What methods to use to qualify leads in consultative selling?

[Ehsanuls55]

A big topic in consultative sales demand generation is lead qualification: How can we validate whether the leads we are generating (whether through inbound or outbound campaigns) are truly qualified to be passed on to sales?

In this note I am going to tell you about the 3 most important lead qualification methods in consultative sales:

BANT
7 Ps + C
ANUM
Consultative selling is not similar to transactional selling
I would like to be specific about one thing: the lead qualification criteria of a transactional system do not apply to consultative sales. For this reason, I do not include Lead Scoring as a qualification method in this case.

Marketing Leads are not Sales Leads
When we understand this maxim of demand generation, we realize that for there to be quality in the process, there must be a qualification stage. You have probably seen in many companies that leads, just as they enter a Landing Page or Marketing hr directors email list campaign, are passed on to Sales. The mistake in this case consists in confusing a person's interest in a marketing campaign with the interest in actually buying a product or service.

How do I know if a Marketing Lead is Sales Qualified?
To begin a lead qualification process we need something key: the lead's willingness to interact with us in that process. Without a minimum of initiative or interest, it will not be possible to address the qualification.

The marketing lead is signaling to us that there is an interest in “conversation.” The goal of the conversation is, for us, to qualify the lead. And for the lead, to respond to their needs, their pains.

To facilitate the qualification process, B2B companies with consultative sales models can use 3 proven methods or tools.

The BANT method

This is the most popular of the three methods. It became famous after IBM implemented it in the USA in the 1980s. From then on, and with some delay, it spread to European markets and Latin America. Today it is one of the most widely used methods in consultative sales companies.

BANT is an acronym for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe.

7Ps + C

In my opinion, this method is the most assertive for a consultative sales process, since it goes into greater depth on the aspects that allow us to indicate whether there is a project: