What is BANT?



BANT is an acronym and a qualification framework that has been used for ages to determine whether a prospect is truly likely to become a successful customer. It can be used as a rubric or checklist for how to guide a call and make sure you’re investing your time wisely with prospects.



BANT was originally conceived by IBM as a way to identify a sales opportunity, and has been a qualification workhorse across most business sectors ever since: according to IBM, “sales opportunities are identified by speaking to prospects or clients to determine their business and solution needs through a standardized approach called BANT.”



BANT stands for:



Budget– What is the prospect’s budget?



Authority– Does the prospect have the decision-making authority/or are they an influencer?



Need– What is the prospect’s business need?



Timeframe– In what timeframe will the prospect be implementing a solution?



Here are examples of BANT questions that have routinely been used:



Budget



-Do you have a budget set aside for this purchase?



-Is this an important enough priority to allocate funds toward?



Authority



-Whose budget does this purchase come out of?



-How have you made purchasing decisions for products similar to ours in the past?



Need



-What challenges are you struggling with?



-What do you think could solve this problem?



Timeline



-How quickly do you need to solve your problem?



-Do you have the capacity to implement this product now?



For Funding Pros, BANT stands for:



Budget– What is the prospect’s capital pricing decision criteria? (How are they evaluating whether they can afford your solution or not?)



Authority– Does the prospect have the decision-making authority/or are they an influencer?



Need– What is the prospect’s business need/project/goal/Business Outcome?



Timeframe– In what timeframe will the prospect be looking to fund?



Here are examples of BANT questions for Funding Pros:



Budget



-Have you done any business funding in the past?



-What other financing for the business have you done?



Authority



-Are you the sole owner responsible for all key decisions?



-How have you made key decisions for programs similar to ours in the past?



Need



-What projects are you working on now?



-What do you need to achieve your outcome?



Timeline



-What date are you looking to fund by?



-Do you have the capacity to fund this project now?



For Funding Pros, BANT can be an effective qualification framework to efficiently drive calls and maximize our most precious resource: time. But it isn't the only tool available to us...



Happy Halloween to all!



-FundingStrategist

https://fundingstrat.com

https://fundingstrat.com/quality-qualification-bant/