The Silent Difference Between Interest and Intent
For sales reps whose pipelines are full of deals that go nowhere, this article addresses a core problem: confusing polite interest with genuine buying intent. An "interested" prospect says your demo was "very interesting" and then ghosts you. A prospect with intent asks hard questions and commits to next steps. We'll show you how to spot the difference and test for true intent.
What "Interest" Looks Like
Interest is passive. It is a sign of curiosity, not commitment. It is cheap. Often, an interested lead is what causes a high-intent lead to ghost you later on.
- Vague compliments: "This looks cool."
- Information gathering: "Can you send me some more information?"
- No commitment to next steps: "We will review this internally and get back to you."
- Focus on features: They ask a lot of questions about what your product does, but not about how it solves their specific problem.
A prospect showing interest is essentially window shopping. They are browsing, but they have no immediate plan to buy.
What "Intent" Looks Like
Intent is active. It is a sign of a real, painful problem that needs to be solved. It is expensive.
- Specific, problem-focused questions: "How would this integrate with our Salesforce instance? We have a problem with data syncing."
- Willingness to commit resources: They are willing to bring other stakeholders (like their boss or the head of IT) into the conversation.
- Asking about implementation and onboarding: They are thinking about the practicalities of using your product, not just the features.
- Discussing price and ROI: They are trying to build a business case. Our pricing page is designed to help with this.
Interest is when a prospect asks what your product does. Intent is when they ask what your product does for them.
How to Test for Intent
Your job as a salesperson is to test for intent. You must move the prospect from passive interest to active commitment. You do this by asking for small, incremental commitments.
- Instead of sending information, ask to schedule a 15-minute call to walk them through it in the context of their business.
- Instead of accepting "we'll review it," propose a specific next step with a date: "Great. Does it make sense for us to schedule a follow-up for next Tuesday to discuss your team's feedback?"
- Instead of answering endless feature questions, pivot back to the problem: "That's a great question. Before I answer, can you help me understand why that feature is important for what you're trying to accomplish?"
The Takeaway: Stop Filling Your Pipeline with Hope
Stop filling your pipeline with "interested" leads. It gives you a false sense of security and wastes your time. Be ruthless in qualifying for genuine intent. A smaller pipeline filled with high-intent prospects is infinitely more valuable than a large pipeline filled with polite curiosity. It is the only way to build a predictable revenue engine.