The sales process · Sales qualification
Somebody has enquired. The question now is whether you should write them a proposal.
A qualifying framework is the short test you apply to a live enquiry. It decides whether that enquiry becomes a proposal, a parked opportunity with a date on it, or a polite no. It is a handful of questions, asked in conversation, with the answers written where anybody in the firm can read them.
In one paragraph
A qualifying framework is the short test you apply to a live enquiry. It decides whether that enquiry becomes a proposal, a parked opportunity with a date on it, or a polite no. It is a handful of questions, asked in conversation, with the answers written where anybody in the firm can read them.
Objection handling and the rest of the enablement work gave your salesperson what to say. This step decides who is worth saying it to. An enquiry has arrived, somebody has spoken to them, and a decision has to be made about whether the firm spends two days costing a job.
Every framework being passed around under an acronym is the same handful of questions with different letters in front. Learn the questions and the letters stop mattering. What matters far more is whether the answers get written down, because a qualification that lives only in the salesperson's memory is not a qualification, it is a mood.
And there is a harder half. Qualifying means some enquiries have to be turned away, which is the part almost nobody does. A salesperson's pipeline is the evidence they are busy, so removing a deal from it feels like confessing. Until saying no is something the firm praises, this framework will quietly approve everything.
Where this sits
Stage 6 of 10, sales qualification. How fast an enquiry is answered, and the test that decides whether it becomes a proposal or a polite no.
- The stage before
- Sales enablement
- The stage after
- Proposal and follow-up
If you want this done for you
Ask about budget, authority and timeline on every call, not just enthusiasm.
The work
What this step is actually like.
“The six questions, in plain words”
Has anybody put a number on this, even a rough one. Who signs, and have we met them. Is there a real problem underneath, or is this an idea somebody had. Is there a date this has to happen by, and what breaks if it slips. What else are they weighing up, including doing nothing. And who inside their company wants this to go ahead, because a deal with nobody pushing it from the inside does not move.
“Three outcomes, not two”
Proposal, parked, or no. The parked bucket is the honest middle: real, but not this quarter. It needs a named month and a reminder on somebody's calendar, or it is a no wearing a disguise. Most pipelines are fat because everything that should be parked is sitting in proposal stage instead.
“Saying no properly”
A polite no is a short message that says you are not the right supplier for this, gives the reason in one line, and suggests who might be. It takes four minutes. People remember being told straight, and so does the firm you pointed them towards.
“Who has to back the framework”
The owner, because the owner is the one who overrules a disqualification when the enquiry has a famous name on the letterhead. Whoever answers the phone, because the first two questions get asked there and never again if they are missed. And the salesperson, who needs to hear that a shorter pipeline will not be read as a slower month.
What we do
What you end up with.
The artefacts this step produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The one-page test
The questions in your own words, on one side of paper, with a line under each showing what a good answer sounds like and what a dodge sounds like.
Result: A new salesperson qualifies like the experienced one by week two.
Answers on the record
A field against each enquiry, in the CRM or the sheet, holding the actual answers rather than a tick. Who signs. What date. What else they are looking at.
Result: Anybody can read an enquiry without ringing the salesperson.
A written disqualification rule
The stated conditions under which an enquiry is refused, agreed in advance so the decision is never a personal judgement made under pressure.
Result: A no can be given without needing the owner's permission each time.
The polite no template
Two or three saved messages covering the usual reasons: too small to do properly, outside what you make, or a timeline you cannot honour.
Result: Refusals go out the same day instead of going unanswered.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every monthly report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No lock-in, no guarantees we cannot keep
Three to six months at a time. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 90-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak, within a few working days
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Is this the same as the scoring we do before contacting anyone?
What if a buyer will not answer the budget question?
How do we know the framework is actually being used?
Can a small firm skip this and just quote everyone?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this step further.
The rest of sales qualification
Or read the whole sales process in order.