The 7 Components of a Closed Deal Ep 228

In a detailed discussion on sales strategies, the host breaks down the essential requirements for a successful sale into buyer and seller components, referencing the BANT acronym (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing) and insights from sales experts like Jordan Belfort and Grant Cardone. The host emphasizes the importance of trust in the product, the salesperson, and the company, and shares a data-driven approach that showed a dramatic increase in sales when prospects indicated immediate or next-day readiness to start. This revelation led to a more efficient sales process by focusing on these key buyer qualifiers, resulting in higher sales despite increased costs per booked call.

• Speaker B introduces the podcast, highlighting the focus on customer acquisition, increasing customer value, and retention.
• The podcast aims to share failures and lessons learned in the journey of improving sales and marketing strategies.

Welcome to the game, where we talk about how to get more customers, how to make more per customer, and how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons we have learned along the way. I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

This quote sets the stage for the podcast's theme, emphasizing the goal of discussing strategies for business growth and customer management.

• Speaker A shares their recent realization about the essential components of a closed deal.
• The epiphany involves understanding the reciprocal requirements between the buyer and the seller.
• There are four requirements from the buyer to the seller and three from the seller to the buyer.

And so there's actually four requirements from the buyer to the seller and three from the seller to the buyer, which is really interesting when you take this apart.

Speaker A's statement introduces the core concept of reciprocal requirements in sales transactions, which will be further explained throughout the conversation.

• BANT is an acronym used to define the qualifications of a prospect in sales.
• Speaker A first encountered BANT in the software, specifically SaaS, industry.
• The software industry's quantitative approach has led to the codification of sales requirements.
• The transition of a prospect to an account executive in enterprise software sales is contingent upon meeting BANT criteria.

And so those requirements are as followed. B, is budget, right? Do they have the budget for this thing? A, authority. Do they have the decision making power to make the call on whether or not they or their company can do the deal?

The quote lists the first two components of the BANT requirements: Budget and Authority, which are crucial for qualifying a prospect in the context of enterprise software sales.

• BANT stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing.
• Budget: Whether the prospect has the financial resources for the purchase.
• Authority: The prospect's decision-making power within their organization.
• Need: The existence of a problem that the product or service can solve.
• Timing: The prospect's readiness or urgency to solve the issue.

Third, do they need this solution? Do they need this issue, whatever it is? Do they have a problem that needs to be solved with this thing? Fourth, timing, what is their ti

This quote was cut off, but it addresses the third and fourth elements of BANT: Need and Timing, which help determine if a prospect is ready to move forward with a purchase.

• Buyers need four essential components to proceed with a purchase.
• The components include the buyer's need for the product, the ability to afford it, the decision-making authority, and the urgency to acquire it immediately or within a specific timeframe.
• Without all four components, a buyer will not complete the purchase.

"And so those are the four components that a seller requires from a buyer, right. Unless a buyer has all four of those things, they cannot and will not buy."

This quote emphasizes that a buyer must fulfill all four criteria (need, affordability, authority, and urgency) to make a purchase, highlighting the non-negotiable nature of these requirements in a sales process.

• Sellers need to ensure three elements are present to gain a buyer's trust.
• Trust in the product's ability to solve the buyer's problem is crucial.
• The salesperson must be perceived as honest and credible.
• Trust in the company's reputation and reliability is also necessary for a successful sale.

"The three requirements from a seller to a buyer are that they trust the product is going to solve their problem. They trust that the salesman is being honest. Otherwise, they will not trust what they're saying about the actual solution, that they're pitching them on, and then finally, that they trust the company."

This quote outlines the three fundamental aspects of trust that a seller must establish with a buyer: trust in the product, trust in the salesperson, and trust in the company. Each aspect is critical to the buyer's confidence in proceeding with the purchase.

• The "three tens" concept is used by sales teams to ensure maximum trustworthiness.
• Sales teams strive to score a ten out of ten in product knowledge, salesperson credibility, and company reputation.
• The concept is practiced by successful sales trainers and professionals like Jordan Belfort and Grant Cardone.

"And so you need to be a ten out of ten on the product. You need to be a ten out of ten on the salesman. This is a trustworthy guy. He really knows what he's talking about. He's quick, he's sharp, and then you need to be a ten out of ten on the company. There's a trustworthy company. I feel good about doing business with them."

This quote explains the "three tens" approach, where achieving a perfect score in product knowledge, salesperson credibility, and company reputation is seen as essential for successful sales. It conveys the high standard sales teams aim for to build trust with potential buyers.

• All seven components (buyer's four requirements and seller's three trust elements) must be met for a sale to occur.
• The importance of these components remains consistent regardless of the scale of the sale.
• Timing is a critical factor, as shown by data indicating a strong correlation between immediate willingness to start and closed sales.

"And so, if you think about any sale in general, all seven components have to be met in order for someone to say yes, right? And sometimes, obviously, the bant requirements for somebody doing a free trial are very different than someone buying a 50,000 or a million dollar a year software, right? They're different, but the fundamental components remain the same."

This quote highlights that for a sale to be successful, all seven components—buyer's four requirements and seller's three trust factors—must be satisfied. It also notes that while the specifics can vary depending on the deal's size or nature, the underlying principles are universally applicable.

"And once he did the data review, he found out that 95% of all of his sales came from people who said either they were willing to start immediately or the next day. And only 5% of his sales came from people who said that they wanted to start at a later time, literally immediately or the next day."

The quote presents data underscoring the significance of timing in a buyer's decision-making process, with a strong preference for those ready to act immediately or very soon. It suggests that sales success is heavily influenced by the buyer's readiness to engage with the product or service without delay.

• The speaker highlights the importance of using data to inform business decisions.
• Data is used to optimize processes, such as knowing when to engage with potential clients.
• A specific action was taken to no longer call people who are not ready to start immediately, based on data analysis.

"So he now took the action of no longer even calling people who said that they didn't want to start immediately because he looked at his data."

This quote emphasizes the strategic decision to focus on leads that are ready to convert, which was informed by analyzing data patterns.

• The speaker emphasizes the podcast's growth strategy reliant on word of mouth.
• There is no use of ads, sponsorships, or sales to promote the podcast.
• The speaker encourages listeners to share the podcast just as they discovered it.

"The only way this grows is through word of mouth. So I don't run ads, I don't do sponsorships, I don't sell anything."

This quote underlines the organic growth strategy for the podcast, relying solely on listeners sharing it with others.

• The speaker requests listeners to share the podcast as a way to give back.
• Sharing is seen as an act of goodwill and beneficial for the entrepreneurial community.

"My only ask is that you continue to pay it forward to whoever showed you or however you found out about this podcast, that you do the exact same thing."

This quote requests listeners to engage in the act of sharing, which is the primary method of supporting the podcast's growth.

• Jim launch has refined its application process to just four essential questions.
• This refinement leads to efficiency in the sales process.
• The four questions assess the necessity, decision-making authority, budget, and timeline of the potential buyer.

"So we've actually been able to prune down our application to the only four requirements of a buyer."

This quote illustrates the efficiency of the sales process by reducing the application to only four critical questions.

• By pre-qualifying buyers based on four key questions, salespeople can engage with a clear understanding of the buyer's position.
• This allows salespeople to focus on the remaining components of the sale without redundancy.

"And so now this has just allowed us to be so much more efficient in our process because we know that if we have all four of those, then we come into the sale with a clean slate."

The quote explains how the streamlined process allows for a more focused and effective sales approach by ensuring all prerequisites are met before engaging in a sale.

• Setting prerequisites for buyers simplifies the sales interaction.
• It helps in identifying qualified leads and ensures that the sales team can work more effectively.

"And so if we can cover those initially and we can set those as prerequisites and requirements of the buyer, then it massively facilitates the sales process."

This quote highlights the benefit of having clear prerequisites for buyers, which simplifies and enhances the sales process.

• The speaker had an epiphany regarding the importance of combining both buyer and seller requirements for a successful sale.
• This realization led to the implementation of a new style of questionnaire in their application process.
• The integration of this concept was seen as a significant and cool development by the speaker.

"And so it was only by recently when I realized that we had to put both of those things together, the requirements of the buyer and the requirements of the seller, that it crystallized in my mind."

This quote explains the moment of realization that both buyer and seller needs must be addressed together to achieve better sales outcomes.

• The addition of the new questionnaire increased the cost per booking by two and a half times.
• Despite the increase in cost per booked call, actual gross sales increased during the implementation period.
• The speaker expresses excitement about the positive data-driven results of the new strategy.

"We added this form into our application, into working with us, and it actually increased our cost per booking by two and a half x, which is a lot."

This quote highlights the initial financial impact of the new questionnaire, indicating a significant rise in the cost per booking.

"But it wasn't cost of acquisition, it was cost per booked call."

This quote clarifies that the increased cost was specifically related to the cost per booked call, not the overall cost of acquiring new clients.

"Our actual gross sales during the time period that we put this in went up and so we made more money even though we had two and a half x less or fewer opportunities."

The speaker details the counterintuitive outcome where, despite fewer opportunities due to higher costs, gross sales actually increased.

• The speaker shares their success with the audience, hoping it will be seen as valuable and cool.
• They encourage the audience to engage with the content through comments or likes.
• The speaker's intent is to provide quick, useful information that can be applied by the audience to improve their own businesses.

"I just boxed Russell. He's like that's so cool and so I figured I would share it with you guys because I thought that you also would find that pretty cool as well."

This quote shows the speaker's enthusiasm for the strategy's success and their desire to share it with others who may find it equally interesting.

"I made it quick and hopefully you can use this in your business to help more folks make more decisions to help themselves by working with you."

The speaker offers the information as a practical tool for the audience to use in their own business endeavors to facilitate better decision-making and client engagement.

• The speaker is unsure of the day but wishes the audience an awesome day regardless.
• They sign off with a casual and friendly goodbye, indicating they will connect with the audience again later.

"So beyond that I hope you're having an awesome Sunday. I don't even know what day it is."

This quote reflects the speaker's casual and personable approach, wishing the audience well and acknowledging a potential lapse in awareness of the day.

"So keeping awesome and I'll catch you guys on the flip side. Bye."

The final quote is a positive and colloquial farewell, maintaining a friendly rapport with the audience and indicating an intention to reconnect in the future.