BizDev Hub

Qualification Worksheet

Questions to qualify, shape, and win complex opportunities. Work through each section to stress-test your position before committing resources.

1
Why Would They Buy?
Pain & Value Proposition
  • Do their stated priorities truly drive decisions and behavior — or are they mostly messaging?
  • Are those priorities reflected in what they measure, fund, and reward?
  • What have you observed that confirms their real values and priorities?
  • What evidence supports this, and how can you help them advance what matters most?
  • Have you validated your understanding externally (customers, analysts, partners, public sources)?
  • Can you link this opportunity to relevant industry trends?
  • Are the client's issues primarily driven by industry-wide forces or company-specific circumstances?
  • Which KPIs matter most to the client?
  • Are any KPI shortfalls symptoms of deeper (dormant) pain?
  • Do they need a culture or behavior shift to meet the challenges they face?
  • Who are the internal catalysts for culture change?
  • Are requirements defined — by whom — and what business drivers sit behind them?
  • What issues matter most right now, and what's likely to matter next?
  • Can you ethically and credibly reframe the issues in your favor?
2
Differentiation
Your competitive position and winning strategy
  • If this is an existing client, what criteria are you using to evaluate their level of satisfaction?
  • Do you know how the company views your competitors?
  • If there is no relationship, how will you learn how they view you (and the market)?
  • Are you doing work for any of the client's customers, competitors, or business partners?
  • Do you have relationships with outside forces on the client that can be leveraged? Does your competitor?
  • Have you considered collaborating with other business partners to strengthen your position?
  • Why have you chosen your winning strategy — and how will the competitor try to neutralize it?
  • Do these strategic benefits tie directly to the critical business issues you identified?
  • Are you proposing what the customer says they want — or what they truly need?
  • If there are potential showstoppers, have you identified and assessed them?
  • Have you assessed mutual fit (technical, functional, methodology, price, culture)?
  • What could cause your strategy to fail — and what is your mitigation plan?
3
Why Would They Buy Now?
Their Urgency
  • What is the client trying to accomplish, and how do you fit?
  • Why are these issues important to the client right now? How do you know?
  • Is this what senior management is focused on? Who verified it?
  • Do you understand the impact of these issues on their business (financial, operational, reputational, strategic)?
  • What impending event, deadline, or risk is driving action now?
  • Have you confirmed the source of urgency with someone who has power?
  • What could cause the urgency to change or fade?
  • What is the consequence of delay — business impact or political fallout?
  • What is the cost of lost benefits if the client does not move forward?
4
How Much Is the Opportunity?
Deal size, budget, and momentum
  • Value, discount, and scope — what is the current estimate, and how confident are you in it?
  • What is the client's experience buying and implementing similar solutions — advantage or disadvantage?
  • Is the project budgeted? If not, can funding be made available — and by whom?
  • Is the business problem large enough to motivate the client to buy?
  • What stage of evaluation are you in right now?
  • Is your sales cycle in sync with the client's buying cycle? When will they decide?
  • Is momentum increasing or decreasing — why?
  • Given the decision process and urgency, does the process advantage you or a competitor?
  • Are there other projects or events that could threaten or delay this initiative?
5
Who Cares?
Stakeholder mapping and intelligence
  • Have you spoken with people across the client organization (beyond your immediate contacts)?
  • Who will personally benefit from the outcomes you are proposing?
  • What criteria do they believe will be used to differentiate vendors — and are those criteria prioritized?
  • Who are potential influencers (formal and informal)?
  • Who is giving you inside information, and why? Have you confirmed it with multiple sources?
  • Have you personally called on all of these people? If not, how do you know the information is accurate?
  • Do you have a power sponsor — are they politically astute and do they have the power to influence the decision?
  • Who supports your competitors — and why?
  • What is your strategy for managing competitor supporters (change preference, outvote, disconnect, or discredit with facts)?
  • Does this project have a political sponsor?
6
Who Matters?
Decision Process & Politics
  • How do the benefits tie to the agendas of the powerful stakeholders?
  • Are the requirements likely to change in the 'crucible' stage?
  • Do you have access to the right people to address major blind spots?
  • If the client had to vote today, would you win or lose — and why?
  • Is there a defined decision-making process, and what phase are they currently in?
  • How do they think they will decide — and what could change the process?
  • Who else could become involved? Is corporate or board approval required?
  • If the decision-making process turns political (the Crucible Effect), what do you predict will happen?
  • Who have you not called on that could have major pain or power to influence the decision?
7
What Next?
Action Plan
  • What is your sales objective — frontal, flanking, or fractional?
  • If it is too early to set one, when will you decide? (Add to the tactical action plan.)
  • How will you gain and document a client commitment?
  • How will you communicate the plan to the rest of the team?
  • Do you have the resources and the right people to execute your strategy?
  • Are your tactics consistent with your strategy?
  • Are your tactics helping you gain control of the sale — or are you reacting to the client/competitor agenda?
  • Do the action plans address the major blind spots?
Key Concept

The Canyon & The Crucible

Two critical, high-pressure phases in complex competitive evaluations where deals most often fail — due to political misalignment, information gaps, or buyer indecision.

The Canyon — The Information Gap

  • Momentum loss: early excitement fades and the deal enters a limbo state where stakeholders lose focus
  • Political disconnect: the sale stalls when the team relies on a funnel instead of understanding the internal champion's political power
  • Probability trap: pipelines may show 10–20% probability, but if momentum hasn't crossed a threshold, true probability can be near zero

The Crucible — The Pressure of Decision

  • Stakeholder division: buying organizations form divided camps with conflicting priorities, creating a political battleground
  • Indecision and fear: many losses are due to inability to commit — not preference for a competitor
  • JOLT response: high performers reduce indecision by judging it, offering recommendations, limiting exploration, and taking risk off the table
  • Identify the power championEnsure your sponsor has the political capital to push the deal through when momentum fades.
  • Focus on loss aversionAddress fear of messing up (FOMU) in addition to fear of missing out (FOMO).
  • Limit research late in the cyclePrevent analysis paralysis by keeping the team aligned and focused.
  • Control the narrativeFrame the decision as a necessary evolution, not a risky disruption.

Overall Notes & Observations