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Sales & Retail vocabulary · Prospecting & Leads

Qualify

Meaning in sales & retail, with examples

/ˈkwɑːlɪfaɪ/verbCore term

In sales & retail, qualify means: To check whether a lead is worth pursuing by finding out if they have a real need, a budget, the authority to buy and a realistic timeline.

In Turkish: nitelendirmek, uygunluğunu değerlendirmek

How it is used

A standard step early in the sales process. You qualify a lead or a prospect; a lead that passes is qualified, and one that fails is disqualified or qualified out. Many teams use checklists such as BANT (budget, authority, need, timeline).

Example sentences

  1. Before you book a demo, qualify the lead: do they actually have a budget this year?

  2. Only 30 of the 200 leads from the fair were qualified.

Common collocations

  • qualify a lead
  • qualified lead
  • qualify out
  • qualification criteria
  • qualifying questions
  • leadA person or company that may become a customer, for example someone who downloaded a brochure, called for information or was found through research.
  • prospectA possible customer who has been checked and seems a good fit, with a real need for the product and the ability to buy it.
  • ideal customer profileA description of the type of company that would benefit most from your product and be most valuable to you, based on factors such as industry, size and location.
  • decision-makerThe person in a company who has the authority to approve a purchase and sign the contract, such as a director or the owner.
  • discovery callAn early conversation with a prospect in which the seller asks questions to understand their situation, problems and goals before suggesting a solution.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Prospecting & Leads

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