Andrew Pringle

Question for sales professionals in my network... When booking a meeting via email, with a prospect do you; A) Send email with booking link using Calendly, Bookings etc? B) Ask the prospect which times they have available and then book the meeting around their availability? There are interesting nuances and pros to both but I'd be curious to learn what you do?

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UK IT Resellers: The Role Is Changing, Fast! The UK VAR industry is quickly shifting from product plopping to solution selling In recent months, we’ve seen vendors doubling down on partner programmes, rolling out new incentives, and investing heavily in AI-led tooling to help resellers go beyond simple product delivery At the same time, the market itself is evolving: 🤖 AI is moving from hype to real-world deployment 😶‍🌫️ Cybersecurity and cloud are driving the biggest opportunities 💰 Customers are no longer buying products, they’re buying solutions So where does that leave the traditional reseller model? 👉 “Box shifting” is no longer enough 👉 Margins are under pressure 👉 Value is moving up the stack We’re seeing a clear transition: 1. Products → Platforms Resellers who can support full ecosystems, not just sell licences, are pulling ahead. 2. Transactions → Advisory Cloud, security, and data strategy are now board-level conversations. 3. Vendors → Partners The most successful resellers are embedding themselves into their customers’ long-term plans. The reality? This isn’t just a technology shift, it’s a sales strategy shift. The top-performing resellers in the UK aren’t winning on price, they’re winning on how they sell, who they hire, and the conversations they lead. ☎️ With this shift towards more complex, value-led selling, I’m keen to speak with sales professionals in the UK reseller space who are already operating at that level.

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Classic BANT checks if a buyer COULD buy. BANT 2.0 checks if they actually WILL buy. In many teams I see BANT used just as a checkbox. You tick 4 boxes. You turn the deal “green”. You relax. Then the deal dies in “no decision”. You know that pain, right? The problem is that classic BANT only works in simple deals. In complex deals with buying groups, risk, fear and politics… BANT tells you if the purchase is possible. But not if the group will move together. So I rebuilt BANT for a multi-buyer world. I call it BANT 2.0. and here is how it looks like: 1️⃣ Business Case instead of Budget Not only “Do you have budget?” You confirm a shared business case in numbers. • Problem cost in real money • Cost of inaction • Simple before / after story If no clear business case, you have interest, not intent. 2️⃣ Alignment instead of Authority Not only “Who decides?” You map alignment inside the group. • Who wins with this project • Who gains work or loses control • Who blocks in silence Alignment means key people see upside for their own goals. 3️⃣ Narrative instead of Need Your champion must sell when you are not there. You give a short forwardable story: • One problem • One outcome • One short proof point If the champion cannot repeat it in the same words, forecast stays low. 4️⃣ Triggers instead of Time Deals move when real triggers hit. • Renewals • Board reviews • New leaders • Legal or risk events You link your timeline to their triggers, not to your quarter. So here is a simple checklist for your next deal: • Business Case: number, sponsor, document • Alignment: map of buyers, winners, blockers • Narrative: one-page summary in buyer words • Triggers: clear event, clear date From my experience sales teams that mix BANT 2.0 signals with deep MEDDIC or SPICED diagnostics gain clear views, faster no’s and cleaner yes’s. P.S. Repost it, if this helped you think differently about BANT framework. Someone in your network might need this more than you realise 💖✨

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Cold calling isn’t the problem - irrelevant calling is. I’ve seen call centres boost dials from 4 to 20 per hour with automated diallers… yet sales didn’t improve. More calls just made agents sound more robotic. Boring scripts will kill a conversations. Prospects don’t owe us 5 minutes. We have to earn it. The key? A powerful, relevant ‘Reason for the Call’- not a generic intro. A typical boring opener like: “Hi, my name is X from Y. The reason for my call is to introduce our company… do you have 5 minutes?” You think it sounds professional, but truss me it rarely earns five minutes. Prospects hear this all the time and automatically reply, “Not interested.” After a few responses like this your heart starts to sink and your head drops. Your cold calling session becomes a numbers game. Imagine how positive you would feel picking up the phone if the reason you were calling was one of the following: • “I was referred by XYZ.” • “Your colleague suggested I reach out.” • “I saw you’ve launched XYZ.” • “We work with your competitor XYZ.” • “We are aware of your current situation and we’ve solved the same issue for XYZ.” Differentiate yourself. Lead with relevance. Now your not just ‘selling’, your solving their problem. That’s how you earn real conversations - not just more dials. #coldcalling #Callcenters #Customerservice #connections #Dialer #leadgeneration

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⭐ 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐃𝐑'𝐬 𝐈 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 ⭐ I have spoken to hundreds of SDRs - here is what all top reps have in common... 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 - They can build rapport quickly and with ease, our conversation flows both ways and does not feel robotic. 𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 - They ask questions and not just ''what's holiday allowance'' they ask intelligent questions that show their drive. 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 - Stay with me on this one... they make my life easier - they don't miss calls, they follow-up after, they research and prep for interviews and essentially run a smooth process for themselves. 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? #sdr #bdr #tech #sales #techsales

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