BANT/RANT
A retail prospect says, 'We're not actively looking to change our POS system, but I'm curious what innovations are happening in the market.' Which qualification framework should you prioritize?
What is RANT: This is a classic outbound scenario where the prospect has low problem awareness and isn't in an active buying cycle. Starting with Relevance allows you to explore how Shopify's innovations align with their business objectives before discussing budget or timeline.
When qualifying a merchant with less than ten physical locations, this Shopify plan could give them access to significant cost savings compared to competitors?
What is POS Pro yearly subscription?
When qualifying a multi-location retailer who needs to track inventory variances and create purchase orders automatically, this app should be recommended over other inventory solutions.
What is Stocky?"
Explanation: Based on the POS Apps Recommendations document, Stocky is specifically designed to help retailers "plan what stock to order and reduce guess work," "find variants losing revenue when out of stock," and "create purchase orders and sync with Shopify upon delivery" - making it ideal for inventory management across multiple locations.
Before recommending the Admin+ by eShop app to a boutique retailer, you need to analyze the app documentation, POS disqualifier list, and qualification cheat sheets simultaneously to assess implementation complexity. This AI tool enables this multi-document analysis.
What is NotebookLM?
NotebookLM uniquely allows you to upload and analyze multiple documents together (app documentation, disqualifier lists, and qualification cheat sheets), providing insights about implementation complexity that other AI tools cannot offer since they can't process multiple uploaded documents simultaneously.
When qualifying a retailer concerned about committing to Shopify’s POS Pro yearly subscription plan, you can focus on the value of these to move the conversation from price to return on investment.
What is the value of the incentives?
Explanation Instead of defending the yearly cost, focus on the exceptional offer we currently have available for the POS Pro yearly subscription. This offer is designed to offer your merchant incredible savings and help you get set up with Shopify POS seamlessly.
In your first outbound call with a merchant operating both online and in three physical locations they say: "Our current system can't sync inventory properly between channels, and we need a solution before holiday season".
You should transition from this framework to this one during your conversation.
What is RANT to BANT?
While the initial outbound interaction suggests RANT, the prospect has clearly articulated a specific problem and timeline, indicating they're already in the buying process. You should start with establishing relevance but quickly transition to BANT to confirm budget and authority.
When qualifying a merchant with 15 physical locations and $2M annual GMV who needs POS Pro for all stores, this Shopify plan becomes the most cost-effective option compared to paying for individual POS Pro subscriptions."
What is Shopify Plus
Explanation: Since Shopify doesn't natively support raw goods tracking, sales reps need to either disqualify early or explore if the merchant would be open to using third-party apps to manage this requirement, changing the qualification path significantly.
During RANT qualification with a retailer concerned about employee management, this Authority question helps determine if EasyTeam POS Time Clock is an appropriate solution.
What is 'Who currently manages staff scheduling and payroll in your organization?
The Authority component of RANT should identify who manages staff scheduling, as this person will need to approve and implement the EasyTeam solution. Understanding the decision-making structure around staff management is crucial before recommending this app.
A sales rep wants to create an AI assistant that helps draft personalized follow-up emails to retail merchants after qualification calls. This conversational AI tool would be best for building this custom email assistant.
What is Shopify's ChatGPT integration?
Shopify's ChatGPT integration provides the conversational capabilities and Shopify-specific knowledge needed to help sales reps craft personalized, contextually relevant follow-up emails based on qualification call details.
For a multi-location retailer struggling with inventory management, quantifying this detail helps them recognize the hidden costs of their current approach.
What is calculating the revenue lost from out-of-stock situations and overstocking?
Explanation: This Challenger-style approach teaches the prospect about costs they may not have fully considered, helping them recognize the value of Shopify's inventory management capabilities in terms of recovered revenue rather than just as a feature comparison.
When qualifying a high-end boutique retailer using BANT, you discover they have budget approval but a 12-month implementation timeline. According to best practices, this scenario requires you to do this before continuing the sales process.
What is reassess using RANT to create urgency?
A distant timeline suggests the need isn't urgent despite having budget. Switching to RANT allows you to explore the relevance of solving their problems sooner and potentially create urgency by highlighting the cost of waiting 12 months.
A merchant mentions they need to track raw ingredients for their bakery products across both online and in-store sales. What are your two options moving forward, due to Shopify's limitations in this area.
What is early disqualification or third-party app exploration?
Explanation: Since Shopify doesn't natively support raw goods tracking, sales reps need to either disqualify early or explore if the merchant would be open to using third-party apps to manage this requirement, changing the qualification path significantly.
When qualifying a retailer for loyalty solutions, this key difference between Smile.io and Swell helps determine which app to recommend
What is Smile.io's free plan availability versus Swell's 100 orders/month limit?
Smile.io offers "10+ exciting ways to engage your customers, all available on the free plan," while Swell's free plan is limited to merchants with fewer than 100 orders per month. During qualification, understanding the merchant's order volume helps determine which loyalty app provides better value.
A home goods retailer mentions they're deciding between Shopify POS and Lightspeed based on multi-location inventory features. This AI tool provides current competitive comparisons from across the internet.
What is Perplexity?
Perplexity is the only tool among these options that performs real-time internet searches to gather current competitive information about multi-location inventory features across different POS systems
When qualifying a boutique that's hesitant about adding POS Pro to their existing Shopify store, this specific customer behaviour statistic can create a compelling business case.
What is the lifetime value increase of omnichannel customers versus online-only customers?
Explanation: Rather than focusing on POS Pro features, this approach quantifies how omnichannel customers typically spend 3-4x more than single-channel customers, shifting the conversation from the cost of POS Pro to the revenue growth opportunity it represents.
When a restaurant owner inquires about Shopify POS, this qualification component helps you quickly identify potential disqualifiers like split bills and table tracking without wasting time on a full sales cycle.
What is Need in BANT
For industry-specific disqualifiers, focusing on the Need component first (rather than Budget) allows you to quickly identify if Shopify POS can meet their core requirements before investing time in a prospect that can't be served due to technical limitations
When qualifying a high-volume retailer concerned about payment processing costs, this specific Shopify feature should be highlighted, as it directly impacts their Budget qualification
What is the tiered in-person credit/debit rates based on plan level
Explanation: Understanding that payment processing rates decrease as merchants move up plan tiers (2.7% for Basic, 2.5% for Shopify, 2.4% for Advanced) is crucial for budget qualification
A retailer selling both online and in-store mentions they're losing customers due to out-of-stock items. Before suggesting Stocky, you should focus on this qualification component to understand what aspect of their business.
What is the Need and their current inventory management process?
Understanding how frequently they need to reorder and their current process helps determine if Stocky's features for planning stock orders and identifying revenue-losing out-of-stock variants will provide meaningful value.
When a cosmetics retailer asks about Shopify POS hardware compatibility with their existing barcode scanners, you turn to this Slack channel that pulls answers from Guru Cards about retail hardware.
What is the help-retail-product-pilot Channel
The retail product pilot Slack channel uniquely uses Verdant to pull specific information from Guru Cards about hardware compatibility questions for retail merchants
For a seasonal retailer concerned about investing in new technology, this quantifying this demonstrates the urgency of implementing before their busy period.
What is calculating the cost of delaying implementation until after their peak season?
Explanation: This approach quantifies the opportunity cost of waiting (lost sales, inefficient operations, higher labor costs) to create urgency in the qualification process, addressing the Timeline component through value-based positioning rather than simple deadline questions.
When a retailer mentions inventory challenges, asking how it affects their business goals assesses this component, while asking about specific inventory issues assesses the other.
What is Relevance and Need?
Explanation: Relevance asks "why it matters" to business goals, while Need asks "what the problem is." Both are essential for proper qualification.
A restaurant owner is excited about Shopify POS until you discover they need this specific feature. This is the feature, and your next step.
What is split bills functionality; shift to consultative disqualification?
Explanation: Restaurants typically need split bills functionality which Shopify POS doesn't support. Rather than continuing qualification, reps should shift to a consultative disqualification approach, potentially recommending a more suitable solution to build goodwill.
When qualifying a retailer who needs advanced local delivery options with custom delivery zones and time slots alongside in-store pickup, this app should be recommended to extend Shopify's native BOPIS functionality.
What is Zapiet (Store Pickup + Delivery)?
While Shopify POS Pro includes basic BOPIS functionality, Zapiet is recommended when merchants need more sophisticated features like custom delivery zones, time slot management, and extensive backend customization options that go beyond Shopify's native capabilities
A grocery store owner needs to sell products by weight, and you need to determine if this is a disqualifier. This AI tool specifically searches Shopify's knowledge base for potential app-based solutions or workarounds.
What is Shopify Help AI?"
Explanation: Shopify Help AI is uniquely designed to search Shopify's internal knowledge base for specific product limitations and potential app-based solutions for specialized retail requirements like selling by weight.
When qualifying a prospect who mentions they're considering a cheaper competitor, asking questions about this reframes their decision criteria without directly criticizing the competition.
What is 'Total Cost of Ownership
Explanation: This sophisticated approach introduces a new decision framework that includes factors beyond the initial price tag—like integration costs, staff training time, customer data reconciliation, and app ecosystem limitations—helping the prospect recognize value dimensions they hadn't considered in their evaluation process.