What is ANUM?
ANUM was a sales qualification framework developed by Ken Krogue in 2012 at InsideSales in response to new developments rising from the use of the age-tested BANT framework initially created at IBM in the 1960’s.
After the economic crash of 2008 and the internet/social media driving more relevant information and education into buyers’ hands – many sales reps started to receive feedback from their prospects that BANT may have been putting the cart before the horse and making buyers feel “pressured.”
Some even equating prioritizing the B for Budget first to asking the prospect for his/her W2 on the first date. Usually doesn’t go over well.
ANUM aims to reprioritize key talking points to drive a more effective sales conversation.
ANUM stands for:
Authority – Is the lead the decision-maker for purchasing your product or service?
Need – What are the lead’s needs and can your product or service can solve/meet them?
Urgency – Is this lead going to make up their mind soon, or will it be a drawn-out process?
Money – Do they have the money to buy your product or service?
Here are examples of ANUM questions that have routinely been used:
Authority
How are purchasing decisions typically made in your company, specifically with products/services like ours?
I’d like to talk about how our product/service can hep your business – who might be the best person to speak with?
Need
What has led you to seek out a solution now?
What are your company goals?
Urgency
What is your timeframe for getting this done?
When is the latest you’d like to make a decision by?
Money
Do you have a budget allocated for a solution?
If you don’t mind me asking, what is it?
For Funding Pros, ANUM stands for:
Authority – Does the prospect have the decision-making authority/or are they an influencer? (Most often times the business owner, bookkeeper or office manager.)
Need – What is the prospect’s business need/project/goal/Business Outcome? (And what has prevented them from achieving it already.)
Urgency – In what timeframe will the prospect be looking to fund?
Money – Do they have the revenue to be eligible and what is the prospect’s capital pricing decision criteria? (How are they evaluating whether they can afford your solution or not?)
Here are examples of ANUM questions for Funding Pros:
Authority
-Are you the sole owner responsible for all key decisions?
-How have you made key decisions for programs similar to ours in the past?
-How are all business financing decisions typically made in your company?
– If talking about how projects get financed in the business – who might be the best person to speak with?
Need
-What projects are you working on now?
-What do you need to achieve your outcome?
-What has led you to seek out funding now?
– What are your company goals?
Urgency
-What date are you looking to fund by?
-Do you have the capacity to fund this project now?
-What is your timeframe for getting this done?
-When is the latest you’d like to make a decision by?
Money
-Have you done any business funding in the past?
-What other financing for the business have you done?
– What have the terms of your past financing solutions looked like?
– What are the terms of your current financing solution?
For Funding Pros, ANUM, like BANT, can also be an effective qualification framework to efficiently drive calls and maximize our most precious resource: time. But they aren’t the only tools available to us…
Happy Funding!
-FundingStrategist
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