What is BANT? And How It Can Help You Overcome Objection

Video Transcript

Here’s the scenario: you heard one of your corporate clients wants to train their staff on customer services and you want to provide this training. You call the HR manager with a check-in to see how they are doing and ask if there is any training you may be able to help them with. Funny enough, they are looking for customer service training, so you offer your services.

But, you are getting pushback? Why are they objecting when you know they can use your services?

Generally speaking, the kinds of objections that you might face will fall into four categories:

Budget, Authority, Need and Timeliness; otherwise known as BANT.

Let’s quickly look at each of these categories of objection and talk about ways that you can respond. Think about the categories in BANT as your strategy for figuring out prospect objections before they state them. They are:

Budget:

Concerns about budget are among the most common objections you’ll come across. A lot of salespeople, when they hear the words “We don’t have the money” might react by offering a lower price, which might lead to questions about the overall value of your training program. After all, if you’re prepared to devalue your time, why should they feel confident in its quality?

Another reaction salespeople might have is to start questioning the prospect to learn more. In theory, this is a good idea because in order to overcome the objection you’ll need to uncover the reasons behind it. But no one wants to feel interrogated.

Something that we talked about before was Active Listening. A big part of Active Listening is not talking.

Tip One: the pause

So, here’s a solid tip: After hearing something like “we don’t have the money”, don’t talk. Give the conversation a three-beat pause. There’s a chance that your prospect will fill that silence by elaborating on their position.

Don’t underestimate the value of a good pause. In sales, top performers listen more than they talk. In fact, the data shows that they have a 46 % to 54 % talk-to-listen ratio. Average performers talk 68 % of the time and the lowest performers talk an average 72 % during their sales call.

What those top performers are doing is simply letting the prospect volunteer information which they can then refer back to. It shows that you’re listening, and it gives you the information you need to overcome the objection. Pausing takes practice but once you use it you will see the power in it.

And even if the prospect doesn’t volunteer anything valuable after the pause, at least you aren’t finishing their sentences or jumping in as they’re about to start a new one. Remember, this is a conversation. The more relaxed you make it, the better your odds when you move on to..

Tip Two: talk value

Rather than lower your price, explain it. Describe its value, and why it can help them.

Top salespeople will spend 52 percent more time talking about the value of their product than their less successful colleagues.

If your prospect has volunteered some information as to why they are tight on cash, try re-framing your product as a potential solution for alleviating those underlying budget problems.

Of course, there is risk in taking on a new expense. But there is also reward. How much might it cost them in the long-run by not taking you up on your training offer?

Authority:

“I need to run it past my boss/partner/colleagues” falls under the Authority category of objection and are fantastic opportunities to involve other decision-makers in the process but only if you take the initiative.

Tip One: make sure you are talking to the decision maker

Perhaps a bit obvious, but just ask who you should be talking to, and whether they’re available.
If they’re not free, arrange a follow up.

Tip Two: you set the follow-up

Do not leave the responsibility for the follow-up in their hands. Arrange a date and time, where you will call them.

Don’t leave the follow-up at too late a date, otherwise the next time you hear from them it could be the original person you talked to saying they haven’t talked with so-and-so yet and can we reschedule.

Remember, while you’ve got them on the phone use the opportunity to learn more about them. Every touch point with your prospect is a chance to build a relationship. The stronger the relationship, the more they’ll feel comfortable volunteering information which you can refer back to when you’ve got the decision maker on the phone later on.

Need:

Maybe they don’t need what you’re selling. That’s possible, and there’s a lot to be said about the fact that No means No.

Tip One: seek to understand

However! This is sales, and if you hear any version of ‘No’, then you should try to find out why. It might be the case that they don’t fully understand what you are offering, or they don’t yet have a clear picture of why it can be valuable to them. Maybe what you suggestion doesn’t exactly align with the pain they have. For example, you are suggesting Teambuilding training when they are having conflict in the workplace issues. Teambuilding when the team is not getting along may result in a ‘no’.

Remember, each objection around Need is another opportunity to learn about your prospect. Keep the conversation going. Ask open-ended questions and use other Active Listening techniques. Clarification in particular can be useful here to find out if they fully understand what you’re selling.

Tip Two: waive in a case study

If possible, use case studies or other specific examples about other companies, particularly ones in the same industry as your prospect, who have made similar commitments in the past. Sometimes an objection about need is masking complacency with the status quo; meaning, fear of change. Try giving your prospect examples of positives previous examples can go a long way toward calming underlying concerns about shaking things up.

Timeliness:

We covered this previously with Active Listening but here’s my take on the timeliness objection again:

“This isn’t a priority for us right now”.

This can mean a lot of different things, and the better you listen to them the better you’ll be at finding out why.

Don’t throw in the towel just because they think that what you’re offering isn’t for them. The “Not a priority” objection is an opening for you to learn what their priorities really are. Ask some clarifying questions to learn more about current priorities. Be careful not to sound like you’re not listening to them. Just be honest about wanting to learn more about where they’re at.

Find out what their pain-points are and tailor your pitch so that it addresses them.