There are many hurdles to overcome during the sales process, but one of the biggest challenges occurs before the sales cycle begins. We’re talking about lead qualification. Lead qualification involves determining which potential customers are most likely to make a deal, ultimately dictating which prospects your sales team needs to pursue.

Your sales representatives have limited time and resources to dedicate to potential customers. Guiding sales leads through the funnel and nurturing those business relationships is a massive undertaking. That’s true for any sales environment, but it’s even more so in B2B.

The goal of lead qualification is to allocate your sales resources more strategically, ensuring that your team focuses its efforts on engaging with prospects who are much more likely to buy. But how do you know which sales leads are worth chasing? That’s where BANT comes in.

BANT is a sales qualification framework. Many qualification methods are available, but BANT is one of the best known and most widely used. By definition, BANT aims to single out the most substantial leads, shorten sales cycles, and create more winning moments for your sales reps.

What Does BANT Stand For?

You might be asking yourself, “What is BANT, anyway?” BANT isn’t so much a term with a definition as it is an easy-to-remember acronym. It stands for budget, authority, need, and timeline — the four main qualification criteria. To use the BANT technique, your team would consider how a sales lead meets those standards.

A viable prospect would satisfy at least three BANT criteria for most organizations. However, some companies only require two of the four before a lead goes to a sales rep. It all depends on the organization’s sales strategies.

Why Is This an Important Tool in Lead Qualification?

Ultimately, the BANT method is important because it streamlines the entire sales process. The goal for any sales-focused company is to close as many deals as possible to drive revenue. That means selling quickly and efficiently.

With high-quality leads, there’s already a good chance they’ll make a purchase. Using the BANT sales qualification methodology, you can better understand where prospects are and how your product or service fits into their bigger picture. By pursuing those high-quality leads, you can maximize sales and push profits. It’s about weeding out the low-quality leads who might not need to make a purchase just yet. Why spend time on prospects when they need a lot more convincing?

Sure, your sales team can try to turn those prospects into customers. Nothing is impossible if you have the proper sales techniques and enablement tools. But chasing those low-quality leads isn’t the best use of your sales team’s time. They should be closing deals with qualified prospects and making revenue!

So what do you do with the inadequate leads you identify with the BANT sales process? While your sales floor focuses on closing deals, you can send low-quality prospects to a lead-nurturing program. You still want those opportunities to become sales, but they need more nurturing to get to that point. Your marketing team can put them into a nurturing email program, or you can have specialized sales professionals work with those customers until they fulfill more of the BANT criteria and are ready to buy.

Examples of How BANT Is Used to Qualify Leads 

Using the BANT framework is not as difficult as it may seem. While every organization is unique and may have specific factors to consider before pursuing a lead, BANT simplifies qualifications by breaking things down into four of the most important criteria. The sales methodology applies to every prospect, setting benchmarks your organization can use to compare every potential customer who comes your way.

Ready to see examples of BANT in action? To qualify leads, consider these four criteria.

Budget: Assess the Prospect’s Budget for Your Product

The first thing to look into is budget. Of course, a high-quality lead can afford to buy your product or service. Every customer will have a specific budget. B2B clients typically allocate an exact monetary amount for particular needs. For example, a customer might have a $25,000 budget for storage, another $20,000 for cloud service, etc.

Your goal is to determine whether the prospect’s budget aligns with your pricing model. After asking a standard budget question on a survey or lead form, you can better understand where the customer is. You might have a broad pricing model with options at all price points. Knowing how much they’re willing to spend and if they have some flexibility in their budget can help your team decide if the lead is worth chasing.

Authority: Assess the Prospect’s Authority to Make a Purchase

The second part of the BANT methodology is authority. Authority refers to who has purchasing power. Decision-making authority can vary widely from one customer to the next. You might work with a small business with few stakeholders involved or a large company that requires sign-off from a relatively large team of people with decision-making roles. Whatever the case, you want to ensure that you’re speaking to someone who has the power to purchase your product or service.

This factor can be tricky. Some companies have a single contact in charge of finalizing contracts and handling the financial aspects of a purchase. But in those cases, they might have to get approval from several stakeholders before going through the sales process. If that’s the case, your lead-nurturing team must convince them to bring the prominent decision-makers into the conversation. Otherwise, the lead might not be worth pursuing just yet.

Need: Assess the Prospect’s Need for Your Product

Your product or service has a specific purpose. It serves a particular customer and fulfills a distinct need. Not every lead who comes your way will benefit from your product. They might not know that upon initial contact, but they’ll figure it out sooner or later.

If your product doesn’t provide a solution to their problems, it’s not a lead worth pursuing. The chances of closing a deal are low, and there are no motivations to purchase at that time.

During the lead qualification process, you must inquire about the issues they’re facing. Learn more about pain points, frustrations they deal with regularly, and failed solutions they’ve tried in the past. Compare those needs to what your product or service provides. If it fits the prospect’s needs, the motivation to buy is already there, and your sales team can provide the final push to close a deal.

Timeline: Assess the Prospect’s Urgency for Your Product

The final standard in the BANT sales framework focuses on the prospect’s buying timeline. Once you understand the need, you can inquire about additional information, like its urgency and the planned buying time frame. Is this a purchase the customer wants to make within the next few months? Or are they in the exploratory phase and won’t make a final decision until several years from now? In sales, the answers to those questions make a big difference.

You don’t want your sales team to spend too long guiding customers through the sales process. There are more time-sensitive sales opportunities to pursue. Lead-nurturing programs can keep prospects interested until they’re ready to buy. At that point, you can transition them to a sales representative and close the deal.

Empower Your Sales Team to Close More Deals

Don’t let your sales team waste time and energy on low-quality leads. While all potential leads are important, you can use other processes to drum up interest and keep those prospects engaged. Let your sales force focus on closing deals with the best leads! With BANT, you can streamline sales, create more winning moments, and support the bottom line.

Turn to Flockjay to empower your team. The all-in-one software platform can equip your reps with everything they need to turn those high-quality leads into paying customers. From accessible enablement content to peer-to-peer learning, Flockjay has the features to help you run a winning sales department.

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