In previous articles, I described how efficiently generate Leads via Outbound and Inbound campaigns. It requires a lot of time, testing different solutions and implementation of needed changes in order to find an adequate solution for your company.
Does every Lead need your full attention? – No, it doesn’t.
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The main and most basic mistake which companies make is putting pressure on a sales team to fight for every lead until the last drop of blood. Such an attitude effects in wasting time for a struggle to build a relation with a person who wasn’t interested in a product in the first place. At the same time, the sales team has no time to develop a relation with promising clients.
P.S. We’re building software which helps manage relation with potential and promising clients.
So how efficiently verify collected Leads to make sure you are only focused on the most promising ones on the next stage of the sales process?
The answer is B.A.N.T.
B.A.N.T. approach involves the determination of critical criteria; what lead means for you and what assumption it has to meet to gain“sales opportunity” status.
Budget – are you 100% sure you are talking with a paying client? Does your client have a prespecified budget and is aware that your product/service is not for free?
In sales, the sticking point is when you should ask your client about his finances. However, most of the sales consultants claim that the first step you need to take is to talk openly with your potential customer. When you are aware of their needs and expectations you are able to come up with a suitable solution. Being sure that the offer meets the demands you need to verify if it fits in the budget.
Authority – are you talking to a right person? Is that decisive person or an end user? Always use appropriate language depending on who you talk to. You should always try to reach decisive person.
A decesive person pays attention to different aspects of a product than an end user. Try to build strong relations with the decision maker, but do not underestimate the users – at the end of a day, their opinion is crucial.
Need – do you provide the solution for client’s problem? What are your client expectations after implementing the solution?
What features should have the product? What kind of shortage should it fulfill?
Time – does your client have time to test your solution? If he buys your product/ service is he ready to implement it? Is he ready to make a transaction now or in an unspecified future?
Sales is about results so that you should focus on current, not future possibilities.
Typical B.A.N.T. look like I described above, but usually, companies apply additional criteria. Great effort of a sales team is needed to get all information necessary for B.A.N.T. That’s why it often is moved to the next sales funnel level.
If you are selling SaaS products, which are quite cheap and you have up to 100 registrations daily you should think about implementing additional criteria, which will let you verify Leads faster. B.A.N.T. should be used on the next stage – while verifying opportunities.
Often you ask those additional questions to verify leads:
- Is client from my targeted market?
- Is the client going to use free or premium version?
- How many users/accounts/ features is he going to have?
- Is he self-employed or is he running a company?
It is also a common practice to veryficy what acctions customer took in application. It helps to distinguish who is genuinly interested in your product and who just want to satisfy curiosity.
Why is it so important to categorize Leads from very beginning?
- You are putting all your effort into cases which have closing potential.
- You increase your efficiency
- You are not losing enthusiasm for clients who are not interested in your products.
Who should be responsible for verifying Leads in your company?
It is not a good idea to make only one person responsible for the whole sales process. Sales specialists are focused on delivering results. It is because of their remuneration system based on commission. They are concentrate on closing the negotiations and full use of sales oppurtunities. Closing the deal is their win in difference to potencial client generation – which is just a step on the way.
They sometimes forget that in order to have deals to close they need to first fill up the sales funnel. It is victious cycle. If sales people are foucused on closing the deals they don’t have time to verify leads. On the other hand if they are spending time on verifying leads they end up with no time for crucial clients.
Therefore you should insist on your sales team specialization. Pre-sales specialist is ideal to work on lead verification and first contact with a client. His salary is based on a number of positively verified leads. That is why he will put all his effort to select only high quality leads.
To sum up remember those three basic rules:
1. Qualify leads as soon as possible.
2. Insist on sales team specialization
3. Reward people for their results.
Strat using B.A.N.T and let me know how it worked for you.
More about B.A.N.T. you can read on dwsassociates.com
CEO at InStream. Sales Advisor.
