Prospect qualification worksheet

How to use this

Fill in one copy of this worksheet for each business before you write to it. It takes about five minutes once you get the hang of it. The goal is simple: spend your outreach time on businesses that have a real website problem, can afford to fix it, and are likely to care. Score each question honestly, add up the total, and use the bands at the bottom to decide. If you track prospects in a spreadsheet, turn each section into a column.

This is not legal advice. Only collect business contact details that are publicly listed for business use, store them securely, and follow the email rules where the prospect is located (CAN-SPAM in the US, CASL in Canada, GDPR and PECR style rules in the UK and EU).

Prospect details

Field	Your notes
Business name	[Business name]
Website	[URL, or "none"]
City and state	[City, State]
Industry	[Industry]
Contact name and role	[Name, role, if public]
Public business email	[Email]
Phone	[Phone]
Where you found them	[Map listing / directory / referral / search]
Date researched	[Date]

Part 1: Is there a real problem? (0 to 10)

Open the site on a laptop and on your phone. Score each item 0 (fine), 1 (minor) or 2 (clearly broken or missing).

Check	What to look for	Score (0 to 2)	Evidence
Mobile	Text too small, buttons hard to tap, sideways scrolling	[ ]	[Page and what you saw]
Contact path	Phone, booking or form hard to find from the homepage	[ ]	[ ]
Speed	Homepage takes a long time to show anything useful	[ ]	[ ]
Trust	Outdated design, broken images, old dates, no reviews shown	[ ]	[ ]
Search basics	Missing page titles, one page for every service, no city mentioned	[ ]	[ ]
Subtotal		[ ] / 10

If there is no website at all, score this part 8 and note where they do show up online.

Part 2: Can they afford it? (0 to 6)

Signal	Score	Notes
They sell something with a decent price per customer (a dental visit, a roof, a legal case)	0 to 2	[ ]
They look established: years in business, staff, a physical location	0 to 2	[ ]
They already spend on marketing: ads, signage, a booking tool, a paid directory listing	0 to 2	[ ]
Subtotal	[ ] / 6

Part 3: Are they likely to care? (0 to 6)

Signal	Score	Notes
Recent activity: new reviews, recent social posts, a hiring notice	0 to 2	[ ]
Customers find them online: they compete in search results or map listings	0 to 2	[ ]
You can reach a decision maker directly (owner or manager email, not only a form)	0 to 2	[ ]
Subtotal	[ ] / 6

Part 4: Red flags (subtract)

• Site was rebuilt recently and looks fine (subtract 4)
• They are part of a large chain or franchise that controls the website centrally (subtract 4)
• Reviews mention closing, moving or selling the business (subtract 3)
• The only contact is a generic form with no named person (subtract 1)
• They are in a niche you do not want to serve (subtract whatever you like)

Red flag total: [ ]

Score and decision

Part	Score
Problem	[ ] / 10
Afford	[ ] / 6
Care	[ ] / 6
Red flags	minus [ ]
Total	[ ] / 22

Total	What to do
15 and up	Write to them this week. Personalize carefully.
10 to 14	Worth a message if your list is short.
Under 10	Skip for now. Note why so you do not research them again.

These bands are a starting point, not a rule. Adjust them once you see which prospects actually reply.

Your one line hook

Write the single observation you will lead with in your email. If you cannot write it in one sentence, you have not found it yet.

[On the [page] page, [specific thing], which means [consequence for their customers].]

Final checks

• I looked at the site myself on a phone and a laptop
• My evidence notes are specific enough that I could show them on a call
• The contact email is publicly listed for business use
• I have not contacted this business before, or it has been long enough and they did not opt out
• I added them to my tracker with today's date and status "researched"