Sales are both art and science; even more science in today’s world. And we say that because a scientific process and methodology backed with data has the capacity to exponentially increase your sales effectiveness.
A critical part of this scientific process is lead qualification.
What’s Lead Qualification?
Lead qualification is a process of identifying and qualifying the right prospects who are likely to buy your product or service.
In order to maximize the sales team’s productivity, marketing teams are generally entrusted with the responsibility of lead generation and qualification. They filter the right leads and share them with their associates in the sales department. That way, your sales team members are fed in with a channel of good prospects for them to fully concentrate on deal conversions.
To make the process successful, it’s important to make sure your sales and marketing teams are fully aligned and always working together towards a common goal.
MQL vs SQL – how are they different?
The marketing and sales team work together to maximize the chances of a lead getting converted into a long-term client.
As part of lead qualification, the marketing team is anticipated to gather a minimum set of information about the prospect and conduct a first-level qualification grounded on a set of qualification criteria. This filtered lead is referred to as a Marketing Qualified Lead( MQL).
Like in the case of a relay race, a Marketing Qualified Lead( MQL) is a stick that gets passed on from the marketing team to the sales team. This typically happens when the prospect is ready to connect and talk further with your sales team.
This is when your sales team engages with the prospect and the MQL becomes a Sales Qualified Lead( SQL). Your sales team is now anticipated to further nurture the lead and convert the prospect to a paying client. As you can see, SQLs do further down in your sales channel when compared to MQLs.
Every business follows a unique sales cycle. The criteria for MQL and SQL mentioned above could vary grounded on your business. It’s a good idea to think about it internally along with your sales and marketing team members to arrive together at the separate criteria.
What’s the BANT lead qualification frame?
The BANT frame is a well-known lead management qualification frame that’s taken in by numerous best-in-class sales organizations worldwide. BANT is an acronym for – Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline.
It’s one of the most effective framewokr leveraged by sales and marketing teams for qualifying prospects. This frame, when embracing well, makes sure your sales team is pursuing the right kind of prospects without going on a wild goose chase. They can concentrate their effort and time on the right leads that meet the BANT criteria, thereby maximizing sales conversion in a lower time.
Let us understand BANT in further detail.
BUDGET:
As part of the BANT lead qualification process, it helps to check if the prospect has some budget in mind or if there’s any budget allocated towards the purchase.
It may not be easy to ascertain the Budget beforehand in the sales cycle. Still, knowing a ballpark range can help you decide on the other things needed to nurture the prospect. It also gives you some idea of what result could be proposed and what would be the opportunity size.
Questions that you may ask your prospects:
“What’s the budget assigned for this action or purchase? ”
“Is the budget allocated for this fiscal time or the coming? ”
“What process do you follow for budget allocation and blessings? ”
AUTHORITY:
Authority in the BANT framework defines the decision-making power of the prospect. It helps to ascertain the part your prospect is going to play in the buying process. While some prospects could be real decision-makers, some of them might be crucial influencers. It could also be that you’re talking to someone involved in assessing options and also submitting their analysis report to the decision-makers.
Knowing this aspect will help you decide on how to engage with the prospect. You’ll also be in a better position to put together a plan to understand all the stakeholders involved in the decision-making process and the way to engage with each one of them.
Questions that you may ask your prospects:
“What process do you follow to make a decision like this? ”
“Who are the stakeholders involved and what part do they play ”?
“Who’s retaining the budget for this action and at what stage will the person be involved ”?
“As part of the demand gathering exercise, who differently do you suppose I should talk to? ”
NEED:
Need is one of the crucial factors in the sales cycle. Prospects generally estimate results when there’s a specific need. At a high position, a need can be distributed either as Gain or Pain. They’re looking for a result either to gain anything or to fix pain or problem.
As part of the demand, gathering, or need discovery exercise, it’s critical to ask the right questions to the prospects. Responses to your questions can help you determine if the need is indeed a genuine one. You can also understand the significance of addressing the need, the possible results, the cost of not solving the need or the postponement, and if you have the capability to address the need.
Typically advanced budgets are allocated by companies for must-have-to-have results compared to good-to-have ones. They generally don’t look for results unless they have a pressing need, and a lack of which is causing any major complication in its process in terms of time or profit. Establishing these things will help you qualify your prospects much more.
Questions that you may ask your prospects:
“What way have you taken in the history to meet this demand? ”
“Any specific reasons why you’re trying to address this need now? ”
“Which departments in your company will be impacted if this demand isn’t addressed ”?
“What’s the business outgrowth you’re trying to achieve with this action ”?
“What would be the impact of not having the result enforced ”?
TIMELINE:
Timeline refers to the estimated time the prospect will take to make a decision. It also means the time needed to convert the prospect into a client. It’s generally measured in terms of days or months, or quarters.
A better understanding of the urgency to address a need can help you ascertain the timeline. You should try and find out if the prospect has any deadline to meet. Generally, it turns out that the demand isn’t critical when the prospect doesn’t share a timeline or deadline that he’s trying to meet. In that case, you may want to formerly again qualify the need.
Questions that you may ask your prospects:
“What’s the timeline you have in mind to address this demand ”?
“When would you like to go live and see the impact of the result ”?
“What would be the impact of not having the result in place soon ”?
“May I know what are the other druthers that you’re considering ”?
Improving BANT lead qualification framework with BANTS
While the BANT lead qualification process has been around for a long time, it’s a good idea to extend the frame to BANTS by including one further critical parameter – solution fitment( S).
The new BANTS frame is an acronym for Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline, and Solution Fitment.
Solution FITMENT
This is presumably the most ignored parameter while qualifying a prospect. When prospects are assessing a purchase decision, they’re trying to select the finest solution to address their requirements. A prospect’s evaluation is also referred to as a cost-benefit analysis; the benefits part is of course taken through the right result.
So the prospect is well grounded on all the four BANT criteria, but what happens if you don’t have the right optimal solution to address the need?
In these competitive times, your prospects have numerous options to choose from. Your capability to convert the prospect depends on the degree of solution fitment and the competitive advantage you have when compared to other substitutes.
Role of the right CRM for lead qualification
In nowadays competitive business terrain, opting for the right sales CRM for lead qualification can give you the necessary edge to out beat your competition. It’s a strategic investment to run a predictable and sustainable business.
We’d recommend you consider a CRM like HappSales that supports the BANTS frame coupled with a scientific lead scoring model. This makes the entire process much more accurate and effective.
At the same time, it’s critical to estimate whether the CRM is a customer-friendly and practical one that your team finds easy to bring into action and use.
Original Source: Go beyond BANT lead qualification: Embrace the modern BANTS framework in 2022
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