| Bob Apollo - BANT or FAINT? |
If you're one of the millions who have been educated by conventional sales trainers over the years, you'll probably be familiar with BANT as the key way of qualifying prospective customers. BANT, in case any of you are unfamiliar with the acronym, stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timing.
BANT has been the foundation for many sales qualification processes over the years. But I'm going to suggest that in today's business climate, a slavish devotion to BANT may be costing you business and reducing your sales commissions.
Here's why: by the time a project has a formal budget allocated, other salespeople's fingerprints are likely to be all over the opportunity. Before allocating a budget, your prospect will have researched the alternatives, found potential vendors, and perhaps even identified a favourite.
If you've held back until BANT is established - or told your marketing department that you only want to be served up with BANT-qualified leads - you're probably already far behind in the race to win the prospect's business.
John Doerr of Rain Today has suggested an alternative approach to qualifying prospects for complex, high value sales - and he's given it the acronym FAINT. It stands for Funds, Authority, Interest, Need and Timing. Note that he recommends substituting Budget with Funds and Interest.
Funds because if you're talking to the right person, they will have access to funds and the authority to create a budget for something that really matters to them. Interest, because if you’re going to be successful you need to be selling to someone who is unhappy with the status quo and can envision a better future, as well as having the power to make it happen.
If you can uncover a prospect who matches the FAINT criteria, you have the opportunity to help shape their priorities and the decision criteria before the formal budget is established. You can give yourself a real head start over competitors who refuse to treat the prospect seriously until BANT has been established.
I'm interested in your experiences of using BANT - good and bad. And I'd like to hear whether you think that FAINT might be a more effective way of qualifying your prospective customers?...
Questions & Comments
Example Question / Comment
We've stamped out most of the obvious "bugs" now Bob, so will be starting the email broadcasts again from Monday 4th April, only limited (for now) to firstly the Registered Readers, and then the bigger sales team leaders on The Sales Direction Database.
So I hope this example of me with a Question / Comment will also demonstrate what happens when people use the LinkedIn login option, for example where my name then appears and links back to my LI profile, as will anyone else's. (Just click on my name folks, or Bob's, and you'll see).
That deters the spammers, as well as giving us all an easy way to find out who we are talking to. And let me just note that ModernSelling.com needs to be given your email address that you use for such things, so that we can send you email nudges when your discussion(s) get another reply/ comment/ question, and because LinkedIn do not release that - even though you'll be giving your permission with the couple of clicks that are required. Our normal privacy rules still apply though (e.g. you're not putting your email address into any sort of public play).
All pretty simple and convenient though, we hope, and so conducive to some great contacts, advice, discussions, and new business results - as per our "It's a New Business World" starting strap line. Please do get involved and enjoy, one and all.
Posted by Neil Warren on
Time for your questions
Hi Bob - apologies for the slight delay, but we're off and running now with the workshop-webinars, and I'm hoping that you can digest something out of this whole BANT / FAINT pipeline issue to add as a question or topic for us all to discuss here...
http://www.modernselling.com/news-and-events/webinar-corner/Dead-failing-sales-marketing-techniques-workshop-webinar-discussion-tips-series-20114005.aspx
...with my anticipation being that any "advanced pipeline specialists" could then follow you back to this discussion, for example.
Posted by Neil Warren on
Seth Godin's contribution...
Thought you might have some dot-joining observations on this latest thought from Seth, Bob?...
_______________________
The last minute (a case against brinksmanship)
Putting your demands on the table at the last minute is traditionally a successful negotiating strategy. It's at the last minute that people are focused, that the stakes are higher and that you're the most likely to extract concessions.
There are two problems with this as a tactic, though. The first is that the professional negotiator on the other side has precisely the same tactic, so it's hard to use it productively.
More important, though, is the notion that maybe, just maybe, both sides are in it for the long haul. If the relationship has to persist, if you are in this for more than this one go round, it's essential to recognize that brinksmanship costs both sides. It makes the pie smaller and it makes it more difficult for you to build something going forward.
Professional, long-term negotiations by adults should avoid the last minute out of principle. It's foolishly selfish, because it hurts both sides, thus requiring you to take even more off the table in order to benefit.
Either you negotiate to make the whole bigger, to have both sides benefit--or you negotiate to have the other side lose. Winning by punishing the other side isn't a particularly long lasting or satisfying strategy.
Posted by Neil Warren on
Joining up the dots...
I?d just like to try and keep us all hooked up here people, to aid with the Big Picture ? and the people who can help us all to complete it. So this discussion is obviously you Bob, as is this...
http://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/68132/Miller-Heiman-What-Can-You-Learn-From-Your-Top-Sales-Performers
...and this is Andy Perkins and Miller Heiman...
http://www.modernselling.com/work-skills/sales-management-training/best-practice-sales-strategies-thriving-post-recession-economy-miller-heiman-andrew-perkins-20113981.aspx
...and, in terms of "who" or what is the "Industry Best Practice" for UK Sales Training (a subject and a bunch of clients and prospects VERY near and dear to my own heart, what does anyone make of Sean McPheat here...
http://www.modernselling.com/news-and-events/webinar-corner/sellers-tale-eselling-book-workshop-webinar-discussion-tips-series-20114025.aspx#441
...and what HE does, to "sell" (or is it "esell" now?) - MTD Sales Training, to end up with this client list...
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/our_clients.html
...and with 11 Associate trainers in tow, from a standing start in 2002, as a one-man-band, and like so many hundreds of other sales trainers and consultants.
Posted by Neil Warren on
My Question / Comment Is...
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