FundingStrat

 

According to K. Krogue, only 35.2% of B2B sales rep’s time is spent on core selling activities, aka revenue generating activities.

 

That means the other 64.8% of the time is spent on non-revenue generating activities.

 

In a standard 40 hour workweek that means only about 14 hours are actually revenue generating activities – what’s going on with the other 26 hours??!

 

That is a very important question because it involves units of the most valuable resource known to man.

 

Gold!

 

No.

 

Water?

 

No.

 

Money!!

 

Almost.

Keep on Reading!

 

 

Recap:

 

Sales is a high rejection game, and hearing “no” often at every step of the Sales Process is just part of the field of play.

 

Hearing “no” could be the obstacle that convinces us to head back with our tail between our legs.

 

OR

 

“No” is the obstacle that can motivate us to change our approach and advance Forward.

 

Hearing it is an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the merchant’s needs, and what can get the deal done:

 

What is motivating the no?

 

According to the TOPO’s 2016 B2B sales research study:

 

• 80% of prospects say “no” four times before they say “yes” and buy.

 

However:

 

• 44% of sales reps give up after one “no.”

 

• 22% give up after two “nos.”

 

• 14% give up after three “nos.”

 

• 12% give up after four “nos.”

 

So:

 

92% of all sales reps give up after four “nos.”

 

And:

 

8% of sales reps ask for the sale a fifth time.

 

Thus:

 

About 8% of sales reps in any sample size are getting about 80% of the sales.

 

So what do the 8% that keep going know that the other 92% don’t?

Keep on Reading!

 

Recap:

On our Sales Process map, if each Stage is a mile marker on the highway to Funding, the roadways in between the markers are the Phases.

 

Here are all the Phases:

 

• Phase 1 – The Prospecting Phase

 

• Phase 2 – The Consulting Phase

 

• Phase 3 – The Application Sending Phase

 

• Phase 4 – The Application Reeling-in Phase

 

• Phase 5 – The Submitting Phase

 

• Phase 6 – The Closing Phase

 

• Phase 7 – The Contracting Phase

 

• Phase 8 – The Contract Reeling-in Phase

 

• Phase 9 – The Closing Stip Reeling-in Phase

 

• Phase 10 – The Funding Phase

 

Each one of these Phases has specific steps to complete to get to the next Stage, and there are Key Steps to take in each Stage to accelerate your sales cycles and closings.

Keep on Reading!

 

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?

Keep on Reading!

 

 

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:

Keep on Reading!