FundingStrat®

 

Recap:

 

Continually measuring performance is the surefire way to continually improve performance.

 

Continually improving performance continually improves revenue.

 

When measuring performance, it’s easy to stop at the surface revenue and deals closed/funded numbers to determine how you are doing. But these numbers are just the outputs of the sales machine.

 

They are what comes out the other end when you feed the sales machine correctly.

 

So what do we feed the machine to get revenue and deals closed/funded out the other end?

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What is BANT?

 

BANT is an acronym and a qualification framework that has been used for ages to determine whether a prospect is truly likely to become a successful customer.  It can be used as a rubric or checklist for how to guide a call and make sure you’re investing your time wisely with prospects.

 

BANT was originally conceived by IBM as a way to identify a sales opportunity, and has been a qualification workhorse across most business sectors ever since: according to IBM, “sales opportunities are identified by speaking to prospects or clients to determine their business and solution needs through a standardized approach called BANT.”

 

BANT stands for:

 

Budget – What is the prospect’s budget?

 

Authority – Does the prospect have the decision-making authority/or are they an influencer?

 

Need – What is the prospect’s business need?

 

Timeframe – In what timeframe will the prospect be implementing a solution?

 

Here are examples of BANT questions that have routinely been used:

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When to use it?

 

After deploying the Utility Close and hitting resistance about “cost.”

 

What does it sound like?

 

“If you don’t make this investment and (insert funding project) now, what will it ultimately cost you?”

 

Ex.

 

“If you don’t make this investment and start hiring help now, what will it ultimately cost you?”

 

 

How it works?

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R. Holiday tells a story of Ulysses S. Grant once sitting for a memorable photo shoot with the famous Civil War photographer, Matthew Brady. The studio was too dark so Brady’s assistant was sent up the roof to uncover a skylight.  He suddenly slipped and shattered the window, sending dagger-like shards of glass crashing down on those below.

 

As lethal as the mishap could have been, everyone but Grant had hid for cover.  After the last of the shards hit the floor, Brady looked over and saw that Grant had not moved – Grant looked up at the hole in the ceiling, then back at the camera as if nothing had happened.  He was unhurt and ready to get on taking his picture.

 

Another story tells of Grant during the Overland Campaign.   As he was surveying the scene through field binoculars, an enemy shell suddenly exploded killing the horse immediately next to him.  Those close to him at the time say his eyes stayed fixed on the front, never leaving the glasses.

 

Yet there’s another story about Grant at City Point, the Union’s headquarters in Richmond.  As troops were unloading a steamboat, it suddenly exploded. Everyone hit the dirt except for Grant, who was seen running toward the explosion scene, even as debris, shells and even bodies rained down.

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What does it sound like?

 

“Can I call you back?”

 

Where does it typically tend to show up?

 

Prospecting Call: making contact with a lead for the first time.

 

What do we do with it?

 

Turn around.  Key Objective: to turn around the objection, engage the lead further, and continue to guide the lead through the sales process to ultimately close and fund!

 

How do we turn it around?

Keep on Reading!