NBAT

VO: Get ready for your semi-regular dose of random ideas from the guys at Codelation. We like to talk about big ideas companies that are winning, and those that aren't along with current events in our crazy world of software startups. So come along with Erick and Josh, who challenge you to think big, start small and turn your ideas into something on this episode of, from idea to done.

Erick: Hey everyone, I'm Josh.

Erick: and I'm Erick and today's idea. It's another random sales acronym NBAT, and everyone had handled sales kind of differently. This actually is an idea that I learned from you. Can we talk a little bit about what NBAT is?

Erick: Absolutely, but I stole it from somebody. Uh, I stole it from a guy by the name of Jason Swenk. It stands for need budget, authority and timing. It's really the four things that you need to be paying attention to when in a sales conversation. So let's break that down for a little bit need, do you have a product or service that the person you're talking to would purchase.

Erick: And then the next one is budget. If they have a need for what you can offer, can they actually pay for your service or does it, does their need fit financially with what your team brings to the table?

Erick: Authority means the person you're talking to, uh, do they sign the check or the person you're talking to and needs to talk to the person that signs the check. If you're not talking to the decision maker, uh, don't rely on that person to translate it to the decision maker, try and get a meeting directly with them.

Erick: Right? And then the last thing is timing. And what's, what's the actual timeline. You may have something that's in the budget for this month, this year. And your five-year plan finding when things are going to happen can also help a lot to determine whether or not your team and the size of your team is the right fit.

Erick: Absolutely. And you know, if anyone's been in a sales environment for longer than 30 seconds, you've had to follow up on a sales lead and you know, what feels better of, Hey, I'm just checking in seeing what's going on in your world. Or you had said that this project is that important to get done in August. And Hey, guess what? It's now August,

Erick: It's interesting for me as a sales person to be so targeted and looking for that, I, I have coffee meetings basically all the time. And the main goal of my meetings is to find out the embed or see if the end bad is out of that person's power or even unknown. If they're missing any of those pieces, a sale is basically improbable to close.

Erick: Not only can't you close, but you now have a clear reason for the meeting or discussion. I think that a lot of salespeople go have a coffee or a lunch with someone and say, man, that was a great lead when they didn't even get enough information to even consider them a lead or a prospect.

Erick: And I think it's important to discover if the person you're meeting with has any of the NBAT because at the same time, even if they're missing one, you never know when things could change.

Erick: Well, it helps understand if it is a lead a prospect or just having a coffee conversation.

Erick: The job of the sales person is to be in their head. Like I got to get in somebody's head before they go to actual Google. And so that's why finding out there where there are with everything it's, it's checking in is super important.

Erick: Yeah. It's really the difference between two people catching up on an actual sales lead, but you know, getting brand awareness, that's a subject for another day.

Erick: I, and I, yeah, I love coffee and I love brand awareness. And so there you go. Um, the idea of NBAT is done. I have a weird, you know, I learned this from you and I didn't remember it until I came up with this goofy Michael Scott way of remembering and it's nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh NBAT like the Batman theme,

Erick: Obviously,

Erick: obviously. And so yeah, now everyone will remember it forever.

Erick: Well, this episode's done. Thanks for listening. If you know a startup that could use our advice, have them subscribe and leave a review on iTunes.