For sales divisions in larger companies that have the luxury of working in conjunction with a marketing division, the process of qualifying in sales is a team effort. Standalone sales teams at smaller businesses, however, have to get creative in their qualifying processes.

Independent sales teams should ‘build a straw man’. A straw man is a model that represents a business’s ideal prospect, and reveals how that prospect relates to their prime market, their target and their prospect space. The best straw man is one that is minutely detailed in identifying a specific target audience. The first step toward creating a straw man is to create a written checklist based on a list of questions.

When building a straw man the following should be considered:

• The identity of the target.
• Who consumes the product.
• The likely markets and spaces for the product.
• The propensity to buy.
• The quantity purchased.
• The frequency with which the target purchases.
• The rate at which consumption increases or decreases.
• The price point in that marketplace.
• Whether or not additional sales are possible (If you sell them A, can you also sell them B and C at the same time?)
• Whether there is an opportunity to upsell.
• How prepared the business is to sell the product.
• The resources required.
• The barriers to entry.
• An analysis of whether or not a competitor can take a market share, and what kind of investment that would require. This is critical because the prospect represented by the straw man may be waiting for a competitor to enter the market.
• The business size and ability to consume the product.
• Whether or not the business has the ability to pay.
• Where the product or service stands in the market, and how easily the prospect can secure it elsewhere.
• Whether it is a premium product or commodity product.
• If it is a high service-based product.
• If there is recurrent revenue.
• The typical lifecycle of the client.
• If there is any reference ability or case studies in the marketplace.

The straw man model is a tool that sales teams can create quickly with incomplete data. It gives insight into the circumstances and behaviors that are likely to drive a real-life prospect. Details are the key to success. The more granular the details, the more complete the straw man — and the more prepared the sales team will be to engage the prospect in real life.