, you move on to the next person and let that non-qualified prospect go. At that point, when you decide they're not qualified, you you you gotta exit. You gotta exit and you gotta exit professionally. But wait, somebody just said, but why stop? I mean, they they might just buy, they might actually be qualified. If I just take it all the way to the point of asking them to buy, why not give it a chance? Well, that's a great question. The fact is that you probably have invested some time in this prospect before you found out that they're not qualified. So why stop now? It might just work out to be a sale, right? Well, yeah, it certainly could. The chances of a non-qualified prospect actually buying your product or service well, somewhere between slim and none in all reality. So here's the answer to your question The chances are very good that the old saying would be true for you. If you keep going, you're probably throwing good money after bad. Leave the non-qualified prospect and mo move on to a real qualified prospect because there's a 97.64% chance that the qualified prospect will buy while the chance of the non-qualified prospect actually doing business with you is less than 8%. Okay, yeah, I I made those numbers up. But the concept is absolutely accurate. And while I can't back up those numbers with a blind research study, I can tell you from 40 years of experience, don't waste your precious time with a non-qualified prospect. So, how do you know? How do you know if the prospect really is qualified? Well, there are four characteristics of a qualified prospect. If your client or your prospect has all four of these, or at least three of the four, then you you can proceed. Two or less, and it's time to go on and find uh another qualified prospect. So here are the qualifications of the characteristics. First of all, they have a need or a desire for your product or service, and they value your part in the process. Number two, they can afford to pay for it. Because folks, if they can't afford it, there's nothing you can do to convince them to buy, and chances are if they can't afford it and you convince them to buy, that's not a good thing for them or for you. Number three, the third thing here is there's somebody you can approach and have a conversation with. And number four, they're not disrespectful, mean, or just a pain in the neck. And that's putting it nicely. But never forget, you're a professional and you deserve to be treated as such. Don't put up with a horse's rear end because you think you need a sale. Gather up your patience, and the real sale will come when you talk to a qualified prospect. So, what if you find they're not qualified? What do you do? Well, here's how you might want to move on. You can try one of these. You know, say I'm after working with you, I can see now that I'm just not gonna be the right person to help you with this. It's just not really in my wheelhouse anymore. Here are a couple of people that you might want to talk to, and I believe either one of these is going to be able to do an absolutely excellent job with what you need. Or yeah, one like this, maybe. Sam, I'm sorry, this just isn't working. I'm not the best option for you for this project for this project. So please check out either Sally or Joan and they can help you. And I really do appreciate all your time and effort and and the work that we've done here together. Or you know, Sam, I wish I could help you, but I believe you need somebody that you can respect and trust. And right now that doesn't look like I'm the person. So please don't hesitate to call and give them some other people, and you know, they can do a great job for you. And thank you very much for having this opportunity to begin the conversation. At that point, don't enter into a discussion and absolutely never have an argument. Just make the statement, say thanks anyway, and move on. Get out before you can be drawn back into it. Qualifying your prospects, it means that you're gonna spend more time with the people who want to do business with you instead of wasting your time with folks that chances are are not ever gonna become clients. Have a great week. Enjoy your weekend, and I will see you again next week. On Wednesday is the full podcast, and on Fridays, we'll do another one, and we'll talk about being organized and productive. Have a great weekend. Well, that does it for this episode of the Commission Code Podcast. This is the place where we want to help you find the commission code to success in your business. Remember, go to Morris Sims.com for more information. And in the meantime, hey, have a great week. Get out there and meet somebody new, and we'll see you again next time, right here on the Commission Code. Best wishes, I'm Morris Sims.