Battling Post Qualification Anxiety Disorder
We’ve all had it happen. You’ve built great rapport with a prospect. You’ve taken them all the way through your qualification process and they are seemingly a perfect fit. It’s the decision maker or direct pass down. The pain is real and your technology can solve it. They’ve validated that pain by indicating that they will spend money to alleviate it. They’ve indicated an acceptable timeframe in which they want to buy something, and you know everyone that will be involved in the decision making process. Then, after all of that, they refuse to book a specific time to meet with your sales rep. 
There is a psychology that goes along with being qualified as a prospect. In most cases they aren’t excited to be talking to a teleprospector. They want to get off the phone as soon as possible. A great BDR disarms them and begins to qualify their pains and needs. Before the prospect knows it, they have been thoroughly qualified and given quite a bit of important information to someone they are only talking to for the first time. This can, in some cases, cause what I refer to as PQAD or Post Qualification Anxiety Disorder. When a prospect experiences PQAD they tend to freeze up at the end of a call. They suddenly realize that they have been qualified and feel like they need to start reasserting themselves. The easy way for them to do this is to avoid the confirmed meeting time. By denying your request for a set time they feel some sense of reestablishment of the balance of power. I’m sure you’ve all experienced it or your team members have. Here are some easy ways to improve your close rate on qualified meetings and battle PQAD head on.
1. Clearly explain the purpose of the meeting: Make sure they know it’s not a sales call. Yes they are talking to sales person, but there is still too much to discuss before it can be called a sales call. Make the point that you are still several steps away from “selling” and that if the call proves that there isn’t a match after all, everybody will part ways friends.
2. Ignorance it bliss, leverage your own: If you manage teleprospectors or are one yourself, you need to be proud of the fact that you don’t talk technology. Your job is to ask questions, listen, and ask more questions. When dealing with PQAD, make sure they understand your role in the process. You are on the front end and want to put them in touch with someone more senior to answer all of the more technical questions they have and, if needed, talk about how much this all with cost.
3. Present your Sales Rep as the Expert: Now that you’ve leveraged your own ignorance, take it the next step and sell your sales reps credibility a bit. Present he\she as not only a sales person, but as the industry expert that they are. Your salespeople find fits for your technology all day long and as a result of that can be an invaluably insightful resource for your prospect. Yes, they are going to try and sell to them if the fit is there, but if it’s not, your prospect can still benefit from a conversation with someone that has dealt with many other companies and people in his\her space.
Nobody likes feeling anxious. Do your part to battle PQAD and handle your prospects with some TLC when booking your meetings.