You will never be able to close each and every prospect you talk to. You know this. Your prospect knows this. Still you behave as if you can't fail in this particular sales qualification meeting. Why? Because your goal for this meeting is to win! You don't want to accept losing. And what does winning mean for you? Chances are high you think that winning means closing a deal.
The way you define your goal for the current sales qualification meeting reflects in your behavior with the prospect. If your goal is to win, your prospect might feel that you don't really care about him. You care only about yourself which means getting his money. And your prospect is right! If your objective is to win this one particular meeting, you don't care about him!
How do you react to sales people who don't care about you? You don't trust them. You will not share information with them. You want to get rid of them. You perceive it as a waste of time talking to them. And their chance of winning your business is low.
There are only three ways how a sales qualification meeting can end:
Type 1 - Qualified
Obviously this is what you want. You want to qualify your prospect and move to the next stage of the sales process. Does your prospect want the same? It depends. Your prospects likes this option only if you help him to discover the exact reasons why there is a potential for a win-win deal. Otherwise not.
Type 2 - Disqualified
If your goal is to win, then second type of outcome means you are losing. And you don't want to lose, right? Wrong!
Second type of outcome is great for you! Why is it great? Because it save you time and gives you knowledge. It saves you time because you can focus on the next prospect who might be a better match. And it gives you knowledge because you find out the exact reasons why he is disqualified. You can use this experience to be more successful in future sales qualification meetings (e.g. improve your targeting and qualify faster).
Is this outcome good for your prospect? Yes! It saves your prospect time talking to you unnecessarily. It also gives your prospect the knowledge why you are not a good match. He can then use this experience to faster find the right solution for him.
Type 3 - Not sure
This outcome is neither good for you, nor for your prospect. Why? Because you didn't learn anything. Your prospect doesn't know what are the exact reasons why he should continue investing into this relationship. And you don't know if it's worth your time to continue investing in him.
We recommend you start each sales qualification meeting with an "up-front" contract with your prospect. Start by proposing and then agreeing on the a specific goal to be reached by the end of your meeting.
Both you and your customer should be happy reaching a point of either Type 1 (qualified) or Type 2 (disqualified). Both you and your customer want to avoid Type 3 outcome (not sure).