Modern Methodology for Sales-ready Leads

by David Jones Digital Marketor

CHAMP methodology (challenges, authority, money and prioritization)

The CHAMP methodology developed by Insight Squared is the modern and new, ready-to-sell approach to lead qualification, designed to overcome the disadvantages of the BANT methodology. CHAMP stands for:

Challenges

Problems and challenges are the first things that need to be discussed with the prospect before discussing the budget. Your prospect buys things because they pose a challenge. When you have the solution, you have the very beginning of an "opportunity". By listening to the prospect's problems and concerns, you can find out if there is an opportunity to promote your product and how helpful it can be in solving the problems.

The best way to understand your potential pain or needs is to ask them questions that will help you determine if the potential customers are the best fit for your product.

Challenge questions

Are you facing challenges with your current solution that you want to change?

How long have you had this challenge? Why did you decide to solve this problem now?

What drives your interest in our solution?

What goals do you want to achieve by solving this pain?

The answers to the questions above will help you determine if your product really suits your potential customer.

Authority

It is always good to inquire about the prospect's authority. You need to ask the prospect questions that will help determine the organizational structure of the company. In sales, time equals money. Asking for authority simply means that you don't want to waste your time and energy talking to the wrong person. It doesn't matter if the first contact on the line has little authority, they can lead you to the right person.

Once you know the decision makers, it is your job to reach them for further discussion.

Authority questions

Who besides you is involved in implementing this solution in your company?

What role would you play in the decision-making process?

How are purchasing decisions for a product like ours made and who is involved in evaluating this solution?

What are the concerns they might have? If they have potential concerns, how do you think we should deal with them?

Money

Money becomes a critical issue in sales. Never start your qualifying question with this. If your prospect can't afford the product or service, you can't sell it. First, learn about the challenges and issues facing your prospects and then what they expect from the investment they will have to make. In doing so, you have the opportunity to focus their interest on the advantages that you can only get when you invest in your product or your solution.

Money issues

What do you expect from the investment it takes to purchase the solution?

Do you have an allocated budget for this project?

Is your finance team or CFO involved in approving this?

What is the typical resource allocation process?

Did you put the budget aside for this project?

Prioritization

In the sales process, the timeline is a function of prioritization. This is about the priority of your prospects when they need to resolve their problems and challenges. You need to be very specific when discussing the timeline and priority list. If your prospect says they need to resolve this issue in the coming week, they are really saying, "This is our top priority." This is where you need to train and find your prospect's business plan.

Prioritization questions

When did you want to start implementing?
Do you currently have the contract? If so, when is a renewal due? Is there a cancellation fee?
Do you now have the time and bandwidth to start implementing?
How important is this to you and where does this stack up in terms of priority and urgency?
When your prospect answers these questions, you will know that the perfect match if you believe your product will successfully meet the prospect's needs.

Your existing lead generation strategy can be enhanced with a few changes to the way you conduct your lead generation marketing, whether it's inbound marketing or outbound lead generation. Once you've identified your buyer personality and figured out what media your target audience is on, the road to filling your lead generation funnel has only begun. B2B lead gene processes can vary from industry to industry. However, the principles of this methodology can help you streamline your process by making sure that your sales team's efforts are not in vain and being devoted to a quality lead.

With CHAMP as a sales method, you can precisely qualify your sales opportunity and compare it with other sales methods. As you add CHAMP as a methodology for your lead qualification, you should also work on understanding the D decision-making process or the buying process of your prospects.