When it comes to B2B lead qualification, many will argue that the BANT strategy is outdated and has outlived its usefulness. It’s been more than 70 years since IBM developed the BANT lead telegram number list qualification framework for its sales reps. With today’s long sales cycles, the Internet’s impact on the buyers’ journey and the size of decision-making teams, some say BANT is dead.
However, perhaps we just need to enhance BANT. First, though, let’s have a quick refresher on what BANT is.
What Is BANT?
BANT is a lead qualification framework that uses four criteria to determine how much time and effort a rep should devote to a lead. It includes, in order of priority:
Budget
Does the lead have the budget necessary to buy the seller’s products or services?
Authority
Does the lead have the buying authority necessary to close a deal?
Need
Does the lead have a problem or need that the seller’s products or solutions can solve?
Timing
Is the lead ready to buy now or shortly?
These are all criteria that are easy to answer with a few well-chosen questions. They’re also helpful in lead scoring. The problem, however, is that their emphasis on a buyer’s budget may be overweighted, and they probably aren’t all the necessary qualifying questions.
After all, the more you know about your best customers (and how/why they buy), the more proactive you can be and the better your sales message will be.
BANT is also a seller-centric strategy. It’s all about how the lead fits into the seller’s priorities. It puts the onus on the buyer. If a buyer matches all of a seller’s requirements, the reps are prepared to go into their sales pitch. BANT doesn’t consider the importance of engagement, nurturing, educating the customer or delivering a value-added, consultative sell.
Once you understand BANT, it’s easier to go beyond it and evolve how you qualify B2B leads in the 21st century. That starts with choosing from among the many data sources and qualification strategies available to marketers, sales reps and business development reps (BDRs) today.
