Lead qualification · Sales
Ask about budget, authority and timeline on every call, not just enthusiasm.
A rep can spend an hour with someone who was never in a position to buy, simply because nobody asked the questions that would have revealed that early. Without agreed qualification criteria, one rep asks about budget on the first call while another never mentions it until the third. The difference shows up as wasted time nobody can quite explain.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Lead qualification is the set of questions a rep asks during a live conversation to find out whether an enquiry can actually buy. GullySales defines the questions in your own words, trains the team to ask them naturally, and checks the criteria are actually used call after call.
We define what a genuinely qualified lead looks like for your business, covering budget, authority, need and timeline in plain language, not generic sales jargon. We turn that into a short set of questions a rep can ask naturally in conversation. The answers get captured in your CRM so a lead's qualification status is visible to anyone, not just the person who spoke to them.
This is a live, conversational discipline, distinct from an automated score calculated from form data.
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“A rep spends an hour with someone who was never going to buy.”
No question was asked early enough to reveal there was no budget or no real authority to decide.
“Different reps ask different questions.”
Qualification depends entirely on who happened to pick up the call, with no shared standard across the team.
“An enquiry is marked interested with no real check.”
Enthusiasm on a call gets recorded as a strong lead, with nothing checked on budget, timeline or decision-making authority.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
Qualification criteria
A clear, written definition of what makes a lead qualified for your business specifically, not a generic checklist.
Conversation questions
A short set of natural questions built to surface budget, authority, need and timeline without sounding like an interrogation.
CRM fields
Fields set up to capture qualification answers, so a lead's status is visible to anyone looking at the record.
Rep training
Coaching on asking qualifying questions naturally within a real conversation, not as a rigid script.
Consistency checks
A review of whether qualification is actually being applied the same way across the team.
How the result is measured
- Leads qualified against the agreed criteria
- Conversion rate from qualified lead to close
- Time spent on leads that were never qualified
- Consistency of qualification across reps
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Sales teams where different reps qualify enquiries differently, or not at all
- Businesses whose reps regularly spend significant time on enquiries that were never going to close
- Companies whose CRM has no reliable field showing whether a lead has actually been qualified
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Your sales cycle is very short and low-value, where a full qualification conversation adds more friction than it saves
- You want this fully automated with no rep conversation involved; that fits AI lead qualification and scoring more closely
How it works
From your first message to the first report.
No open-ended retainer. Every step gives you something in writing.
First
Your brief
You tell us what you need in a few short steps: your business, what you want, where enquiries come from and how they are handled.
After the brief
A conversation and a written scope
We read it, then talk with whoever handles your enquiries. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come in writing, and nothing starts before you have read them.
Before work starts
Baseline recorded
The numbers this work is meant to move, such as enquiries, quotations, orders, visits or renewals, written down so every later report has an honest comparison.
After the baseline
The first fix goes live
The fix we agreed to start with is put in place and measured against the baseline, whether that is a reply, a follow-up, a page, a listing or the handover between marketing and sales.
As agreed
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.
At renewal
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.
How the lead qualification work runs
- 1
Define what qualified means
We work with your team to agree what a genuinely qualified lead looks like, based on what actually closes.
- 2
Build the questions
Natural questions are developed that surface the needed information without feeling like a checklist to the buyer.
- 3
Train the team
Reps practise asking the questions naturally, with feedback on tone as much as content.
- 4
Capture in the CRM
Answers are recorded against the lead record, so qualification status is visible beyond the rep who asked.
Proof
What happened when owners fixed this.
Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.
Kambar Group
- Situation
- Selling ran on instinct. There was no settled sales process and no objectives concrete enough to measure a month against.
- What we did
- Direction and targets
- The customers researched
- Prospecting and qualification
- Marketing channels developed
- Result
- No numbers were recorded for this engagement. The work is described in full in the case study.
Also worked with
Chord Road Hospital · Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Felicity Inn · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kalessi · Kerur Pain Clinic · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · SB Engineering · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios
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 later 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 guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. 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.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with your brief and a conversation.
Option 1
The conversation on its own
A call after you send your brief. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix that matters most, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
An ongoing programme
We run the work, report against the baseline, and you renew on the numbers. The term and the reporting are agreed in writing first.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Is this the same as lead scoring?
Won't asking about budget put buyers off?
What if a lead refuses to answer a qualifying question?
How is this priced?
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?
By industry
Lead qualification, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Read before you buy
- What a buyer wants in a sheet metal quotation: drawing, material, quantity, finishWhat a sheet metal fabrication quotation should say so the buyer can check it and nobody argues at delivery: a block repeating what you understood, the rate and its inclusions, and when a shorter quote will do.
- How to run a discovery meeting that ends with a next stepA discovery meeting agenda for small firms: what to ask in what order, the notes worth taking, and the closing sentence that puts a date on the next step before you leave the room.
- How to improve lead quality before increasing your advertising budgetBefore you raise ad spend, check four numbers: cost per qualified lead, reply time, lead-to-order rate and the mix of sources. If they are weak, more budget buys more of the same problem.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.