Show Notes
John writes: "I keep getting leads, but nobody buys. They ask questions, say they'll think about it, and I never hear back. How do I tell who's serious?"
The belief shift: Tire kickers aren't born. They're made—by your marketing, your process, and your sales approach.
Check your marketing first. A cleaning company kept getting calls for floor polishing. They didn't do that. Turns out their stock photos showed shiny, polished floors. The signal didn't match the service.
Self-qualification works. One company's form ended with: "If we're a good match, we'll let you know within 24 hours." Scott felt like he won when he got the call. The dynamic flipped—he was selling them on himself, not the other way around.
Not all leads are equal. The person in line with money in hand is not the same as the person on the phone asking questions. Treat them accordingly.
The Visibility Trap: If you don't know the problems you solve, you can't attract the right people.
Before the call: Think "I'm here to qualify, not pitch."
During the call: Ask "What brings you in today?"—like a doctor. Diagnose before prescribing. Are you solving their problem or convincing them they have one?
The close: Your tire kickers aren't really tire kickers. They just haven't figured out that you're the solution to their problem.
Got a business question? Ask Scott here: scotttodd.net/ask
📜 Full Transcript (Click to expand)
Scott Todd (00:02.958)
Today we're talking about tire kickers, and what kicks us off here is John's question. John asks, I keep getting leads, but nobody buys. They ask a bunch of questions, so they'll say they'll think about it, and then never hear back from them again. I feel like I'm wasting time on each lead. How do I tell who's serious before I waste my time? Well, John, welcome to Fix My Business.
And I'm your host, Scott Todd. I've built multiple seven-figure businesses after I left my Fortune 300 VP job in corporate America. And I want to help you do the same thing and build a business that you love. So, John, this is an important thing because tire kickers are never born. Okay, like someone doesn't wake up today and decide, like, I'm just gonna waste someone's time and ask for information.
Usually what happens is they are made through a series of different events. And it begins with your marketing, which if you think about it, marketing is the starting point of all leads, right? Like so marketing and vague marketing attracts browsers, not people who want to buy. And sometimes little things within your marketing will trigger to somebody a signal and then
That's what's in their brain. And then they want you to solve it. And you're like, well, I don't solve that problem, or I can't solve that problem. So it sometimes begins with marketing. So let me give you example. A few years ago, I was working with a service company. They provided cleaning services, industrial cleaning services like stores, et cetera. And they kept getting calls from people that wanted those their floors like polished.
Okay, so if you've ever been to like a grocery store and the floor looks all polished and everything, that's what they wanted. A lot of the leads that were coming in were these, you know, polishing services. And they're like, well, we don't do that. Okay. Well, number one, if you're finding yourself saying that you don't do something, well, maybe you found some untapped demand that you should consider, but that's a different podcast. So what happened was when they looked back holistically at their marketing, what they discovered is that in their imagery.
Scott Todd (02:19.176)
The images that they were using, like the stock photos that they were using, it had like this polished, shiny floor. So the signal that was in the marketplace was that was their work, but it wasn't their work. So there was a misconception and they were triggering the wrong type of buyers, which you could look at and say, well, those were tire kickers, but they had a problem to solve. Everybody has a problem to solve. It's a real problem or a perceived problem.
So when you're dealing with your marketing, you have to go back and look at your marketing. Is your marketing attracting the type of people that you can serve or that you want to serve? The next thing to consider is: can you put in some qualification step before you have that conversation? Can you get them to self-qualify in some way? So today you'll find a lot of companies that they'll use, like you know, forms where you have to put in the information. And if the form
gives them the right information or if they provide the right information on the form, well then they kick off to the next step, which is sometimes a sales conversation. And many years ago, about a year and a half ago, actually, I was dealing with a company. I wanted a I wanted to work with a company. So I went to their website, I filled out the form, and it asked me a bunch of questions, you know, like your normal type form, like you know self qualifying thing. And I got to the end and I expected like a calendar, like book a call with us.
And that didn't exist. And it said, Hey, we've received your request. If we're a good match, we'll let you know within 24 hours. I was like, Wow, that's different. And then within 24 hours, I got an email that said, Hey, we think we're a good match, but let's schedule a call. Here's the call. So then when I got on the call, they essentially had me already qualified and knew that I was a good match. And in some way, when I got on that call, I felt like I won.
I felt like I got in. So the perception of mine was that all of a sudden I'm having to sell them on me instead of them having to sell me on them. See, there's a difference there. So does that make sense for your business? It may or may not make sense for the for your business. Only you would know, and only you have to look through the process. But it's about building the customer journey that you want. Okay. So that's an important piece. The next thing to consider is that a lot of times sales.
Scott Todd (04:43.249)
Teams and business owners, managers treat every lead the same. And not every lead is the same. Let me give you an example. this is somewhat of a pet peeve, but it's also relevant when you look at it. I think it's relevant when you look at it from what I'm gonna try to connect the dots here for you. And here it is. Have you ever been inside of a store where you're in line and the phone rings? Now you're in line to buy something.
Money in hand, you're ready to go. The phone rings, and of course they answer the phone. And then they start answering all of that person's questions. See, the two people are not the same. The person on the phone would represent future business. The person in store in person is present vis business. So when a business treats the two of them the same or prioritizes the phone over the face to face.
You're in a way, what you're doing is you're alienating those customers. And when you have leads that you treat the same, ultimately what's happening is you could be letting your best leads get away from you. So, in some way, what you really need to think about is okay, how can I identify the truly good leads? And this goes from that conversation that we had about self-qualifying, but how can we do this so we can prioritize the leads that really
are more likely to close with us. And that comes from you really knowing your customer. Now, here's the thing. Before the call, and the first thing I want you to think about is is your marketing attracting the right people? Is it solving the right problem? And this is I've talked about the traps. This is the visibility trap at play. If you don't know the value that you're creating for the market, if you don't know the problems that you solve for people, then you're you have a visibility trap
And you need to really solve that problem because when you solve that problem, this is who this is targeted toward, your audience gets stronger and you will grow that piece. Before the start of the call, I want you thinking about, hey, I'm not here to pitch them. I'm here to qualify them. Think about, think about when you go to the doctor, you walk into the doctor's office, you're sitting there, the doctor comes in, might exchange some pleasantries, but what does the doctor say?
Scott Todd (07:10.36)
What brings you in today? It's a qualifying question. See, the doctor wants to hear from you why you're there. Okay. my neck, my throat hurts. Okay, the doctor's now trying to solve the problem. The doctor's trying to work it through. The doctor doesn't walk in and say, here, here's some medicine for you. The doctor is simply trying to understand what problem you have and how they can solve it.
So when you get on a sales call, what I want you thinking about is okay, I need to ask questions to understand how I can help them. What problem are they trying to solve so that you can connect what you have to the problem that they're trying to solve? And when you do that, the sale will be a lot faster because, well, we want to buy problems. We want to buy solutions to our problems. Okay. And finally, during the call, I want you thinking about like, are you solving their problem?
Or are you trying to convince them that they have one? And let's go back to our doctor example for a minute. See, the doctor is not sitting there trying to convince you that you have a broken arm. Number one, you already know you have a broken arm. And if you didn't know, well, then he can show you an x-ray and say, there's a broken arm. You're like, I got it. See, the doctor is trying to solve your problem. And so that prescription that he's going to write you is going to solve that problem. And you're like,
Give it to me, man. I'm tired of being in pain. I'm tired of having this cough, whatever problem you have. And where the doctor is not really solving your problem and they're convincing you, all of a sudden it's a different, different dynamic. So if you find yourself on a call, a sales call, and you're not trying to solve their problem because you don't know what their problem is, or you're just trying to reach for the sale and then you're convincing people.
Well, now you have a different dynamic. If you're convincing people to do something, they're probably not gonna do it. They're probably gonna feel that. But if you're solving a problem for them and they feel like you can truly step up and solve that problem, real problem or perceived problem, well, then the entire process is different. And I think that when you do it that way, you will find that your tire kickers aren't really tire kickers.
Scott Todd (09:32.48)
They're tire kickers because they haven't figured out that you're the solution to their problem. John, so go solve their problems. And if you have a business problem, I want you to head over to Scott Todd.net forward slash ask. And I will see you in our next episode.
Today we're talking about tire kickers, and what kicks us off here is John's question. John asks, I keep getting leads, but nobody buys. They ask a bunch of questions, so they'll say they'll think about it, and then never hear back from them again. I feel like I'm wasting time on each lead. How do I tell who's serious before I waste my time? Well, John, welcome to Fix My Business.
And I'm your host, Scott Todd. I've built multiple seven-figure businesses after I left my Fortune 300 VP job in corporate America. And I want to help you do the same thing and build a business that you love. So, John, this is an important thing because tire kickers are never born. Okay, like someone doesn't wake up today and decide, like, I'm just gonna waste someone's time and ask for information.
Usually what happens is they are made through a series of different events. And it begins with your marketing, which if you think about it, marketing is the starting point of all leads, right? Like so marketing and vague marketing attracts browsers, not people who want to buy. And sometimes little things within your marketing will trigger to somebody a signal and then
That's what's in their brain. And then they want you to solve it. And you're like, well, I don't solve that problem, or I can't solve that problem. So it sometimes begins with marketing. So let me give you example. A few years ago, I was working with a service company. They provided cleaning services, industrial cleaning services like stores, et cetera. And they kept getting calls from people that wanted those their floors like polished.
Okay, so if you've ever been to like a grocery store and the floor looks all polished and everything, that's what they wanted. A lot of the leads that were coming in were these, you know, polishing services. And they're like, well, we don't do that. Okay. Well, number one, if you're finding yourself saying that you don't do something, well, maybe you found some untapped demand that you should consider, but that's a different podcast. So what happened was when they looked back holistically at their marketing, what they discovered is that in their imagery.
Scott Todd (02:19.176)
The images that they were using, like the stock photos that they were using, it had like this polished, shiny floor. So the signal that was in the marketplace was that was their work, but it wasn't their work. So there was a misconception and they were triggering the wrong type of buyers, which you could look at and say, well, those were tire kickers, but they had a problem to solve. Everybody has a problem to solve. It's a real problem or a perceived problem.
So when you're dealing with your marketing, you have to go back and look at your marketing. Is your marketing attracting the type of people that you can serve or that you want to serve? The next thing to consider is: can you put in some qualification step before you have that conversation? Can you get them to self-qualify in some way? So today you'll find a lot of companies that they'll use, like you know, forms where you have to put in the information. And if the form
gives them the right information or if they provide the right information on the form, well then they kick off to the next step, which is sometimes a sales conversation. And many years ago, about a year and a half ago, actually, I was dealing with a company. I wanted a I wanted to work with a company. So I went to their website, I filled out the form, and it asked me a bunch of questions, you know, like your normal type form, like you know self qualifying thing. And I got to the end and I expected like a calendar, like book a call with us.
And that didn't exist. And it said, Hey, we've received your request. If we're a good match, we'll let you know within 24 hours. I was like, Wow, that's different. And then within 24 hours, I got an email that said, Hey, we think we're a good match, but let's schedule a call. Here's the call. So then when I got on the call, they essentially had me already qualified and knew that I was a good match. And in some way, when I got on that call, I felt like I won.
I felt like I got in. So the perception of mine was that all of a sudden I'm having to sell them on me instead of them having to sell me on them. See, there's a difference there. So does that make sense for your business? It may or may not make sense for the for your business. Only you would know, and only you have to look through the process. But it's about building the customer journey that you want. Okay. So that's an important piece. The next thing to consider is that a lot of times sales.
Scott Todd (04:43.249)
Teams and business owners, managers treat every lead the same. And not every lead is the same. Let me give you an example. this is somewhat of a pet peeve, but it's also relevant when you look at it. I think it's relevant when you look at it from what I'm gonna try to connect the dots here for you. And here it is. Have you ever been inside of a store where you're in line and the phone rings? Now you're in line to buy something.
Money in hand, you're ready to go. The phone rings, and of course they answer the phone. And then they start answering all of that person's questions. See, the two people are not the same. The person on the phone would represent future business. The person in store in person is present vis business. So when a business treats the two of them the same or prioritizes the phone over the face to face.
You're in a way, what you're doing is you're alienating those customers. And when you have leads that you treat the same, ultimately what's happening is you could be letting your best leads get away from you. So, in some way, what you really need to think about is okay, how can I identify the truly good leads? And this goes from that conversation that we had about self-qualifying, but how can we do this so we can prioritize the leads that really
are more likely to close with us. And that comes from you really knowing your customer. Now, here's the thing. Before the call, and the first thing I want you to think about is is your marketing attracting the right people? Is it solving the right problem? And this is I've talked about the traps. This is the visibility trap at play. If you don't know the value that you're creating for the market, if you don't know the problems that you solve for people, then you're you have a visibility trap
And you need to really solve that problem because when you solve that problem, this is who this is targeted toward, your audience gets stronger and you will grow that piece. Before the start of the call, I want you thinking about, hey, I'm not here to pitch them. I'm here to qualify them. Think about, think about when you go to the doctor, you walk into the doctor's office, you're sitting there, the doctor comes in, might exchange some pleasantries, but what does the doctor say?
Scott Todd (07:10.36)
What brings you in today? It's a qualifying question. See, the doctor wants to hear from you why you're there. Okay. my neck, my throat hurts. Okay, the doctor's now trying to solve the problem. The doctor's trying to work it through. The doctor doesn't walk in and say, here, here's some medicine for you. The doctor is simply trying to understand what problem you have and how they can solve it.
So when you get on a sales call, what I want you thinking about is okay, I need to ask questions to understand how I can help them. What problem are they trying to solve so that you can connect what you have to the problem that they're trying to solve? And when you do that, the sale will be a lot faster because, well, we want to buy problems. We want to buy solutions to our problems. Okay. And finally, during the call, I want you thinking about like, are you solving their problem?
Or are you trying to convince them that they have one? And let's go back to our doctor example for a minute. See, the doctor is not sitting there trying to convince you that you have a broken arm. Number one, you already know you have a broken arm. And if you didn't know, well, then he can show you an x-ray and say, there's a broken arm. You're like, I got it. See, the doctor is trying to solve your problem. And so that prescription that he's going to write you is going to solve that problem. And you're like,
Give it to me, man. I'm tired of being in pain. I'm tired of having this cough, whatever problem you have. And where the doctor is not really solving your problem and they're convincing you, all of a sudden it's a different, different dynamic. So if you find yourself on a call, a sales call, and you're not trying to solve their problem because you don't know what their problem is, or you're just trying to reach for the sale and then you're convincing people.
Well, now you have a different dynamic. If you're convincing people to do something, they're probably not gonna do it. They're probably gonna feel that. But if you're solving a problem for them and they feel like you can truly step up and solve that problem, real problem or perceived problem, well, then the entire process is different. And I think that when you do it that way, you will find that your tire kickers aren't really tire kickers.
Scott Todd (09:32.48)
They're tire kickers because they haven't figured out that you're the solution to their problem. John, so go solve their problems. And if you have a business problem, I want you to head over to Scott Todd.net forward slash ask. And I will see you in our next episode.