Opportunity qualification: what is the best approach?

For those working in sales, directly or indirectly, BANT is an acronym for Budget, Authority, Need and Timing— as explained in the article “Sales Strategies: The BANT Approach” from Pipeliner CRM, who are already providing a BANT qualifier tool to partially automate this process.

It puts Budget as a priority, meaning, if the prospect does not have the minimum budget to buy your product/service, there is no need to go any further. This methodology is widely used in many industries, especially when the purchase requires a big investment. The key qualifying question here is: do you have the money to buy my product/service?

However, I must admit that in some cases, when the sales cycle is long, this could be wrong: a client may not have enough budget on the first contact, but many may be able to allocate some time. Which means that you can open an opportunity that right now does not fulfil the Budget qualification, but that will most potentially fulfil it in a defined time period.

In sales we do that all the time, we good sales reps and account managers can very well detect the need of a customer is so strong, in a moment when circumstances are pushing them. In those occasions, most people will definitely open an opportunity in their CRMs, and if the prospect could be strategic, they can even decide to involve other people in order to secure the deal will happen. In fact, that is how you create a pipeline, you will have opportunities that are fully BANT qualified with different closing times, in the various milestones of your sales cycle. Then you can do some realistic forecasting.

On the other hand, prioritizing money as the first qualifier, can be client unfriendly in some industries as health care. You may be calling to a hospital to sell new wheelchairs, and you know they need them, but this year they do not have the budget to replace their old wheelchairs, they cannot afford it if they are a public hospital. You can provide financing systems to compensate or you can change your qualifying methodology, so your client does not feel you are numb about their basic needs.

That is putting needs first, but invert the perspective: you are selling then your clients needs are Challenges for you. CHAMP: Challenges, Authority, Money and Prioritization. This model works very well, since when you have to qualify your potential client, you have sorted out most objections and when you ask for the budget, you are already talking to the right Authority, who can fully decide on budget issues. Though it may be painful to disqualify prospects in regards to money almost at the end, still consumers or emotionally sensitive B2B targets will appreciate a CHAMP qualification. They will come back, even if they don't buy the first time, just because as a human being you understood their needs and helped them sort out the barriers.

Nevertheless, I still recommend using BANT in certain sales environments, in established markets where the customer knows what sort of solution they need to buy, and establishes a formal budget to purchase it. But if you are starting-up a new market, then using BANT can be tough. Some others talk about the FAINT approach: Finance/Funds, Authority, Interest/Impact, Need and Timing. That allows you to target companies that can afford in your solution though they may not have a formal budget in place for such investments. And instead of checking on challenges, you are seizing the interest of your potential client, the impact your product had on them when presented. Many many directors may admit or not their need to implement new software, and even could be affording it, but if they are not truly interested in getting new software, they will never make a purchase. In IT, it is critical the decision maker has a real interest in buying a specific solution, let's say a CRM. You can talk to the highest decision maker, and during your presentation they will admit they need your solution, even that they would work better with it. But if they are not truly believing they need it, they can no longer move forward without it, they won't buy.

PAM is another new approach to qualify leads, more from a marketing perspective. PAM proposes: Persona, Account and Motivation. Here need or budget are totally irrelevant. When automating a registration landing page for a free download, this filter will require the user to include name, surname, company, title... Before leads go to sales, marketeers are able to provide critical information on who is the buying decision maker. Later over the phone, you can make sure of it. By only providing a few data, you get right to ask them a couple of questions, and if they are not the “buyer”, they will tell you who that is. As for Account, it means finding out if that company or organization is a salmon or a whale. You many not be talking to the right person, but you know you are talking to the right company, a perfect target. For that analysing the target organization chart and decision making hierarchy will be essential. And motivation helps you to seize the motivation of the buyer, not only in regards to your solution, but also their personal motivations.

Despite I must admit I am BANT minded, when it comes to opportunity qualification, I also must admit it did not always worked good when interest, motivation or funding was key to win the case.

Therefore I am suggesting here to for PIFMAT: Persona, Impact, Finance/Funds, Motivation, Account and Timescale. That is, first of all identify contacts and find out and talk to your “buyer”, then you can ask them what in your add appealed to them the most. Third step is to qualify is there is budget already, they need financing or potential future funding could be available in time. Getting your prospect feedback and seizing their motivation is critical, if they are aware of their own needs and what would they want to achieve with that purchase. Last qualifiers would be Account and Timescale, so you have a clear picture of the targeted organization and are able to define the timing until deal is won.

For all people working in sales, it would be awesome to have your opinion: what qualification methodology do you think is best? Which one are you currently using? Do you have any better proposal?