Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Both marketers and inside sales reps are familiar with the oft-referenced BANT acronym, whether in identifying qualified leads or handling objections: Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe. However, over the years, the acronym has become outdated, overused and obsolete. Is the criteria even working for marketers looking for qualified leads? How well? Prospects may still be hiding behind these objections, but now that they know prospectors can immediately refute them, how much longer will they continue to use them?

Last Friday afternoon as the day was winding down, I got into a discussion with some of our top performing Business Development Reps. I asked them, “What was your biggest challenge this week when making your dials?” One of them immediately answered, “Admins!” This got me thinking about how difficult it really is to get through administrative assistants and other gatekeepers when cold calling. Gatekeepers hold their positions at companies because they are very good at their job – a side from overseeing all aspects of general office coordination, they know exactly how to monitor and manage inquiries from sales professionals like us. Although it can be very de-motivating when a gatekeeper won’t direct us to their boss, there is no reason why we can’t find alternative ways to get to these executives.