BANT- Advanced sales qualification process

There is no point investing precious selling hours on leads that will never convert. This is why a sales qualification process is essential to ensure you make the right use of your valuable time while selling on the phone. BANT is an advanced sales qualification strategy that aids in determining whether the leads in the sales pipeline are worth pursuing.

BANT stands for:

• Budget
• Authority
• Need
• Time

This framework helps in finding out if the prospects are a good fit based on their ability to buy, internal influence, need for the product, and purchase timeline. It is a great way of understanding if the prospects you’re calling are genuinely interested in what you are presenting. By following this sales process framework, you can collect information about your prospects and streamline it in the best CRM software.

Here is the BANT sales process checklist that will help you in your sales qualification on the call:

Basic information

Commence by collecting the primary data of the prospects you are calling.

• Prospect’s company name
• Prospect’s name
• Prospect’s designation
• Prospect’s team
• Prospect’s contact details (email-id, contact number, skype-id, etc.)

Budget

“Sorry, I don’t have the budget” rather than hearing this later in the negotiation stage, it is better to clarify it earlier whether the prospect has the budget to purchase your product/service. However, instead of being straightforward, you need to put up the question in a smart way.

Here is how you can do it:

• Discover the upside of investing. Find out what are the prospect’s business challenges and what is the budget they have set aside for mitigating those challenges.
• Find out how much they are spending on the current solution. This will give you an idea about the amount they have budgeted and spent on fixing a business problem.
• Earn the prospect’s trust for making a financial commitment. Ask them “If our product helps you in achieving your goals then what is the amount that you will be able to invest.”
• Ask how the price factor will affect their buying decision and have they planned any budget for it.
• Enquire if they have taken the cost of the solution for addressing their business problems into consideration while framing their budget.
• Ask them if they have set any expectations before securing funds for a solution.

Authority

Is your sales pitch falling on deaf ears? Because the gatekeepers will hear you, but unfortunately, they don’t have the buying authority. Finding out who plays a decisive role in the company for purchasing the product will help you in saving your time and lead to quicker deal closure.

• Ask your prospects to describe how did the decision-making process look like when they previously purchased a product.
• Find out whether the person you are speaking to wishes to invite anyone else (stakeholder or top management) for the discussion.
• Try to enquire who in their company takes all the key decisions.
• Find out who is directly responsible for the type of product or service you are selling.

Need

Trying to convert prospects into paying customers when you don’t exactly know what they need or want puts you at a disadvantage. A buyer-centric approach will help in gaining the prospect’s confidence and loyalty. Businesses want to deal with companies that understand their needs, expectations, aims, concerns, and pain points. An-in depth understanding of the customer requirements will help in presenting the solution in a way that the prospect can see its benefits.

• Ask relevant questions to your prospects for gauging their pain level and aspirations.
• Find out their goals.
• Ask the prospects if they are aware of the hurdles that are holding them back from achieving their goals.
• Find out when did the prospects discover that they have a certain problem.
• What measures have they taken already to address the current problem?
• Ask your prospects which solutions they are analyzing for solving the current issues.
• If they haven’t addressed the problem, then ask what has prevented them from fixing the problem.
• Try enquiring what happens if the current problem is not addressed.
• Find out if the current problem is in the prospect’s top priority list.
• Ask them if they get to know that there is a solution that can help in fixing the current problem then will they implement it.
• Find out what are the systems that the prospects use daily for handling their various workflows.

Timing

Try to understand how soon the prospects will act on the solution you are offering. Discovering their timeline will help in anticipating the time it will take from the first touch to the conversion. Find out if the prospects are in a rush of purchasing a product this will help you in making the most of the opportunity.

• Ask the prospects if they have decided any deadline for implementing the solution.
• Find out what is the prospect’s next quarter goal and if they could fulfill without the right technology in place.
• Ask the prospects when they plan to fix the ongoing problem.
• Find out if the prospects are working under any time constraints.

Wrapping up

BANT is a very powerful sales qualification strategy that can help you in winning more deals if used wisely. BANT helps you in gaining a better understanding of the prospect needs and challenges. Once you know what the potential buyer wants, it becomes easier to influence their buying decision and convince them to purchase your product.