6 Methods Beyond BANT to find the Ideal Prospects for your Business

Finding potential customers for your business can be a daunting task. You need to identify who is a good fit for your products or services, and then reach out to them in a way that resonates. There are many different methods you can use to find the best prospects for your business, and in this blog post we will explore four of them.

BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing) is the original standard. It’s very seller-centric, so has been updated and rejected by many lead generators and salespeople.

Here are some of the updated methods of lead qualification you can use to make your prospecting and sales more effective.

Keep reading to learn more!

The GPCT method is a sales technique that can be used to qualify leads. GPCT stands for Goals, Plans, Challenges, and Timeline. To use the GPCT method, you will need to ask your prospect about their goals, plans, challenges, and timeline for achieving those goals.

The GPCT method can help you to qualify leads by:

– Allowing you to understand the prospect’s goals, plans, and challenges
– Helping you to identify whether the prospect is ready to buy
– Helping you to identify whether the prospect is a good fit for your product or service

If you use the GPCT method, you will be able to qualify more leads and close more sales.

The NOTE method is a simple and effective way to qualify leads. NOTE stands for Need, Objective, Timeline, and Engagement. By asking prospects questions about their needs, objectives, timeline, and engagement level, you can quickly identify whether or not they are qualified leads.

Need: What is the prospect’s need? Why do they need your product or service?
Objective: What is the prospect’s goal? What do they hope to achieve by using your product or service?
Timeline: When does the prospect need your product or service? Are they looking for a long-term solution or a quick fix?
Engagement: How engaged is the prospect? Are they actively looking for a solution or are they just beginning their research?

NOTE is much more buyer-centric than BANT, allowing the salesperson to look at the transaction from the buyer’s perspective.

Software is an excellent example of where a decision by one person can affect an entire corporation, even internationally. If your prospect is considering buying a new software from you, everyone who will work on it is going to be affected. If you’ve been in a company when a bad piece of software was rolled out, you know it can lead to massive frustration. If it’s bad enough, the contract will be canceled and another solution will be put in place.

Consider everyone in the organization who might be affected by this purchase. Sure you might get the sale now, but those who work for someone today might be the decision-maker tomorrow and they’ll remember what pain your sale caused them.

The CHAMP method is a reliable framework for qualifying leads. Its acronym stands for Criticality, Ability, Motivation, and Purchase Process. By considering each of these factors, you can get a clear picture of whether a lead is truly ready to buy.

Criticality refers to how urgently a lead needs your product or service. Are they facing a time-sensitive problem that needs to be solved immediately? Or is it something that can wait a few months?

Ability refers to a leader’s ability to actually make a purchase. Do they have the budget for your product or service? Do they have the authority to make decisions within their organization?

Motivation refers to a lead’s motivation for making a purchase. What needs are they trying to address? What are their goals?

Purchase Process refers to the stage that a lead is in within their buying journey. Are they just starting to research their options? Or are they ready to make a decision?

By taking all of these factors into account, you can get a clear sense of whether a lead is ready to buy or not. If they are, then you can proceed with confidence. However, if they don’t meet all of the criteria, then you may want to reconsider your approach.

(FAINT) is a sales technique used to qualify leads. FAINT helps salespeople determine whether a potential customer has the budget, decision-making power, interest, need, and timeline to make a purchase.

FAINT is an acronym that stands for:
F-unds: Does the prospect have the budget to buy your product or service?
A-uthority: Is the decision-maker involved in the purchasing decision?
I-nterest: Is the prospect interested in your product or service?
N-eed: Does the prospect need your product or service?
T-iming: Is the prospect ready to buy now, or do they need to wait?

FAINT can be used in any sales situation, whether you’re selling a product, service, or even yourself (in a job interview, for example). It’s a great tool for qualifying leads because it helps you weed out prospects who aren’t ready to buy.

If you’re a salesperson, you know that not all leads are created equal. Some prospects are ready to buy, while others aren’t even close. This is where FAINT comes in. FAINT is a sales technique that can help you qualify your leads and determine which ones are worth your time.

What is MEDDIC?
MEDDIC is a sales methodology that stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, and Champion.

Metrics – What does the buyer hope to accomplish with their purchase and how will they measure success?
Economic Buyer – Does this lead actually have the buying power?
Decision Criteria – What are the criteria the company will use to initiate the purchase?
Decision Process – What are the steps that will get the company to a final decision?
Identify Pain – What pain is your product or service meant to remove?
Champion – Find a champion inside the company to push your product or service on your behalf.

Why does it work?
MEDDIC works because it helps salespeople focus on the key factors that influence a buying decision.

Drawing a line from one method to the next, they all essentially do the same thing each with their own acronym so someone can claim the right to have invented it.

All of these methods incorporate the BANT method of guaranteeing that the lead can actually purchase from you and will do so soon. The biggest change from BANT is a customer focus that promotes exploring the lead’s needs, pain points, and wants.

In truth, for most decent salespeople, this would be intuitive.

Any of these methods, particularly when used for lead generation will work nicely. The mission is to make sure prospects can afford your services, need your services, and will purchase your services soon.

If you’ve created a lead generation program, or are using a firm like VSynergize to prospect for leads, you can use any of these methods as an initial filter to weed out the weaker prospects.

IMPORTANT: Don’t throw out leads that aren’t ready right now or can’t afford your products or services right now. Move them to a lead nurturing program that keeps them warm and keeps you top-of-mind for a time when they do need you.

If you’d like to see how these methods can be used to vet leads in real-time, contact VSynergize. We will show you how we can vet your leads quickly and efficiently.