Teleprospectors are encouraged to capture 4 key pieces of information when uncovering lead opportunities: Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe. Often the teleprospector will get bogged down in uncovering these BANT details and lose sight of what really driving the prospect need. It is encouraged to probe beyond traditional BANT questions and seek to discover more project related details throughout the conversation.
Consider the B2B purchase to be something applicable to our personal lives, for example a new car. The first questions one would ask when a friend purchases a new car would be what make or model, what year, is it an SUV or Sports Car? These are the same types of questions that should be asked when probing for a B2B sales opportunity.
What Make/Model did you buy?
In a B2B sales conversation this could be related to what brand or platform was selected. For technology needs, this may include operating systems and applications. Understanding the reasoning behind making the decision to choose one brand over another gives great insight as to how final decisions are implemented in the environment. Whether it was due to pricing, specific features or driven by company standardizations can help you to understand how new solutions are considered.
What year?
It is important to learn if the organization is in the habit of purchasing refurbished equipment or new technologies, they could be categorized as early adopters, late adopters or laggards. Learning the organizations’ preferences will determine which solutions are presented. For early adopters, it would be appropriate to promote fresh new innovations, where with laggards, it is best to stick with the tried and true legacy solutions. This question could also be applied to refresh cycles and trade-in tendencies. Understanding how the organization purchases new equipment will better aid in appropriate follow-up.
Is it an SUV or Sports Car?
Understand if the company purchases are based on practicality or keeping up with the latest technologies. In smaller technology purchases, such as mobile devices, it is common to see organizations make more audacious purchases to keep up with the latest trends (moving from laptops to iPads for example). Learning what drives purchases in these organizations will aid in determining which products and solutions are most appropriate to promote.
In determining lead qualification, it is curtail to uncover the BANT information, however probing into the application of the solutions and what drives purchasing decisions can be equally beneficial in uncovering sales opportunities.