Is BANT still working for Digital Sales to qualify the prospect?

What is Digital Sales?

Digital Sales, in general, is a practice of getting a business in six steps Research - Prospect - Assessment - Presentation - Negotiation - Retention. These steps are, perhaps, being exercised in carrying digital sales, but what is BANT? Why was it crucial to qualify a lead on the BANT system? Let's comprehend! 

“Innovation needs to be part of your culture. Consumers are transforming faster than we are, and if we don't catch up, we’re in trouble.” - Ian Schafer

What is BANT?

BANT is an important method to qualify the sales leads, and it stands for Budget - Authority - Need - Time. Initially, BANT used to be a very efficient way to identify better sales opportunity if a lead had:

• Specific budget to purchase the service or product
• Authority to make decisions to buy the service or product
• Need for the service or product that a company offers
• Particular timeframe to purchase the service or product

Why was BANT important? 

It has made sense in early days when BANT was proactively used in sales methodology to qualify a prospect by a salesperson. They would be curious to know if the prospect had enough money, a decision-maker for approving a budget, and a timeline. It's, therefore, at the moment hard to argue that BANT seems to be not working any longer in digital sales.

Let's have a look at BANTs positive implications and negative consequences on different types of sales.

POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS:

Is BANT relevant for B2C digital sales? I believe, one of the principal advantages that BANT has, its ability to let the lead undergo a thorough screening process; it's essential to know:

• The budget of the prospect - whether a lead can pay for what a company offers.
• A decision-maker - to know that who is buying authority, and where to head for the final conversations.
• A need - to know that prospect has a need to what a company offers.
• A timeframe - that is required to qualify a lead’s estimated time to buy the product.

This method gives a score to the lead by the assessment, and it is very crucial for sales team so that the focus remains on legitimate prospect instead paying attention to leads that are unworthy. One of the more reasons to use BANT could be the concentration on the sales pipelines. When it comes to closing the lead, the salesperson has to assess the lead using BANT that helps them to gauge the degree of interest and better visibility into the time and budget factors of a prospect. However, I think it is argumentative that the person who is asking about the product to a salesperson has in-fact any requirements? What if an individual is just garnering information? The whole process is likely to be in be in vain. So, is still BANT relevant? Let's walk through where BANT lacks.

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES:

In the digital world, buyers have more purchasing power, and are more proactive and smart enough to comprehend their needs, and they understand their budget. Their unprecedented access to the information on the internet makes them wholly informed.

A recent survey conducted by Sirius Decisions and CEB on B2B sales state that more than 50% of the entire buying process is accomplished even before a buyer establish the first talk to the sales representative. That means a sales person, who follows BANT, is too late in the game. Some of the general reasons why BANT is unsuccessful for sales lead qualification:

• Fake Buyers: They know how to garner the information, they answer everything that is being asked to qualify them on BANT by a salesperson, but is the information correct? A Recent survey by DemandGen suggests, “only 20% buyers provide accurate information about their needs that means every 8 out of 10 are lying about the information.” This study, however, supports that BANT is no longer relevant.
• Traditional buying is extinct: BANT disqualifies those prospects who do not have a budget to decide. DemandGen in its survey found that “82% buyers don't follow traditional medium of buying where they'd to allocate a budget before buying any product.” This result depicts that all leads are disqualified and unworthy on the system according to BANT because no budget is assigned, despite, in reality, few of them might likely to allocate the budget at the later stage.
• Group Authorities: In today's buying process, especially in B2B digital sales, no sole buying authority is assigned to purchase a product. A group of members is involved in decision-making process. In the recent survey, conducted by CEO Insights reported, "76% respondents said that more than 2 people are participating in the final buying decision process." It indicates that these individuals alone will not obtain absolute buying authority, and each of the persons will have their perspective towards buying process, and BANT cannot identify this view as a qualified lead.
• Time-based buying: Time play a vital role in BANT, but the way information is loaded on the internet, I believe by the time, sales person defines a timeline for a buyer; the prospect has already accomplished most of the buying process. Buyers, in the digital era, identify their needs, evaluate complementary solutions, get spending approvals and decide the purchase timelines.

What be the conclusion...?

I believe that BANT is no longer working for lead qualification in B2B digital sales, therefore, need to renounce, however, although it cannot be affirmed that BANT is utterly dead at least for B2C sales; The whole new makeover is just required to come up with fresh sets of questions and process instead qualifying a lead on traditional BANT.