With B2B lead generation services, one can develop a healthy sales pipeline and grow their business. BANT is one of the best lead qualification processes even after all these years.
B2B lead
generation is known to be a godfather in B2B
marketing.
In a B2B enterprise, we often
encounter prospects in search of ‘ready to buy’ leads. Most often, these are termed
as sales qualified leads (SQL) or qualified leads. Each lead has a
different angle to understand and takes effort to convert them into qualified
leads; however, most B2B enterprises get them using the BANT methodology
to define qualification criteria.
Did you know?
·
A recruiter takes
about 90 seconds to decide if a candidate is worth for an organization
·
A human being
takes about 400 seconds to fall asleep
If sales representatives (sales rep)
could close deals at such a rapid pace, then a quote (like above) would have
also been made on those sales reps to give them glory and inspire similar
others in the trade.
Unfortunately, closing a deal is a
time-consuming process. But there is one thing you could do to improve this: ‘separating
bad apples from the good ones’ in your sales pipeline. And that is what lead
qualification delivers. It helps the sales team to focus on good leads by
filtering out the low-quality leads.
There are so many options available to
qualify a lead, but we will focus on one of the oldest sales qualification
methods out there – BANT. After all, old is gold!
About BANT qualified leads
What is BANT?
BANT is a sales qualification
methodology that allows salespeople to find a qualified lead in the form
of its four primary elements – Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. A lead is
thought worthy if it meets at least three of the four BANT criteria. IBM
introduced this sales acronym.
When it was first
launched, it was an instant favorite among salespeople for many reasons:
·
Saved time in
filtering out low-quality leads from good ones
·
Offered
appropriate framework to qualify leads
·
It increased
efficacy by concentrating on leads that were most likely to be closed
Here is an example of
BANT qualified leads:
Sales rep – Do you have a planned budget to accommodate
us?
Lead – Yes, of course, budget is not an issue.
Sales rep – Well, that’s good then. Are you the one who
will be using the product?
Lead – No, I am not the one. My sales team will be
using it.
Sales rep – You need our product because you are facing
major issues with lead generation?
Lead – Yes, you are right.
Sales rep – By when you need the solution in place?
Lead – Uhhhh….how about two weeks?
Sales rep – Well…that works.
Perfect. There it is, a qualified
lead!
BANT in the modern era
There is a twist, as budget is no
longer a center point. What really matters are the prospects’ needs. It is not
regarding affordability, but it is regarding return on investment (ROI).
However, Need is one of the most important elements in BANT.
Why so?
David Ogilvy says: “Customers don’t
buy products. They buy benefits.”
How to use BANT to qualify leads in 2021?
1. Do not see budget as a blocker.
2. Find out who is involved in the decision-making
process.
3. Find out the importance of the prospect’s
problem.
4. Map out how rapidly their firm moves toward a solution.
Following are the B2B demand
generation services:
1. Demand generation services
2. Account-based marketing services
3. High quality leads (HQL) services
4. Persona based marketing (PBM) services
About account-based marketing services
The BANT is still relevant, but B2B
business models have evolved and accepted the retro model for 2020, i.e., account
based marketing (ABM) to deal with high-level individual contacts in large
organizations. An account based marketing service provider company will
help one find target accounts that best suits products and services.
ABM helps the sales and marketing
teams to concentrate on accounts that are most likely to generate and convert
sales opportunities. It is a tactical approach to lead generation.
As we all know, ABM needs a unique
approach and narrow focus for each account; it is one of the great examples of customizedB2B marketing solutions.
Final verdict
It is necessary to give a modern touch
to BANT to fit into the current sales process, which depends on the
salesperson’s ability, i.e., to continuously adapt and innovate to the latest
trends.
