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BANT is the acronym for BINGO! A new, innovative and highly successful way to first identify qualified leads. It’s a simple process that can be used in any industry or profession with high demand.
BANT stands for Business Activity Tax. It is a tax imposed on the gross receipts of a business. BANT is similar to VAT, but it is not based on value added. Instead, BANT taxes the gross receipts of a business without regard to whether or not that money was spent on goods and services provided in the United States. Read more in detail here: what is bant in sales.
The BANT framework, which stands for budget-authority-need-timeline, considers four important purchasing criteria when choosing a purchase. It’s a sales lead qualifying approach that helps you prioritize sales leads so you can focus on the ones that are most worth pursuing right away. Continue reading to discover more about BANT, how you can use it to locate the most qualified leads, and best practices and tools to use throughout the process.
Definition of BANT
Budget, authority, need, and timetable (BANT) is an approach for assessing sales chances based on the budget, decision-making authority, need, and purchase schedule of a lead. As you and your sales team ask questions and converse to create an understanding of the four primary elements that influence a purchase decision, top prospects are discovered.
Let’s take a closer look at the four major buying considerations that comprise the Definition of BANT and contribute to a lead’s ranking score:
Budget
This section examines the lead’s (or their organization’s) financial capability to make a transaction. It considers both their financial constraints and their willingness to pay for your goods or service. Many agreements are turned down due to cost-related reasons, hence the “Budget” portion of the BANT approach is typically one of the most crucial parts.
Authority
Sales people often overlook “authority,” despite the fact that it impacts whether the lead contact is in a position to make a purchase decision. This is often overlooked because salesmen presume that specific corporate representatives are decision-makers. Whether a point of contact doesn’t have the authorization to close a contract, you’ll want to know if they can send you to the appropriate person.
Need
Next, determine whether and to what degree your product or service will be valuable to the lead, i.e., does it totally answer the issue they need to solve and make sense in comparison to their specific requirements?
Part of this is determining if your product or service can be adjusted to meet the demands of the prospect. Many software systems, for example, include a plethora of modules and capabilities that, on the surface, may seem to be worthless to the lead but, if customized, can assist them in solving their issues.
Timeline
The final component in the Definition of BANT is the timeline, which equates to the prospect’s level of urgency and expected purchasing time frame. Even if the other three BANT elements are fulfilled, the timing could be slightly off due to current contract commitments, top-level management desires, or because an organization is in the middle of its “busy season.”
In six easy steps, learn how to use BANT to qualify leads.
The BANT sales process begins before you ever make contact with a lead and continues until the lead has been thoroughly scored against all four purchasing variables. Here’s how to incorporate the BANT approach into your sales process step by step.
1. Obtain a Lead
Content marketing, referrals, cold calling, and email introductions are just a few methods for filling your sales funnel with leads. Whatever method you employ to create leads, the BANT qualifying process will determine which leads you should pursue. After or during the lead generation process, you may execute your BANT approach.
For example, if you want to create leads by cold calling, you’ll need to first develop a list of people to contact. This may need some BANT-related research, some of which you may be able to deduce before even speaking with the individual. Larger organizations, for example, will most likely have greater financial flexibility than startups.
You can also discover that some employment positions have more influence over your product or service than others, and that particular sectors have a bigger demand for your solutions than others. If you’re offering a marketing solution, for example, you’d target marketing decision-makers like a VP of revenue or a chief marketing officer (CMO). These kind of insights enable you to employ BANT prior to a sales call or presentation, as well as other inbound and outbound lead generating methods.
2. Make a sales call.
Schedule a sales presentation, product demonstration, or consulting call with the prospect after the lead has been created. You may have previously arranged an initial session via your call to action if you employed cold calling or email introductions to create prospects.
If you employed an inbound technique, such as receiving referrals, content marketing, or advertising, you should contact the lead directly to set up a call and discover more about them. You may continue to use the BANT approach to get more information before the call throughout this period.
“I look forward to connecting,” for example, you may write in an email. Please email me some further information about your requirements and present pain spots so that I may use it as a starting point for our talk.” The BANT technique is employed in this fashion even before a substantial discussion takes occurred.
Use services like Calendly to automate appointment scheduling. Calendly makes it simple for recipients to access your scheduling portal and schedule a meeting time directly from your website or email signature by clicking a link. Each of the guests gets a notice once the event is set, and the event is synchronized to everyone’s calendars.
Calendly is a time management solution (Source: HubSpot)
3. Prepare your questions ahead of time
Asking critical questions about the prospect’s primary purchase factors is a big part of the BANT process. Despite the fact that you may have previously asked some questions or assessed the lead’s budget, authority, requirements, and timeframe during your investigation, it’s a good idea to prepare some inquiries ahead of time.
For each component of BANT, below are some qualifying questions to ask:
Budget
- Do you have any financial constraints for [kind of solution] right now?
- How much do you now spend on [solution type]?
- Is there any room in your budget for you to use resources from other departments?
- Do you have any idea how much this may cost you (or your company) if the problem is not resolved?
Authority
- Is there anybody else involved in your purchase decision, or do you have ultimate say?
- What would a typical purchase process for [kind of solution] look like in your organization?
- Who else should we bring into this discussion, in your opinion?
Need
- Where on your priority list does [the issue your solution addresses] fall?
- What features of your present [solution/vendor] do you find appealing?
- What aspects of your present [solution/vendor] would you want to see improved?
- Is there anything else you’ve attempted to fix this issue in the past?
Timeline
- When do you want to [put this solution in place or address this problem]?
- Is there anything going on in your company that may put a halt to your efforts to solve this problem?
- Is there any contract or obligation you have with a present [vendor/supplier/solution provider]?
We’ve also produced a free printable checklist that you can print off and keep in your workstation to help you remember these questions and incorporate them in your lead qualifying process.
Thank you for your interest in downloading!
There are two main advantages to asking these questions. The first is that it enables you to perform the function of the BANT technique, which is to score and prioritize sales leads. The second, less-appreciated advantage is that you can inform the lead whether your solution is a suitable match for them.
For example, if the prospect said that they sought usability or customisation enhancements over their present solution provider, but your unique selling proposition is only cheap cost, you are unlikely to be a suitable match for that lead. Furthermore, if they stated a limited budget that is considerably below the pricing you can give, investing in your solution would be counterproductive.
4. Maintain a two-way conversation
The goal of the sales call and the BANT process is to see whether your solutions are a good match for that person’s needs, which necessitates a back-and-forth interaction. Salespeople, on the other hand, often dominate talks during sales calls, which is inefficient since it restricts your ability to determine the customer’s demands. When you’re on the phone with a customer, be sure to keep the conversation going in both directions.
Allow the individual to speak freely about the issues they wish to have resolved and the solutions they believe are available. Make use of the questions you came up with and include them into the discourse. This keeps the lead from feeling like they’re being interrogated if you simply ask a series of questions one after the other.
Asking additional personal inquiries like “How long have you been at the company?” or “Where are you phoning in from?” early in the chat is also a great way to establish a solid relationship with them. Having an interpersonal touch early on creates a more comfortable setting and increases the likelihood of the individual providing you with greater information.
5. Keep a journal
Keep a record of the facts you learn throughout your talk and when you ask questions. When it comes to rating and ranking your leads, these notes serve as proof.
To capture and preserve your notes, we suggest utilizing your customer relationship management (CRM) system. Lead records in CRMs like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Salesforce have conversational comments, which are simple to utilize. Because CRM data is shared across your business, you may use these comments as a reference and communicate with other team members.
Note-taking using Pipedrive (Image courtesy of Pipedrive)
Notes from HubSpot’s lead record (Source: HubSpot)
6. Score & Prioritize Your Leads
The BANT process serves as a de facto lead scoring tool, with points assigned to each lead based on if their budget fits your solution, whether they have the power to make a choice, if your solution meets their requirements, and if the timeframe aligns. Convert the information you’ve acquired about a lead into measurable metrics so you may make data-driven choices about which leads to pursue.
Establish lead scoring criteria and a point system to get started. Our article on how to utilize lead scoring has a step-by-step procedure for doing so. Assign points to each lead and build a ranked list after the system is in place. Leads with more points will be prioritized and ranked first throughout your day-to-day sales efforts.
If they don’t rate well based on the data you got during your BANT analysis, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue them; it simply means you should wait. For example, if a lead had a poor score because their budget was outside of what you could give in terms of price, consider contacting them again in six months to see if their financial situation has improved.
Even things like a buyer’s authority and demands evolve with time. The prospect may get a promotion, placing them in a buying position, or they may develop new pain points that your service might address. Patience and tenacity via frequent follow-up are vital parts of efficient sales management since the sales process might take months or even years.
Pro tip: To arrange your priority leads, use the lead scoring capabilities in CRM software. You may customize your lead scoring system to provide points for marketing-related behaviors such as opening an email, clicking a link, or downloading a piece of information, in addition to BANT technique. Individual scores may be seen in a lead record or as a list in popular CRM applications like Zoho CRM.
List of Zoho CRM lead scoring (Source: Zoho)
Lead scoring criterion in Zoho CRM (Source: Zoho)
Conclusion
The BANT method helps each lead traverse their solution possibilities and saves time on poor chances. You may simply adopt the BANT approach into your sales operation by following our step-by-step procedure to develop your sales skills and relying on time-saving software solutions and best practices.
BANT is a type of predictive lead scoring model that can be used to identify qualified leads. BANT uses behavioral data, such as website visits and form submissions, to predict the likelihood of a lead converting into a sale. The “bant template” provides an overview of how BANT works and some examples of how it can be implemented in your marketing strategy.
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