qualify

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Sarunnio

#522447 Tue, 03 Jun 08 02:39 PM

I'm not sure if I'm correct or not about the meaning of this word "qualify".
I gathered information from a company and let my friend build a certain product for me. Howerver, they've come out with a question as follows.

Have you qualified with the customer what they are looking for?

Does it mean "to make certain that product fit customer's requirement"?
Can anyone please explain what it really means in this context?

Thanks in Advance,

Sarunnio

Joined on Fri, Oct 7 2005

Junior Member (66)

Philip

#522462 Tue, 03 Jun 08 03:32 PM

"To make certain" is a good definition, comparable to American Heritage Dictionary's "to modify, limit or restrict, as by giving exceptions".

I haven't seen the word used as you have offered it here, but it seems to fit. "Let me qualify my previous remarks by adding that....." is certainly a common usage.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (5,886)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

Avangi

#522479 Tue, 03 Jun 08 04:00 PM

If "they" (they've come out with a question) are the company, then who is the customer?

Usually "Qualified" has to do with inspection. There's a relatively new (new to me anyway) internationally accepted system called ISO 9000, or something like that which requires manufacturers to go through a lengthy "qualifying" procedure, after which they are allowed to routinely forgo some types of inspections on a job by job basis. (I'm sure that's over-simplified.)

Earlier, in the early sixties, I set up expensive machines for the manufacturer in the customer's plant. Each one had to be "qualified" (accepted) by the customer's in-house inspection team, through a series of test runs. (Like a qualifying run for an auto race.)

To me, "qualified" is misused in your example, but "special" expressions are common in many communities eg manufacturing.

It sounds like an all-around word for "officially verifying" just about anything.

- A.

Edit. Although "to qualify" often means "to limit," I think Philip hit the nail on the head here with "to make certain."

Avangi

Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007

Senior Member (2,906)

". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier

Expressions

optilang

#522588 Tue, 03 Jun 08 08:15 PM

To qualify a prospect is to ask such questions that you have a clear understanding of the suitability of the prospect, before disclosing your position.

To qualify the needs of a customer is to identify, usually by asking questions, what the customer is looking for.

Very often, in insurance, prospects are pre-qualified before the salesman moves in.

optilang

Joined on Tue, May 13 2008

Poland

Senior Member (2,095)

OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

Avangi

#522611 Tue, 03 Jun 08 09:24 PM

Wow! Optilang! What a revelation! How did I manage to live so long without picking up on this? Salesmanship! Of course!

Every week I get five or six credit card offers in the mail, saying that I've been pre-qualified to receive their product. They make it sound like an enviable position. I attain to the high honor of being worthy of their credit. (Some actually let the cat out of the bag and say "pre-screened," but I never tumbled.)

I always wondered: If I already qualify, then why do I need to fill out the danged application? (I guess if I really qualified, they'd just send the blinkin' card!)

To me this is a brand new meaning of the word, but it surely fits the questioner's application. Right on!

Thanks, Optilang. (P.S, - How's your credit?)

Avangi

Pter

#522729 Wed, 04 Jun 08 04:32 AM

Please allow me to add my two cents. The purpose of qualifying customers is very simple: don't waste your time on (potential) customers that won't buy from you now! If your product will cost them 1 million and they have only 100K budget or they are planning to buy 1 year later, why waste your bullets at this moment? (I am not a sales, hope the sales people don't find my description offensive!)

This is different from clarifying with (confirmed) customers what they need to build products that most suit their needs.

However, the word "qualify" as used in the question of the original poster still sounds a little off to me. I think the general usage is "qualify the customers" rather than "qualify with the customers". It should be the customers that need to be qualified, not "what they are looking for". The sales need to clarify with the customers what they are looking for in order to qualify the customers.

Pter

Joined on Wed, Nov 28 2007

Hong Kong

Full Member (416)

Avangi

#522811 Wed, 04 Jun 08 07:32 AM

Hi Pter,

I believe I understand your point. I'm still confused as to who the players actually are in this scenario. I was hoping to hear back from Sarunnio on that subject. There's definitely a third party and possibly a fourth. At some point the customer ought to have a say in the matter.

- A.

Avangi

Pter

#522829 Wed, 04 Jun 08 08:04 AM

I guess "they" refers to the friend who is going to build the product. (There is a disagreement in plurality here.) The friend is concerned if the company is really going to buy the product according to the information that the "I" collected. ("I" means Sarunnio?) This is just my guess. We really need to wait for Sarunnio to confirm.

Pter

Sarunnio

#524913 Mon, 09 Jun 08 11:35 AM

Hi Pter,

Sorry to make it confusing for you.

Yes, you're right.
I wrongly put the pronoun 'they' instead of 'he'. So, the question should be as follows.

I [me] gathered information from a company and let my friend build a certain product for me. Howerver, he [my friend] has come up with a question as follows.

Have you qualified with the customer what they are looking for?

Meaning that there are 3 parties in this question.

Thank you for your help anyway!!

Sarunnio

Nouns, Pronouns

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