Why You Should Implement a Sales Methodology
Sales is a challenging process, and even the best salespeople can find themselves hitting brick walls during the sales process without understanding the reasons why. Sometimes you make a great pitch, but the customer isn’t convinced. Other times, you keep getting blown off or ignored altogether.
So what’s happening? Are your reps dropping the ball, or were they doomed from the beginning?
In order to have a successful sales team that’s focused on prospecting good-fit leads and hitting quota, you should have a solid sales methodology in place. These tactics help you qualify your leads so time isn’t being wasted and your pipeline is more accurate.
With so many different sales methodologies out there, it can be difficult for managers to pick just one. This article will compare two popular methodologies for lead qualifying and deal forecasting, BANT and MEDDIC, and help you figure out which one might work best for your team.
Now let’s review what these acronyms mean…
What is The MEDDIC Sales Methodology?
The MEDDIC sales methodology uses six concurrent steps to qualify new leads, which are:
Metrics: What quantifiable gains is a potential lead looking to generate from your solution?
Economic buyer: Who at this company has the power to make purchasing decisions?
Decision criteria: What decision criteria does this company use to choose new vendors and products?
Decision process: What is the internal structure and workflow that needs to happen for this company to make a decision?
Identify pain: What is the problem this company wants to solve?
Champion: Who inside this company can advocate for our product or service (usually the people who will benefit from it the most)?
The MEDDIC methodology provides sales reps with a lead qualification checklist that covers not only some of the basic information you need to qualify a lead but also insight into the inner workings of a company. This additional insight can help you increase your chances of a sale and improve your forecasting accuracy throughout the deal's lifecycle.
It's that second point that has made MEDDIC so popular. MEDDIC goes beyond more basic lead qualification strategies and digs into data that can inform not just if you should pitch but how and to whom.
What is The BANT Sales Methodology?
BANT is another sales methodology that uses just four criteria to qualify a lead, which are:
Budget: Does the prospect have the budget available to purchase the product or service?
Authority: Does the prospect have the authority to make the purchase decision?
Need: Does the prospect have a need or reason to buy the product or service?
Timing: Is the prospect ready to buy now or soon?
With BANT, a salesperson can quickly gauge whether a prospect is a good fit for their product or service based on whether they meet all four criteria. BANT is most commonly deployed at the very first point of contact with a new lead to decide if there’s any value in investing more effort into them.
As you’ve probably noticed, this is a much slimmer qualification strategy than MEDDIC, as we’ll highlight in a moment. BANT cuts right to the heart of what every salesperson wants to know- Is this customer able and ready to buy?
The Primary Differences Between MEDDIC and BANT
Both MEDDIC and BANT help you to qualify which leads are worth pursuing, but BANT very specifically focuses on the questions you ask to figure out the quality of a lead.
MEDDIC, on the other hand, is not just a lead qualifying checklist but a framework you can follow throughout the lifetime of a lead converting into a sale. With MEDDIC, sales reps can not only assess the quality of a lead but also where they are in the deal process and adjust their forecasts accordingly. MEDDIC also requires a more thorough examination of the company you’re pitching.
So, Which Sales Methodology Makes More Sense for Your Sales Org?
Both BANT and MEDDIC can be effective strategies for qualifying leads, but many sales leaders spar over which one is the “best” for their sales team.
The truth is, BANT and MEDDIC aren’t necessarily exclusive techniques. Depending on your sales workflow, you can employ one or both in your sales strategy.
BANT is by far the easier strategy to implement. It’s simpler and has less complex data to collect in order to fulfill its requirements. This makes BANT an excellent methodology to utilize when your focus is to qualify leads as quickly as possible from the first interaction or when you’re pitching a product that has a very simple value proposition.
MEDDIC is much more complex, but that complexity provides a much richer understanding of the company you’re qualifying and its more nuanced internal structures. This can be especially true when you’re selling to enterprise companies, where more red tape and internal hierarchies exist. MEDDIC can help you sort through these roadblocks and improve your odds of landing a deal.
Some questions you can ask yourself to help you choose which methodology might work best for your team include:
Is my aim to qualify leads as quickly as possible, or do I have more time to do a more thorough examination during the deal process?
Is your primary pain point a high volume of leads with very few indicators as to their quality? You might lean more towards BANT.
If you’re finding your reps are regularly ending up several meetings in before a client ghosts them or declines, you’ll probably benefit more from the deeper data of MEDDIC.
Do my sales typically happen within the first one or two customer interactions, or is it a more protracted process of meetings and pitches?
Again, BANT is a great way to vet leads fast. If you have a relatively short pipeline, it may help you cull through leads and get to the better ones faster. Conversely, MEDDIC helps you throughout a longer deal process to hone in on additional opportunities for wins with additional stakeholders inside a company.
Is our ideal sales structure high volume or high value?
If you’re looking to qualify leads quickly so you can quickly ramp up your sales volume, your team may benefit more from BANT. On the other hand, if you’re looking to help your sales reps hone in on the highest value clients so you can improve your success rate and forecasting accuracy, MEDDIC may be the better structure.
You can also use these techniques together, utilizing BANT first to gather the most basic qualifications and then diving deeper with MEDDIC once you’ve honed in on a smaller batch of pre-qualified leads.
How to Enforce MEDDIC or BANT Across Your Team
#1: Provide all your sales reps with a qualification checklist
Whether you decide to implement MEDDIC or BANT (or both), the best way to ensure a seamless transition and consistent usage is to provide your reps with a checklist of qualification and data collection steps for every lead. This serves as a constant reminder of what information they need to collect.
#2: Utilize automation to alert reps and managers when BANT or MEDDIC information is missing from a customer record
Tools like Rattle can help you here. Rattle is a Slack/Salesforce integration tool that can automatically alert sales reps and managers inside of Slack when information fields are missing on a prospect. For example, you can create workflows that scan for missing BANT or MEDDIC data and then immediately alert the rep and/or sales manager so they can gather or input this data.
Automation like this is the perfect intersection of accountability and speed. Your sales reps can stay focused on working with their clients while still being regularly reminded to capture and input this critical data.
#3: Organize 1:1 and team training sessions to identify process pain points and refresh knowledge
Any new process implementation takes time, so scheduling time to talk with your reps and equip them with additional support and tools can help improve the overall implementation of any new sales methodology.
We also recommend gathering them together before implementation to get a pulse on your current pipeline issues and identify common roadblocks among your reps. This can help you identify which methodology might work best for your team and give you precise information to set improvement goals around.
Key Takeaways
As with any new implementation, the method that works best is the one that your team actually follows. So it’s not only important to choose a methodology that works for your goals and types of customers, but to also prep your team on why these steps are important and incentivize them to follow them.
Part of those incentives should include making the process as easy as possible. By utilizing automation tools that make it easy to remember and input the data you need for each methodology, you take some of the stress and pressure off your reps and allow them to continue doing what they do best: working with customers until they close the deal.
It may be tricky to get everyone on board at first, but it won’t stay that way once they start seeing results. So which one will you be trying?
FAQs
BANT vs. MEDDIC: Which Should Your Team Use? ›
If your product or service is simple and easy to understand, BANT may be sufficient. However, if your product or service is complex and requires a more in-depth understanding of the prospect's needs and pain points, MEDDIC may be a better fit.
What is the difference between MEDDIC and Bant? ›The Primary Differences Between MEDDIC and BANT
With MEDDIC, sales reps can not only assess the quality of a lead but also where they are in the deal process and adjust their forecasts accordingly. MEDDIC also requires a more thorough examination of the company you're pitching.
- Know your customers: Create a clearly defined ideal customer profile and buyer persona. ...
- Diagnose problems and create value for customers: Use discovery to uncover the buyer's pain point and create value. ...
- Use customer proofs to build trust: Tell customer stories to build trust.
MEDDIC is uniquely suited to enterprise sales organizations. Enterprise sales usually require engagement with multiple stakeholders and often will require a complex solution to meet their needs. For this purpose, MEDDIC is ideally suited as a qualification methodology.
What are the alternatives to MEDDIC? ›- Sandler Training. (97)4.8 out of 5.
- Miller Heiman Group. (16)4.1 out of 5.
- JBarrows Sales Training. (367)4.8 out of 5.
- SuccessCOACHING. (655)4.6 out of 5.
- Winning by Design. (692)4.8 out of 5.
- Force Management. ...
- SaaSy Sales Leadership. ...
- RAIN Group.
Which part of BANT is the most important and why? Need is most important because it determines if the perspective customer has a need for the product or service you are trying to offer.
Where is the main focus of the MEDDIC sales methodology? ›MEDDIC is an acronym that stands for Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, and Champion. This process emphasizes better customer qualification—in other words, determining whether or not you should expend effort getting a customer into your sales funnel.
What is the difference between bant and anum? ›BANT is a sales qualification process based on a prospect's Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeframe. ANUM is a sales qualification process based on a prospect's Authority, Need, Urgency, and Money.
What methodology do you use for prospecting and lead qualification? ›BANT is a seller-centric lead qualification methodology used by salespeople during the discovery stage to determine the probability of the lead converting into a sale.
What is the difference between marketing qualified and sales qualified? ›The main difference between a Marketing Qualified Lead and Sales Qualified Lead is the lead's perceived willingness to make a purchase. Marketing Qualified Leads are very curious, while Sales Qualified Leads are leads handed off to Sales because they are considering a purchase.
What are the 3 Whys of MEDDIC? ›
Med One customers ask, “Why should I do something different than what I am currently doing?” They may be asking “Why should I rent?” “Why should I lease?” “Why don't we just purchase what we need?” To reach more customers or reluctant customers, we need to generate and create the “Why Do Something?” before we can ...
Why is MEDDIC important in sales? ›MEDDIC helps determine if a client is a good fit.
Instead of focusing on all prospects equally, your team can target those who are most likely to find success with your product. By focusing on likely-to-close prospects, your sales team will have a higher close rate with better-qualified consumers.
The MEDDIC method is a useful B2B sales technique. It allows a high level of qualification of commercial opportunities. MEDDIC also gives you a framework for reflection to better pilot your sales process by asking the right questions. In the end MEDDIC qualifies your sales as much as your prospects!
What sales methodologies do you use? ›- Target Account Selling. ...
- SPIN Selling. ...
- Signal Based Selling. ...
- Challenger Approach. ...
- Value Selling. ...
- Solution Selling. ...
- Sandler Selling System. ...
- Conceptual Selling.
The MEDDPICC sales process is a B2B sales qualification methodology. Its purpose is to help salespeople narrow down the leads with the highest chance of becoming paying customers, empowering them to close more deals.
Is Bant still relevant? ›BANT can still be used very effectively in 2023; you just have to know how to use it the right way. If sales reps use the framework to guide their conversations, rather than dictate them, BANT can help sellers build trust with buyers and better understand their needs.
What are the objections of Bant sales? ›A successful sale usually happens because the product or service you sell was within the prospect's budget, you had the authority to convince them, they actually needed the service or product, and the timing was right. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing).
Is Bant a sales methodology? ›BANT is a sales qualification methodology that helps salespeople determine whether a prospect is a good fit based on their budget, internal influence/ability to buy, need for the product, and purchase timeline.
What are M1 and M2 metrics in MEDDIC? ›M1s are the business outcomes you have delivered for your existing customers. M2s are the Metrics you have personalized specifically to your customer. M3s are the validated M2 after the solution has gone live. These can be used to go back into your M1 repository.
What is the difference between MEDDIC and Meddpicc? ›MEDDPICC is a variation of MEDDIC that has evolved to include a P that stands for Paper Process and an additional C that stands for Competition. Buying technology was much simpler in the 90s. Perpetual licenses meant subscription agreements were not yet needed, and data security and privacy was far less stringent.
When choosing a sales methodology whats the most important thing to keep in mind? ›
One of the most important things to keep in mind as you implement new sales methodologies is that you have to actually believe in them. Managers and sales leaders need to have confidence that the sales methodology will work — and that their teammates can work it — in order for it to be fully effective.
What is the ANUM sales methodology? ›ANUM sales framework is a smart sales methodology that helps to qualify the prospect. It stands for ANUM (authority, need, urgency, money). If authority is something you aim to qualify for initially, go for the ANUM qualification framework.
What does Bant mean finance? ›BANT is an acronym that stands for "Budget, Authority, Need, Timing." It provides a simple framework for qualifying prospects in a business-to-business (B2B) sales setting.
What does Bant mean? ›BANT is an acronym that stands for “Budget,” “Authority,” “Need,” and “Timeline.” Each of these high-level categories branches into its own decision tree of questions to determine whether or not a lead is qualified.
Which prospecting method is the most effective and why? ›Cold calling is probably one of the most popular and effective sales prospecting methods of reaching out to your prospects. Also, you can easily turn your cold call intention into the warm one if you use the “Go Online” prospecting method effectively.
Which prospecting method is currently one of the most widely and successfully used? ›According to research by Rain Groups, picking up the phone is still one of the most effective sales prospecting methods. In the study above, it's important to note that buyer personas prefer different prospecting methods.
What are the three qualifications a sales prospect has? ›The end result for any salesperson is getting the prospect to buy what is being sold. If the prospect has the need, the authority to buy and the money to do so, they are good prospects.
What is the difference between MQL and SQL sales? ›What is the difference between an MQL and an SQL? An MQL is a marketing qualified lead, or someone who is interested in your products or solution. An SQL is a sales qualified lead, or someone who is interested and intends to buy.
What is SQL in sales qualified? ›A sales-qualified lead (SQL) is a prospective customer who has moved through the sales pipeline – from marketing-qualified lead through sales-accepted lead – to a position where the sales team can now work on converting them into an active customer.
What are metrics in MEDDIC? ›Metrics are the quantification of a pain.
In other words, we measure the client's current state (before purchase) and future state (after purchase/implementation), then quantify the benefits.
What is MEDDIC decision criteria? ›
THE DECISION CRITERIA IS THE SET OF PRINCIPLES, GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS WHICH AN ORGANIZATION USES TO MAKE A DECISION. Sometimes the Decision Criteria exist in a physical form where the customer has taken time to construct the specification of their requirements.
What are the MEDDIC categories? ›The MEDDIC sales process revolves around salespeople asking prospects specific questions related to the following categories: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Implication of Pain, and Champion.
What is most important for success in sales? ›Salespeople need to understand the buyer, including the pressing issues the buyer is facing and what they want as they work their way to a purchase. They also need to have expertise about their own product or service and the industry.
What is the bant process in sales? ›Created by IBM in the 1950s, BANT is a sales qualification methodology that helps salespeople identify qualified leads by focusing on four considerations: budget, authority, need, and timing. For sales teams, the main goal of BANT is to save time and shorten their sales cycles.
What is MEDDIC vs Gap selling? ›MEDDIC sales methodology is about the salesperson. It's based in the concept of “How do I close this deal?” Gap Selling sales training puts the buyer first and they can feel it. It's all about them.
What are the benefits of managing a sales team? ›An effective sales team can provide numerous benefits, from helping to identify qualified leads to building customer relationships that foster loyalty and retention. Not only do sales teams help increase lead conversion rates, but they also allow for super direct marketing campaigns and can help qualify all your leads.
What are the three benefits of using a sales process? ›- Improves efficiency. Yes, sales is often marketed as a career or business opportunity that allows you to go by your own rules. ...
- Increases revenues. ...
- Provides predictability in revenue generation. ...
- The ability to assess and improve processes. ...
- Increased lifetime value & better customer experience.
The Economic Buyer is the person with the overall authority in the buying decision. The Economic Buyer can say “No” when other people say “Yes”, and, “Yes" when other people say “No”.
What is the most successful sales method? ›1. SPIN Selling System. Neil Rackham popularized the SPIN sell in his book, SPIN Selling. SPIN is an acronym for the four elements a sales rep's questions for prospects should focus on: situation, problem, implication, and need-payoff.
What are the 4 types of sales approach? ›- Transactional selling.
- Solution selling.
- Consultative selling.
- Provocative selling.
What are 4 common sales strategies? ›
The four basic sales strategies salespeople use are script-based selling, needs-satisfaction selling, consultative selling, and strategic-partner selling. Different strategies can be used with in different types of relationships.
What are the three most commonly used sales strategies? ›- Value Base Selling.
- Power-Based-Prinzip.
- SPIN Selling.
- Solution Selling.
- Challenger Selling.
What is MEDDIC? MEDDIC is sales qualification framework used by sales people and sales teams to help qualify their sales opportunities. Often labelled a sales methodology MEDDIC is an acronym based on the following six elements: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, and, Champion.
Which framework is like scrum? ›The Kanban framework is similar to Scrum in many ways. Kanban also uses a board to help view and keep track of progress, segmenting tasks into three primary columns: “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done.” However, unlike Scrum, the Kanban board tracks all product work without separating it into sprints.
Which methodology comes under agile? ›What is the Agile methodology? The Agile methodology is a project management approach that involves breaking the project into phases and emphasizes continuous collaboration and improvement. Teams follow a cycle of planning, executing, and evaluating.
Who invented MEDDIC sales methodology? ›MEDDIC originated under the PTC leadership team of Sam Geisberg (the genius who created Pro/Engineer which obviously contributed handsomely to making many of our selling efforts fruitful), Steve Walske (our CEO at the time), Dick Harrison (our illustrious CRO), and Mike McGuiness (VP of Sales)—all of whom had a ...
What does Bant mean in sales? ›BANT is an acronym that stands for “Budget,” “Authority,” “Need,” and “Timeline.” Each of these high-level categories branches into its own decision tree of questions to determine whether or not a lead is qualified.
What is Bant methodology? ›What is BANT? BANT is a sales qualification methodology that helps salespeople determine whether a prospect is a good fit based on their budget, internal influence/ability to buy, need for the product, and purchase timeline.
What is bant sales terminology? ›BANT is an acronym that stands for "Budget, Authority, Need, Timing." It provides a simple framework for qualifying prospects in a business-to-business (B2B) sales setting. An organization evaluates whether, and to what degree, a sales prospect meets each of the four criteria.
What are the benefits of Meddpicc? ›MEDDPICC is a sales methodology and it is one of the most common strategies used by CROs in B2B software sales to help their sales teams drive urgency, reduce sales cycle time, build more pipeline, qualify and progress deals faster, and increase revenue.
What is the Meddpicc strategy? ›
The MEDDPICC sales process is a B2B sales qualification methodology. Its purpose is to help salespeople narrow down the leads with the highest chance of becoming paying customers, empowering them to close more deals.
What is the difference between sales process and sales methodology? ›The difference between a sales process and a sales methodology comes down to specificity. A sales process is a series of actionable steps — unique to an organization — that salespeople follow. A sales methodology is a broader philosophy or set of practices that can inform how a sales process is built and conducted.
How do you qualify leads using Bant? ›To quickly recap, BANT involves qualifying prospects based on four criteria: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. A prospect only needs to meet three of them to be considered validated. Of course, once you qualify a prospect, your job isn't over yet.
Which company used bant technique? ›BANT, purportedly created by IBM, is widely used, generally accepted, and easy-to-understand method for qualifying leads. What does BANT stand for? The acronym BANT stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline.
What is the difference between Gpct and Bant? ›BANT was created a long time ago by IBM and stands for: Budget, authority, need, and timeline. GPCT was created fairly recently by HubSpot and stands for: Goals, plans, challenges, and timeline. They both include a four-step process. BANT heavily focuses on budget, whereas GPCT doesn't.
What are the steps involved in Bant campaign? ›BANT stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline, and is a lead qualification system based on the prospect's budget, decision-making power, need for your product/service and the urgency to try it out. At Resolute B2B, we use this framework with skill and mastery to provide your sales funnel with qualified leads.
What are the four terms of sale? ›To complete a sale, both the buyer and the seller must agree to the specific terms of the transaction. These terms can include the price of the good to be sold, the quantity of the good, the method of delivery, and time of delivery.
What is SQL in sales? ›A sales-qualified lead (SQL) is a prospective customer who has moved through the sales pipeline – from marketing-qualified lead through sales-accepted lead – to a position where the sales team can now work on converting them into an active customer.
What is a hot list in sales? ›Simply put, a hot list contains the names of prospects that you believe are going to become customers, and it includes an estimate of the amount of revenue each of them represents.