BDR PlayBook
Table Of Contents
1. About Hiver (Slide 3)
2.Outbound Hiver Vision (Slide 4)
3.Outbound Sales Team (Slide 5/6)
4.Team Responsibilities (Slide 7)
5.ICP (Accounts/Contacts) (Slide 8-10)
6.Sales Process Overview (Slide 11)
7.Sales Tech Stacks (Slide 12)
8.Outbound Sales Motion (Slide 13)
9.Competitors Landscape and Positioning (Slide 15)
10.Outreach Approach (Calls/Emails/LinkedIn) (Slide 27-36)
11.Outbound Learning (MEDDPIC and Gap Selling) (Slide15-26)
12.BDR KPI’s (Slide 48-51)
13.External Links (Slide 52)
14.Understanding BANT (Slide 54-70 )
About Hiver
Hiver is the world’s first customer service platform built for Google Workspace.
Hiver helps teams deliver fast and empathetic customer service, right from the tool they are
already familiar with - Gmail.
Hiver enhances your google workspace so you can provide stellar personalized customer
service to every customer without breaking a sweat.
Hiver helps over 2000 companies - ranging from new-age unicorns to traditional
enterprises - deliver a better experience to their customers. Companies like Canva, Vacasa,
Flexport, Pluralsight, Oxford Business Group, and Upwork, among others, are powered by
Hiver
Outbound Hiver Vision
Objective
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To build a successful and repeatable outbound process
To generate new business opportunities from North America, EU, and APAC regions.
Create Raving Fans by Delighting Customers through every Step of their Journey.
Be Recognized as a Leader in the Market.
Build Long Term Foundations to Enable Accelerated Growth.
Hire & Develop the Best Talent and Foster a Learning Organization.
Strong emphasis on individual’s growth
○ Increase in scope of responsibilities
○ Challenging work
○ Skill development/ enhancement
Reference:
https://hiverhq.com/about-us
Sales Development
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Lead Development Representative (“LDR”)
Enriches all inbound leads other than “low” and passes them to SDR/BDR for qualification. List generation for
Outbound.
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Sales Development Representative (“SDR”):
Inbound sales rep focused on researching, contacting and qualifying new sales leads and scheduling calls with qualified
leads for the appropriate AE.
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Business Development Representative (“BDR”):
Outbound sales rep focused pipeline generation by researching, contacting and qualifying a list of prospects. It’s all
about prospecting, generating cold leads and identifying if there’s any interest.
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Account Executive (“AE”):
A salesperson responsible for discovery through to closing deals and oversees customer migration and handoff to
Customer Success.
T
H
E
D
R
E
A
M
Adarsh
Nair
Europe
Prince.
Praksh
Shanket
Yadav
Chinmay
Mulay
Sufiyan
Ansari
APAC
T
E
A
M
Dwijal
Trivedi
Aditi
Dubey
Sonam
Patil
USA
Sunny
Chavan
Team Responsibilities
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Outbound prospecting to companies via cold calling, emails and LinkedIn.
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Work to have 10-15+ touches(calls, emails, social media touches) on all leads.
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Manage, track and report all activities and results using BDR Internal Sheet/hubspot.
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Persona mapping and data enrichment for the key accounts (on top of built by the LDR)
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Working with the AE’s/Regional leads to identify conversation triggers for each contacts such as
change in employment status, new product launch, press release, funding announcement, etc.
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Leverage social selling to create awareness
ICP (Accounts/Contacts)
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All Accounts using Google workspace
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ICP Designations
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Customer Success / Support
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Operations
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IT (CTO, CISO, CIO)
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Finance (Manager, Director, VP and CFO)
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HR
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Marketing
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Criteria for shortlisting companies
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Company Emp Size:
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Start up - 50-500
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Scale up - 500-1000
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Grow - 1000-4000
Industries:
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Logistics
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Financial Services
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Real Estate
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Education/Universities
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ICP (Accounts/Contacts)
Criteria for Account/List Building
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Company Size
External Funding
GW
Type of business
Geography
Current Revenue
Competitor platform
Ideal info in each company
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First and Last Name
Job Title
Phone number / Mobile number
Business email address
LinkedIn URL
Designation
Sales Process Overview
SalesTech Stack
Tools:
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LinkedIn / Sales Navigator
ZoomInfo
HubSpot
Lusha
Neverbounce / Any email finder
Aircall
Mxtoolbox
Outbound Sales Motion
*** Outbound sales motion that covers all ICP is the key document that will help us
connect Sales GTM 2023 goals.
***Lets us call it as ICP & Sales Motion Version 1.0( A framework or Hiver Sales
Org skeleton system). This is will be evolved to 2.0,3.0 and more as we progress)
**** Requires co-ordinations from Department heads to help us validate
ICP(Objectives,Pain,Challenges)
Please refer the ICP & Sales motion version 1.0 here(In Progress)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pmc-ZCkRzivUzVfbWKUNMeyb3yQV4t
Khb1x5eRB9LY8/edit#gid=433826538
Buyer Journey: Roles & Responsibilities
Buyer Journey - 1 slide
Why it is imp for the buyer
https://app.hubspot.com/contacts/4265252/contact/286620001
Refer to this as examples (multi touch, approach and start to close)
Competitor Landscape
Internal Positioning: You will come up against many competitors in the market.
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Please refer to the battle card: Hiver Battle cards
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X9qUOotsNNXtE-j_1zGLk1NRPtwv
1vDkAKxwkbnJbpE/edit
Use slack channel - can create one or use existing
External Positioning: Hiver takes the ‘high road’ and does not speak poorly or
unprofessionally towards any of our competitors, especially directly to the
customer.
Sales Process Overview
Sales Methodology: MEDDPICC & GAP SELLING
Sales Cycle
Ideal Customer Profile
Buyer Persona
Competitor Landscape & Positioning
Ideal Customer Profile - ICP
Buyer Persona Overview
Startup Personas:
CEO/Co-Founder
CTO/VP of Engineering
It operations
Scaleup Personas:
CXOs, VP Heads of Customer Success /Customer Experience/ Support
Operations
IT (CTO, CISO, CIO)
Finance (Manager, Director, VP and CFO)
HR
Marketing
Grow Personas:
CXOs, VP Heads of Customer Success /Customer Experience/ Support
Operations
IT (CTO, CISO, CIO)
Finance (Manager, Director, VP and CFO)
HR
Marketing
Why MEDDPICC?
MEDDPICC is taking the Enterprise Sales, SaaS, and B2B Sales worlds by storm. MEDDIC and MEDPICC
are used by elite sales companies like Sprinklr, AppDynamics, and Snowflake to generate billion-dollar
revenues.
But, these revolutionary sales success systems can be implemented just as successfully by small business
sales teams and salespeople of all experiences levels to incrementally increase the frequency of sales
closed… and at significantly higher values.
Whether you are an individual contributor or sales leader, my advice is that you should start to implement MEDDICC into what you
do straight away. Embrace MEDDPICC, and you and your team will more clearly understand the WHY to your process, and you'll
begin to execute your customer interactions with more purpose and achieve better results. And like so many others before, you will
begin to reap the rewards of having a well-qualified pipeline of opportunities with clearer paths to success.”
- Dick Dunkel, founder of MEDDPIC
Sales Process: MEDDPICC
Metrics: Quantifiable measurements of the business benefits of the
solution
Economic Buyer: The individual within the customer’s organization who is
required for the final ‘yes’
Decision Criteria: Formal Solution requirements against which each
participant in the decision process will evaluate
Decision Process: The process by which the customer will evaluate,
select and purchase a solution
Paper Process: The process by which a deal is formalized with
contractual documents and signatures
Identified Pain: The catalyst for the buyer solving the problem
within a set timeframe
Champion: The person with power and influence inside the
customer’s org who is actively selling on your behalf
Competition: Any internal or external alternatives to purchasing
your solution
The Psychology of the Discovery Framework
ASK: Name three things that
are working well for you today?
Objective: Prime their mind
with oxytocin, the creativity
neurochemical, works to
deliberately alter their brain
chemistry to be open to new
solutions, new ways of thinking.
(positive emotion theory)
ASK: What is happening in
your organization that is causing
challenges?
Objective: You have them
open to new ways of thinking,
now dig into what the situation is
– what is causing this situation?
What have you done so far to
solve this situation/challenge?
ASK: What do you need to
accomplish?What goals or initiatives
need to be met/achieved?When you
achieve your goals/initiatives,what
will that accomplish? What will it look
Like?
Objective: Try to take them to a
future state when their challenges
are resolved, what will that look like,
feel like?
Boost your WHY’s in your Discovery Calls…
Metrics Questions: Hit them with an impressive ROI stats but ask them right questions
What are your business goals right now?
Which metrics around cost, efficiency or business do you need to achieve?
Finding the Economics buyer aka Decision Maker
Is anyone else involved in making the final decision?
Describe your perfect solution to me. What does it include?
Decision criteria: Think of decision criteria as the prospect’s wish list.
What are the most important criteria for you when making a purchase decision?
What are the implications of those challenges?
Decision process:It’s time to figure out the prospect’s process for making the final purchase decision.
What is the process to make a technical decision?
What is the process to make a financial decision?
Who is involved and what are the steps to make a final decision?
Boost your WHY’s in your Discovery Calls…
Paper work, Prospects procurement framework
What is the legal review process on your end? Inside or outside council?
What is our level of priority? How long does it usually take?
What challenges are you currently facing?
Implications of Pain:Some examples are high costs, employee turnover, and production delays.
What is our level of priority? How long does it usually take?
What challenges are you currently facing?
What are the implications of those challenges?
Champion:Connect with a Champion to vouch for your solution
What does this person have to gain?
Does this person have influence with decision-makers?
Can they accurately explain your product’s benefits to the company?
Beat the competition:Communicate what sets you apart from the Competition
I know X is important to you. How do we compare to other solutions you’re looking into?
A lot of companies that use our solution want X in a solution, which is where we really shine from our competitors. I suggest inquiring about this no
matter which vendor you go with.
All pitches have to answer Why?
- BDR - Cold email → “Why it’s worth your time to talk to us”
- AE - Sales pitch → “Why you should buy our product”
- Startup - Investor pitch → “Why you should fund us”
- Ad Agency - Campaign → “Why your customers should buy your product”
- Journalist - Story idea → “Why this story will do well for this demographic”
- Scientist - Research proposal → “Why you should fund this project”
- Marketer - Project proposal → “Why spend 4 months in R&D of the pitch” :)
How will MEDDPICC come into sales play…? With GAP SELLING - BDR
Outbound motion
Gap Selling sales framework puts the buyer first and they can feel it. It’s all
about them. Gap Selling is all about “How can I help my buyer?”
People don't buy from people they like. Your buyer doesn't care about you or your product or service. It's
not your job to overcome objections, it's your buyer's. Closing isn't a skill of good salespeople; it's the skill
of weak salespeople. Price isn't the main reason salespeople lose the sale.
Gap Selling shreds traditional and closely held sales beliefs that have been hurting salespeople for
decades.For years, salespeople have embraced a myriad of sales tactics and belief systems that have
unknowingly created many of the issues they have been trying to avoid such as: long sales cycles, price
objections, no decision, prospects going dark, last minute feature requests, and more. Success at sales
requires more than a set of tactics.
Asking the right questions is the key over a cold call..
Ask open-ended questions
“What is the process for..?”
“How do you handle it today?”
Expand on points made
“Tell me more about that .”
“So, how are you dealing with that problem today?”
Clarify Details
“What do you mean..?”
“Help me understand how are you today?”
Confirm responses with yes/no questions
“It sounds like this is something on top priority..right?
…and your team is struggling to____correct?
“What I’m hearing____is that accurate?”
Elicit missing information
“Is there anything else we didn't discuss today? What else?
Avoid the below to have a smooth cold call discussion
Interrupting
Ask your question and keep silent . This also shows the
prospect that you will wait for the answer.
Double/triple stacking questions
Ask one question at a time so that they can give a clear
response and remember what you asked.
Not actually asking a question
While you want to share information in the conversation,
make sure you are leading up to a question.
Making them defensive
“What” questions can soften the defensiveness of natural
“why” questions: “What made you choose that?” instead of
“Why did you do that?”
Interrogating
Asking too many questions in a row without stopping to
acknowledge the information shared ends up feeling like an
interrogation of the prospect . Use transition phrases to
acknowledge each response before pivoting to another
question.
Sales Development Live Call Framework That Works
GAP Selling in Action Outbound Success(reference)
Subject Line to choose from
>Quick Question?
>Lets talk?
>To the best CXO(Vp of CX/CS,Support so and so forth)
>xyz, Is your team struggling to meet SLA’s?
>Congratulations, On securing Series (A-C) Fund (Tip - research signals)
>Congratulations, On the new release(Tip- newsroom research signals)
>xyz, Your top 3 concerns(Challenges)
>xyz, No need to call me,(Tip - VM followed up by a email note)
>xyz, Care to explore?
>xyz, Increase Agent Productivity
>Reduce Total Ownership Cost(TOC)by upto 40%
>Reduce Anticipated Customer support Budget by upto 40%(CFO/Finance)
>Eliminate Quality management over heads(CFO-Finance)
>Still on ticketing software?
>Is your HelpDesk strategy capturing Voice of Customer?
Outbound Email Outreach Hyper Personalisation/Playing ICP objectives/pain/challenges in all touch points
Hey Chris - Just tried to reach you by phone - no luck hence the voice message and the email note now.
Is cost cutting a priority for you in the next 2 QTRs? As Hired had to let go its workforce earlier this month.
As you head customer success leadership at Hired and play a huge role in overall reducing lending cost of products, I thought to reach out to you and
see if we can help reduce upto 25-45% on your existing support products or customer service platform since the tides are tough for the next 12-18
months due to economic slowdown.
I'm curious if the existing support teams are equipped to excel 2023 GTM strategies?
We can sync if the below topics are encountered across your CX/CS teams
1. How different teams such as marketing, finance, and legal shape the customer experience.
2. Real-life examples of the impact of non-customer facing teams on the end customer
3. How a company-wide commitment to CX/CS improves customer loyalty
Please have a look at the case studies Countless, Clutter, and Travelist
If this piques your interest, can we connect over a video call in the coming weeks or early of January 2023 to discuss the above topic?
Short emails( Example’s)
Hey XYZ,
We work with leaders like yourself.
Their big concern is managing cluttered Inboxes.
XYZ(insert case study) improved resolution time by 72% with Hiver. They save their team 1535 hours per month
managing customer service requests.
Would you like to see how it works?
Best,
Your Name
Short emails( Example’s)
Hey XYZ,
Users love Hiver for 1 of 3 reasons:
1.24x7 customer service
2.Pricing (save upto 40% annual cost)
3.Budgets are tough now. We’re helping to save costs.
Is cost saving a priority right now?
Best Regards,
Your Name
Call Opener
Cold Call Framework winning the 1st 20secs-3mins(Probing on pain/challenges-3mins(Showing
Impact-Future state)-Securing a Sales Qualified Demo
Opening - no call greetings, no show up and throw-up product pitch - Win 20 sec, Probe for engagement
1 Hi Name, you are speaking to Name from Hiver. I understand its a Interruption to your day I will be quick and lets see if it's relevant for us to continue talking.
Wait for the response: see if they permit. If they permit go to below steps or
If No, ask for a better time to connect for 10 minutes in the coming days
2 Building the talk track context:
I took a look at your website, and I noticed that you have a very similar product offering to many of the Saas customers I've recently worked with. ADD A
SOLID TRIGGER from LinkedIn insights - I see your overall headcount of support team has decreased by 7% this year, As you head the Customer support
leadership lead the strategic, tactical & operational plan I’m curious “Where is the customer support department right now and where it wants to be?”
Then you go right into the next step without letting the customer speak.
We have helped YOUR peers to develop their cash flow analysis to support operational cash flow to trim fat from support technology, control cost, and reduce
debt.
Tactical question: Is this something you have on priority list right now for your GTM strategies 2023 Q1.
Prospect answers, now you deliver a short answer making sure that they understand that you have grasped the information they provided - then move to the next
phase.
Cold Call Framework winning the 1st 20secs-3mins(Probing on
pain/challenges-3mins(Showing Impact-Future state)-Securing a Sales Qualified Demo
1 Thank you for sharing, I have a follow-up question because this is very interesting. Like all companies, I presume you are focusing on saving cash and
zero impact on people.
Or
2 I presume you are planning on scaling how are you going to manage the growth of new customer base and Serve as Single point of contact(SPOC) for end users and the business?
3rd Phase Mirror the Prospects response short story telling on Case study/Use case/
Run a Cash flow analysis: Example short story
Let me give a quick how we helped support workforce to reduce cost by 45%
They had a 10 FTE support team. 7 support Agent, 1 Customer manger, 1 Team lead and 1 Subject matter expert.
They had 2 channels - Email -24 by 7 Chat 13 by 7 for their B2B and B2C clients. ROI on saving 45%
Delight and secure a Value next level Meeting/Demo Ask can check your calendar to discuss this over a 30 minute chat with our SME, GET THE QUALIFYING
QUESTIONNAIRE
No of SHARED inboxes, No of Users, If they have help desk vendor or solution
Hubspot: Effective Sequence
Typical cadence questions:
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How many touches should my Sequence have?
What touch patterns should my cadence have?
What are typical performance benchmarks?
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What’s an example of an effective cadence?
Hiver BDR Outbound Expected Activities Each Week
500- Activities include phone calls, emails, videos, texts, and also the tasks created at the respective modules (CRM)
assisted campaigns.
Effective Cadence Sales Touch points
a.
Day-1
i.
ii.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
iii.
iv.
Day-2
i.
ii.
iii.
Day-4
i.
ii.
iii.
Day-6
i.
ii.
Day-8
i.
ii.
First Email
Calling if a number is available.
LinkedIn outreach
Create task(s) on HubSpot for the next day's activities
Second cold call
Second Email
Create task(s) on HubSpot for the next day's activities
Third Call
Third Email
Create task(s) on HubSpot for the next day's activities
Fourth Email
Create task(s) on HubSpot for the next day's activities
Second-Last Email
Second-last Call
Day-10
i.
Last Email/Last Call
ii.
Update the disposition on HubSpot
Hubspot: Example of Effective Cadence
When you create your cadence, it’s important to consider two main variables: your touch volume and your cadence
duration. The combination of those two variables defines how aggressive your sales approach will be. Below is an
example cadence of 9 touches delivered over 14 days.
Outbound Cadence:
1.
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1.
2.
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Emails
Personalised emails
Value proposition or case study emails
One liner follow up email
Innovative hail mary
Cold calls
Linkedin
Connection request
First personalised message
Voice message (If request accepted)
In mail
Email snippets
1.
Linkedin Messages
1.Hi Chris, I'd love to connect and chat regarding your ??
2.Hi Trevor, Checking out your LinkedIn page, I see you have experience leading event series. Are you considering (virtual/hybrid) events in your strategy at
Strothman and Co.?
3.Thanks for connecting Revin! I see you have a few virtual conferences coming up this year. What I’m hoping to do is have a 5-7 minute call to learn about your
strategy, and see if having a demo makes sense. Are you open to a quick call tomorrow/tuesday?
4.Hi Caroline, Back when we first connected you were working at USC. Huge congratulations on the move to Warner Media, and also being made Director!! I
work for Hiver, a virtual events platform. We've worked with Sally Chan, the VP of Warner Bros Entertainment Group's Community Engagement, on the event
held with CBS. I'd love the opportunity to connect with you if you're considering any virtual/hybrid events and if we match your needs! Does it make sense to
chat?
5.I came across your profile in the event pros group where you spoke about virtual events. I have to say, your work surrounding psychopaths in the corporate
world is very interesting to say the least! In your MANY speaking engagements over the past few years, have you been a speaker on the platform Hiver? If so, I'm
curious as to your impression.
6.Hi John, I attended your webinar today; there was a lot of great stuff there and I'm sharing it with the rest of my team! With how next-level your material is, I
don't think Zoom does enough as a platform to match the material. I work for Hiver and would love to share it with you. Would you be open to a quick chat?
7.H Chris, I'd love to connect and chat regarding your virtual strategy for events hosted by XXX as well as any webinars or other virtual events on your calendar.
PS. I am not a Robot :)
Sales Tools
Tools:
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LinkedIn
ZoomInfo
HubSpot
Lusha
Neverbounce / Anyemail finder
Timeline:
Phase 1: 5 Jan 2023 until 31st March 2023
Persona based pitch points for calling (all ICP’s based)
Hi James,
This is (your name) from Hiver. We are working with (CS, Support, Finance, and IT) who are using google workspace
and we are helping them solve concerns around:
(use any 2-3)
Visibility over emails
Workload management and delegation
Solve the issue of missed emails
Shared Inbox management
Email management
I am sure this is something that is important to you as well. How about time?
Competitor Landscape & Positioning
Internal Positioning: You will come up against many competitors in the market.
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Refer to the battle card: Hiver Battle cards
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X9qUOotsNNXtE-j_1zGLk1NRPtwv1vD
kAKxwkbnJbpE/edit
Use slack channel - can create one or use existing
External Positioning: Hiver takes the ‘high road’ and does not speak poorly or
unprofessionally towards any of our competitors, especially directly to the
customer.
BDR Model day for Success - Time Management
Time management is a challenge for everyone, particularly when there are a limited number of hours in
the day that you can actually reach people. That is why it helps to have som structure around your day. In
a cold calling/business development role, there will be a lot of distractions but if your day is structured
and your distractions are limited, you will have a greater chance of achieving higher efficiency and better
results.
Example of what a model day might look like for an Hiver BDR:
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Proactive Activities
○
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Reactive Activities
○
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Outbound calling and sending high-priority follow-up emails after conversations
Responding to emails and sending low-priority follow-up emails.
Power Hour
○
Time of day in which prospects are generally more easily available than usual - typically in the morning, or late
afternoon, but it can vary depending on role, geographic location. Etc.
BDR Model Day
Based on your shift (APAC, EU and US) add these time blocks on your google calendar
8:30 am - 10:00 am
Proactive Activities
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Reactive Activities
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Proactive Activities
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Reactive Activities
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Proactive Activities
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Preparation for Power Hour (pre-call research)
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Power Hour
5:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Preparation for next day
BDR KPI’s & KRA’s
Monthly
> 50 Accounts per month
> Activities 500/per week
> 12 Demos Conducted
> $18000 Pipeline added
Quarterly
>36 Demos conducted
>6000 Sales Activities
>$54000 Pipeline added
Annually
>144 Demos conducted
>$216000 Pilepline added
BDR KPI’s
Conversions
>Sales Qualified meetings
>Demos completed result
Monthly/Quarterly/yearly results
>$ Opps/Billing discussion created
># $ opps moved to deal stage
>Deals sourced by BDR
Opportunity Created
>Closed-Won business
External Links & Videos on Outbound Sales Outreach
1.GAP SELLING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMd3YUVw2c0
2.Jason Bay - Belal Batrawy Cold Call framework
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2UBXcY4KCE
3.Josh Braun - Stop "pitching" in a cold call
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_msAHwnCCY
6.Best Cold Email Subject lines to Skyrocket your Open Rates
🚀🚀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oouQoosLGC8
7.Sales Email: What’s working Right now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxTW5H8iIlk
8.5 Questions To Uncover Your Buyers REAL PAIN POINTS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQd2h86mps
4.How To Personalize Your Sales Outreach At Massive Scale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op-5o4Yz64M
5.The Anatomy of a Perfect Sales Prospecting Message
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN-HGrAWUag
9.Social Selling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkhip0sxeLM
OB Accounts Outreach
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Competitors accounts
What will be our approach
Email body
Cadence BDR will follow (types of diff ones)
30 sec elevator pitch
Date: 31st May 2022
1.
Step by step roadmap including calls and LinkedINs.
2.
Approach on all campaigns leads
3.
Email body messages - clear for all types of leads
4.
Dispositions - scenarios explained
Understanding BANT
Agenda
1. What is BANT & it’s purpose?
2. Understanding the elements of BANT
3. How not to use BANT
4. Tools to help you master BANT
a. Types of Questions
b. Questioning Techniques
What is BANT & it’s purpose?
What is BANT?
● BANT is an acronym for
○ Budget - can the prospect afford to buy our product or service?
○ Authority - who makes the final decision to buy in the customer’s
organization?
○ Need - Does the solution/s we offer meet the needs of the prospect?
○ Timeline - what is your prospect’s timeline to make a purchase decision?
● BANT is a sales qualification framework that enables salespeople to determine how good
of a fit each prospect is to Hiver.
● As not all leads are equal, practicing BANT helps an AE / BDR to prioritize their efforts &
focus on selling to good-fit prospects.
● The goal of the BANT framework is gathering information, qualifying leads and
narrowing the customer’s pain points.
Understanding the elements of BANT
Understanding BUDGET
Budget - Is our price compatible with the customer’s budget?
● Budget is a critical conversation to have with any prospect because if they can’t afford our prices, there’s
no point moving forward with the sales process.
● Elements of Budget information:
○ What are the prospect’s expectations around pricing?
○ What do they typically spend on this type of purchase?
○ Where is their funding coming from? Who is incharge of the financial decision?
○ Is this a forecasted expense?
○ Is there any flexibility with their budget?
● Expected Outcome (minimal information to be gathered)
○ Is the purchase budgeted? Or a part of a project?
○ Customer has been educated on Hiver’s minimum pricing levels and has acknowledged the same.
Did You Know: Approx. 60% of prospects wish to discuss finances on their first sales call.
Budget - Is our price compatible with the customer’s budget?
● Standard questions to uncover Budget:
○ How much do you spend on similar products and services?
○ Who leads the financial decisions in this part of the business?
○ How much do you expect to invest for this solution?
○ Do you have a set budget allocated for the specific solution?
○ What does your typical budget allocation process look like?
○ What do you need from me before you’re ready to secure funds?
● NOTE: starting a sales call with questions around budget can be awkward. It is important to creating an
environment of trust before discussing Budget!
● Useful Tip: Prefix your question with the reason why the answer to that question is important to you.
Example: Instead of asking ‘What is your budget for this project?’, try asking ‘to help me build a solution
that meets your expectations, could you share some information on the budget reserved for this project?
Understanding Authority
Authority - Identifying key decision makers
● Typically, there are two different groups involved in the decision-making process:
○ Decision-makers: Who will ultimately make the call and sign the paperwork.
○ Champions: Who will do the research, take the calls, and pass the information onto the
decision-makers.
● Elements of Authority information:
○ The stakeholders who will be involved
○ Knowledge of the buying process
○ Identifying Decision-makers & Champions
● Expected Outcome (minimal information to be gathered)
○ TDM / BDM / FDM - mapped and identified for the opportunity in question.
○ Champion / Influencer is engaged and willing to progress.
Did You Know: According to the HBR, the average buying-group in a mid sized company is 5.4 people.
Authority - Identifying key decision makers
● Standard questions identify Authority:
○ What is your decision-making process for purchases like this one? Or What was the last time you
bought a similar product? How did the decision making process go?
○ How can I help you position this for other decision-makers? Or This is normally the stage where my
customer brings in [the head of Finance or other stakeholders] to get their perspective too. Do you
want to invite anyone in specific to our next meeting?
○ Which team member will determine if the POC was a success?
○ Who is the technical decision maker? Who is the financial/business decision maker?
○ Which team members will use the subscription actively?
○ Which decision-maker has the most influence on this process?
○ What are the top priorities in the evaluation process?
● Note: Sometimes . . . the decision-makers and champions will defer to end users to make decisions
because this group’s buy-in drives adoption.
● Useful Tip: Instead of focusing on one person, find the advocates and end users, too.
Understanding Need
Need - What are your prospects' challenges?
● It is important for AEs / BDRs to determine if a prospect’s challenge is something they can actually solve
and how pressing the need is.
○ If your product or service won’t solve the prospect’s problems, then it is a sign that the prospect is a
poor fit for Hiver.
○ Additionally, if a prospect’s need is more of a desire or not critical for them to solve, then they might
not be motivated to resolve it quickly, thereby requiring you to invest more time and effort to move that
sale Forward.
● Elements of Need information:
○ What does the prospect’s current Email management & integration look like?
○ Where do the prospects run into hurdles? What are the challenges in the current email setup?
○ What problems is the prospect trying to solve by evaluating partners like Hiver?
● Expected Outcome (minimal information to be gathered)
○ Uncovered the scope of the solution in terms of Delegating emails etc
○ Basic understanding of the prospect’s current email setup / environment.
○ Prospect’s vision / expectations from a viable solution is clear.
Did You Know: Asking customers to rate the challenges they face, is a good way to
identify priorities.
● Standard questions to uncover Need:
○ What motivated you to look for a new solution at this time?
○ What will the consequences be if the problem isn’t solved?
○ What roadblock are you most concerned about in this process?
○ What do you hope to achieve when this solution is in place?
○ What are your top priorities at the moment? Where does this fit on that list?
○ What other solutions/vendors have you employed in the past? What were the
major limitations or challenges while working with them?
○ What kind of solutions are you currently evaluating?
● Note: When engaging with Incoming leads/ enquiries, asking - How did you get to know
about us? Is the most enlightening question. It captures the journey of the problems faced
by the clients, the possible solutions that they sought of, and what truly brought them in
your direction.
● Useful Tip: Use the information gathered from uncovering the Need to tailor the
conversation around the prospect’s narrative in order to keep them engaged and to present
your product as the ultimate solution
Understanding Timeline
Timelines - Find Out How Soon They’re Willing To Act
● It’s important that AEs / BDRs have a clear understanding of when the prospect will be ready to
make a purchase decision.
○ Knowing their timing helps us estimate the timing for first-touch to conversion.
○ If the prospect’s timeline is longer than the average sales cycle and the size of the opportunity
is small, it may be best to revisit the opportunity when the timing is right.
● Elements to Timelines specific information:
○ The prospect’s buying stage: Have they already passed through Problem Recognition,
Information Search, and (at least begun) Evaluation of Alternatives?
○ The urgency that drives that timeframe (so that it doesn’t slip into the next quarter).
● Expected Outcome (minimal information to be gathered)
○ Prospect’s goal to go live with the solution.
Understanding Timeline
Timelines - Find Out How Soon They’re Willing To Act
● Standard questions that help uncover Timelines:
○ Are there any upcoming events/deadlines that you’d like to have a solution in place by?
○ What types of time constraints (or timelines) are you working with?
○ Are there any contracts from other solutions you’re already signed to? Until when?
○ When is the latest you want to have a decision made?
○ Working backward from the date you gave me, we’d need to finalize our agreement by [earlier
date]. Is that sound doable?
● Note: Understanding how tight timelines are can help AEs / BDRs prioritise their leads.
● Useful Tip: if a prospect is considering options for a purchase they plan to make in the long term
(beyond 6 months), it’s better to send them some helpful resources to keep them warm and then follow
up closer to the planned purchase date.
Summarizing BANT
Must discover Vs Good to discover information during BANT
Element
Must Discover
Good To Discover
Budget
Is this budgeted?
What kind of investment have you
budgeted?
Authority
Who is the Champion/Influencer?
Buyers Involved (TDM,BDM,FDM)
Need
Current Email setup / Cost of setup
Expectation from solution - Confirm
whether need is for which domain.
Timeline
By when does the customer need this to
be up and running?
How not to use BANT
Common mistakes when practicing BANT
● BANT fails when it is used like a checklist,
○ Do not ask prospects a series of questions without truly listening to their response or attempting to
add value to the conversation.
● BANT is not an interrogation of the prospect
○ When trying to uncover BANT, make a conscious effort to engage in a two-way dialogue.
○ Do not use BANT as a memorized list of questions to ask a prospect rather ask questions that build
on each other.
● Ask follow-up questions when necessary
○ Use follow-up questions to dig deeper & to learn more about the decision maker, buying process,
problem statement and the like.
● Make BANT your own
○ You need to qualify on all four characteristics of BANT, but you don’t need to do them in a particular
order.
○ Have a flexible approach to fit the prospect and pace of the conversation.
Types of Questions
Besides the Open & Close Ended questions, below are the types of questions an AE / BDR
should be familiar with
● Fact finding Questions:
○ Fact finding questions give you more insight, background, or context into the prospect’s
organisation. These questions are helpful for learning more about your buyer’s situation.
○ Important Note: Asking too many fact-gathering questions can damage your credibility.
Prospects expect you to research their company and industry before you call.
○ Example: What is the nature of your helpdesk? …
● Goal / Vision Assessment
○ Once you know your prospect’s goals or the vision for their department - you can
demonstrate how Hiver will help achieve them.
○ Example: What are the Email setup Goals for your company in 2023?
Type of Questions . . . contd:
● Process Questions
○ Process questions will require the prospects to give more thought and/or a sharing of
opinion.
○ Example: ‘What gaps are your trying to bridge with Hiver or another partner that the
current helpdesk at your company?’
● Hypothetical Questions
○ To help your prospect realize the true costs of an action, pose a hypothetical question
requiring them to think about the future with your solution.
○ Positive hypothetical question example: Imagine 6 months from now. [Issue #1] and
[issue #2] have disappeared, thanks to the new help-desk built for Google Workspace
your subscribe to. How do you see that impacting the experience of your emails?
Questioning Techniques
Funneling Technique
● Asking a series of questions that become more restrictive at each step, starting with open questions and
ending with closed questions.
Generic Example:
"Tell me about your most recent holiday."
"What did you see while you were there?"
"Were there any good restaurants?"
"Did you try some local delicacies?"
"Did you try the Butter Chicken?"
Hiver Example: "Tell me about your current
helpdesk." "Were there any challenges or
inefficiencies identified?" "Did you try solving
these challenges earlier?" "Have you explored
tool like Hiver, if so which was it and how was the
experience?
T.E.D Technique . . .
● Use these TED questions to probe customers when you feel as though you have heard something that you
would like some more information on.
Tell:
Tell me, how will that affect you?
Tell me, has this happened before?
Tell me, what was your main motivation for calling?
Explain:
Explain to me, what impact has this had on your…?
Explain to me, how did this situation begin?
Explain to me, what difficulties did you face when you tried to…?
Describe:
Describe how you felt about that
Describe how it looks
Describe your ideal outcome
Thank you