Both BANT and MEDDIC sales methodologies are great to manage the sales process and both are excellent, especially when it comes to qualification.
BANT is simpler and recommended especially for smaller deals and is explained in detail below:
Budget
What is the client’s budget and are they able to afford the solution?
Questions/phrases to use:
- Can we talk about your budget for a second?
- We are in the ballpark of £10,000 – £20,000, is that an amount you are comfortable
with? - This is a big investment but this is going to make you and the business a lot of
money…
Authority
Who signs off on this investment?
Questions/phrases to use:
• How does the decision making process work?
Need
Is this product/solution a good fit for them and do they actually need it?
(There are 3 levels of pain; surface pain, business/financial pain and personal pain – people are far more likely to purchase your service to solve a personal pain…)
Questions/phrases to use:
- Is this a tool that you can see yourself working with?
- Who within the business would use this?
- How would it help you alleviate your challenges or reach your goals?
Timeline
What sort of timeline are they working on to resolve this specific challenge?
Questions/phrases to use:
- Is there a compelling event that you are hoping to have this challenge resolved in time for?
- When would you like to start using this tool?
MEDDIC is more comprehensive, and recommended for larger deal sizes and is explained in detail below:
Metrics
First find out what the client hopes to gain from your solution, these gains should be quantifiable for example, the company may want to increase their output by a factor of four. They might want to get products to market in half the time, or they may want to save at least 20% on production costs. Ultimately there must be a tangible ROI.
Questions to use:
- What is your average order value?
- How are you tracking against your target?
- What is your growth target?
- How are you tracking?
- How long is it taking?
- What would you do with that time if you had it back?
- How would that affect your goals?
- What’s the next most important milestone you’re working towards in the process?
Economic Buyer
You need to understand who functions as the company’s economic buyer or the person who actually has the power to make decisions and authorise spending. Often you should be talking to someone higher up in the company than your current contact. Knowing your economic buyer and their mindset will help you close sales as the buyer’s veto power makes them the one person that must be completely convinced to move forward.
Questions to use:
- Who would ultimately sign off on this?
- Would they need to see the product?
- What value would they get from the product?
- How would it help their objectives?
- What are they likely to say?
Decision Process
While the decision criteria tell you what goes into a company’s decision, the decision process tells you how that decision is actually made and followed through on. A decision process will include the person who makes a decision, the timeline in place and any formal approval processes in place.
Questions to use:
- Who would ultimately sign this budget off?
- When could they make that decision?
- Who else would need to see the product?
- Who’s budget is it?
- When do you want to start using the product?
- What needs to happen between now and then?
- What would stop us doing business together?
- What steps would we need to take to get you using the product?
Decision Criteria
You also need to understand what criteria the company uses in decision making. Companies are often considering multiple solutions from different sources, forcing them to compare and make a choice. If you understand how they make their choice you can better tailor your messaging. Criteria vary but often companies use factors like simplicity of use, integration, budget constraints and potential ROI to make their decisions.
Questions to use:
- What exactly would you need to see to make a decision?
- What would other stakeholders need to see to make a decision?
- Why is that important to you?
- Which one of these pieces of criteria is the most important?
- What exactly would we need to demonstrate in order to be the vendor of choice?
- Who else would we need to impress to get this over the line?
- What date do you want to start using this?
- Who would you prioritise having access to this?
Identify Pain
A customer must have a need before they pursue a solution, and it’s vital to know
what that need is or what is causing them pain. This pain can manifest in many ways, including high costs, slow production, and low revenue. Identify the pain the customer is experiencing, and then identify how your solution can relieve that pain.
Questions to use:
- What are the implications of not hitting target/solving the problem?
- How does that feed into the overarching business goal?
- What would a good year look like?
- What is the strategy for solving this problem?
- How do your departmental goals affect the overarching business goal?
- Why has the business picked that number? (target)
- What have you tried in the past to solve the problem?
- What affect would it have on the business if you over achieved on that?
Champion
Find a champion, someone on the inside who is invested in your success and pushes for you. The champion will likely be the individual most affected by the company’s pain or the person who stands to benefit the most from your solution. Because they want your solution they want you to be successful and will use their influence to sell the solution from the inside.
Questions to use:
- If this was your decision would you buy it?
- What do we need to do to get this in the hands of your team?
- Are you prepared to take the right steps to get this over the line?
- Have you asked your CEO/boss for something like this before? What did they say?
- Does your boss trust your decisions?
- What would they likely say to a decision like ours?
- What objectives are they likely to have?
- How are you going to help them see the value?
Qualification is vital. As a final thought on this, add the simple additional question, “Why?” This will give you more depth and will often get you closer to a personal pain.
