BANT-obots Retreat!

BANT vs. Relationship

This is something that comes up a lot in my life and I believe in the life of most salespeople. The importance of qualifying your prospects before moving them down the funnel is of huge importance but what is the best way to qualify someone and how quickly should it be done?

I went through quite a few companies in my career as a salesperson, some of which you won't find anywhere on my resume. The main reason why I wouldn′t stay was due to the qualification process I was ordered to follow. I am a huge believer in building relationships and working together with my prospects to achieve desired outcomes but there are still a lot of organisations out there that are stuck on the ancient BANT process. 

For those of you who don′t know what BANT is, I′ll explain. BANT is a sales qualification framework that uncovers B-udget, A-uthority, N-eed & T-ime. Dont get me wrong, these need to match to move the deal forward but what I disagree with is that these should be asked on the first cold call before we agree to sit down. 

There are many ways to uncover the budget but wouldn′t it be better if we got there organically during a meeting? Most recently we attended a Demo for a softphone solution with a CRM and they only really started to qualify budget once we had a complete understanding of how much we could be saving on cutting out existing systems hence they helped up find the budget as we didn't have one set aside for it. Most people you speak to won′t have a budget in place for a solution you called to speak about since they weren′t expecting a call. Capturing attention and generating some interest is the only aim of my first conversation with a cold prospect. As long as there′s interest we can build on that. 

Authority is another BANT qualification that can kill a deal if not positioned correctly. If someone doesn't have the authority over the decision often gets disqualified however what I′ve come to learn is, as long as they can influence the decision-maker or bring him into the conversation at a later stage they strengthen the proposal and become your external ambassador. Typically as an end-user or beneficiary, they will be able to position it to their boss better than you′ll ever be. They know day to day challenges of their business and know best what needs to be done to overcome these.

Need is a tricky one since most businesses don′t know they need a solution as they got used to their current way of working. Only by capturing some initial interest, you can build the need as you're progressing them through the funnel. Imagine if someone came up to you and told you "Hey, do you need a new T-Shirt?" You′d most likely say "No." Only after you see it and you like the design you realise it is a perfect fit for that birthday party you′re going to on Friday. Can this be done on a first cold call? Possibly if you find someone whose NEED is right at the top of their agenda but guess what? These people will be googling and doing research, they won′t wait for a cold call.  

Time qualification is obviously important but would you disqualify someone right away because they said "No, not within the next 12 months." A lot of organisations out there want prospects that would be ready to move within 6-12 months, some go only with 3. Imagine this, you get a phone call from a guy or a lady whom you′ve never heard of and they want to know if you′d be ready to move forward with a solution you've not seen, not heard of, not even thought about and suddenly you′re asked if you′d be able to sign off within next 6 months. It will most likely be a no simply because you dont know. If that question came about after seeing a Demo, after understanding the benefits and realising how this could improve your business, it is a different conversation.

Building a pipeline is a challenge, we must focus on better customer service and being a human seller rather than BANT-obot. I′m not discrediting BANT, I just don′t believe we should be doing it all on the first-ever conversation. We can get there with patience and great customer service through nurturing and multiple conversations which in exchange creates stronger deals and honest communication.

Feel free to discuss and give me your opinion on what you believe is the perfect qualification process if there is such a thing! Is CHAMP the solution?