For today’s topic – BANT + ABC = YOUR WINNING FORMULA

Now I know what you are thinking, but in this case, ABC does not stand for Always Be Closing! Instead, it stands for Always Be Coaching.

What about the first part of the equation, BANT?

I am sure you are familiar with BANT if you are in sales. But if you are not, BANT is a questioning framework that salespeople use when they are qualifying a sales opportunity. It stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Time frame.

What does coaching have to do with BANT, you might ask. Well, a whole lot! Here is why:

The process of asking qualifying questions (or BANTing as some salespeople all it) can easily sound like an interrogation, with the salesperson seemingly drilling the client with a barrage of questions. Naturally, when this happens, it leaves the client with the unpleasant feeling of being questioned, which could ultimately reduce the chances of closing the deal.

Unfortunately, I have seen this happen many times…

In order to avoid going in that direction, one must adopt a coach approach and keep the following two things in mind:

One: While asking questions is important in the (BANT) process, avoid bombarding the client with questions, one after the other. Slow down, listen and pay attention to what your client is saying. And give your client enough time and space to carry on with what they are trying to say. I am sure you will have a better chance of getting deeper answers this way. For you as a salesperson, of course closing the deal is your goal, but do not forget that you have better chance of closing the deal if the prospect feels that he/she are being heard, and their business needs are being deeply understood. Listen carefully so that you can figure out what your prospect or client needs, not what you think they need!

Two: Listening does not mean that you will not be asking questions. You need to ask questions so that you can discover possible latent business needs. It is the type of questions that you are asking that matters. Open-ended questions are powerful, because they give you a better idea of how the client thinks, and what matters to them. They also can lead you to additional information and insights, that you would not have arrived at, had you asked closed question. A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to a closed question has limited impact.
This being said, adopting a coach approach in this type of sales communications is effective because it leads us to an in-depth knowledge of the business needs behind what is being said.

You can practice this by asking more open-ended questions, and by listening genuinely to what the other person is saying, all the while giving them enough space to reflect and answer back.