Qualifying the prospect
Qualifying the prospect: interest is not an opportunity
Qualifying the prospect means confirming there is a real problem, that it is worth money and that the person you are talking to decides. Tim Kilroy teaches agencies to count a deal as qualified only when all three are agreed out loud.
Last updated · Published by Tim Kilroy
How do I know if an agency prospect is actually qualified?
A prospect is qualified when you have both agreed out loud that there is a real problem, that it is worth money and that they are the one who decides. Tim Kilroy's practical test is simple: can you name the problem in their words? If not, you have interest, which is a different and earlier stage of the funnel.
Definition
Qualification, defined
Qualificationis the stage between interest and proposal in Tim Kilroy's five-stage agency funnel. It exists to stop agencies writing proposals for people who were only being polite. In his funnel, every stage counts only when the prospect did something observable, not when you did something or had a good feeling about the call.
He notes that half of all funnel inflation in agencies comes from counting your own activity as the prospect's intent. Qualification is where that inflation gets caught.
Procedure
The three-part qualification test
A real problem
They describe it themselves, specifically, and you can repeat it in their words.Worth money
Solving it matters enough that budget exists or can be found.They decide
You are talking to the decision maker, or you know exactly who is and how to reach them.
Counts when: you can name the problem in their words.
Comparison
Interested versus qualified
| Stage | Counts when | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Interested | They took an action, such as a reply or a dated meeting | Run a real discovery call |
| Qualified | Problem, value and decision maker agreed out loud | Prepare a written proposal |
Practical
Find where qualification leaks
Tim Kilroy's leak test takes about twenty minutes and a spreadsheet. Pull the last 90 days, count how many prospects entered each stage and calculate the conversion from each stage to the next. If many prospects reach proposal but few close, qualification is probably too loose. If few reach qualified at all, discovery or targeting is the issue.
Qualifying starts on the agency discovery call, and it improves fastest with marketing agency coaching that reviews real deals.
Common questions
- How do I qualify a prospect for my agency?
- In Tim Kilroy’s sales funnel, a prospect counts as qualified only when you have both agreed out loud that there is a real problem, that it is worth money and that they are the one who decides. A practical test is whether you can name the problem in their words. Anything less is interest, not qualification.
- What should I learn on a discovery call?
- Tim Kilroy lists five things: what is broken in the prospect’s business, how big the problem actually is, what they have already tried, how they make decisions and whether you can genuinely help. If you leave knowing those, the call worked. If you mainly presented your process and case studies, it was a pitch with a question stapled to the end.
- Why do prospects ghost after the discovery call?
- The most common reason Tim Kilroy sees is that the call was a pitch, not discovery. When you pivot to your services before understanding the need, you give the generic version, which sounds like every other agency. The prospect asks for a proposal, you send it and they go quiet. Deeper understanding on the call is the fix.
- Why do we keep losing deals on price?
- Usually because the agency sells effort while the buyer pays for an outcome. When a prospect cannot see the specific change you create, the rate is the only thing left to compare. Tim Kilroy’s fix is to shift the conversation to the outcome, raise the floor on who you take and walk away from deals that anchor you low.
- How many sales conversations do I need each week?
- Use pipeline math. Divide your quarterly revenue goal by average deal size to get deals needed, divide by your close rate to get proposals, divide by your proposal rate to get conversations, then divide by 13 weeks. Tim Kilroy teaches this formula, and the pipeline math calculator on this site runs it with your own numbers.
- What should I prepare before the first call?
- Bring your recent revenue, profit and pipeline numbers, plus a short list of what keeps you up at night. Tim Kilroy’s call page invites owners to talk about revenue, team, pipeline and operations. If you can, pull your last 90 days of prospects by funnel stage, which is the leak test from his sales funnel guide.
Stop writing proposals for polite strangers.
Contact Tim Kilroy to review how your agency qualifies deals.