BANT
BANT (rhymes with plant)
A lead qualification framework: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline. The simplest way to determine if a prospect is worth pursuing.
BANT asks four questions:
- Budget: Does the prospect have money to spend?
- Authority: Are you talking to someone who can decide?
- Need: Do they have a problem your product solves?
- Timeline: Are they buying soon or someday?
BANT was created at IBM decades ago and remains the most widely used qualification framework because of its simplicity. A BDR can run through BANT in a 15-minute discovery call. If the prospect scores zero on any dimension, the lead is not qualified.
The criticism of BANT is that it is seller-centric. It asks what the seller needs to know, not what the buyer needs to decide. Modern sales teams often supplement BANT with frameworks like MEDDIC for complex deals. But for initial lead qualification, BANT still works. Four questions. Clear answers. Move forward or move on.
Examples
A BDR qualifies an inbound lead.
Budget: 'We have $75k approved for this.' Authority: 'I report to the VP of Engineering who will make the final call.' Need: 'We need to reduce deployment failures by 50%.' Timeline: 'We want to decide by end of Q2.' All four criteria met. This is an SQL.
A lead fails on timeline.
Budget: yes. Authority: yes. Need: yes. Timeline: 'We are not looking to change anything until next fiscal year.' The BDR marks this as a future opportunity, sets a follow-up for 6 months out, and puts the lead into a nurture sequence.
A lead fails on authority.
An individual contributor requests a demo. They love the product. But they have no budget authority and do not know who does. The BDR asks for an introduction to their manager and offers to provide materials for an internal pitch.
In practice
Read more on the blog
Frequently asked questions
Is BANT still relevant?
Yes, for initial qualification. BANT is fast and simple. For complex enterprise deals with multiple stakeholders, supplement it with MEDDIC or a similar framework. BANT gets you in the door. Deeper frameworks help you navigate the building.
What if a lead meets three of four BANT criteria?
It depends on which one is missing. No budget and no timeline are the hardest to overcome. No authority can be fixed by finding the right person. No need means the deal is probably not real. Prioritize leads that meet all four, but do not discard good leads missing one element if you can address the gap.
Related terms
A sales qualification framework: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion.
The first structured sales conversation where a rep qualifies the prospect by understanding their problem, timeline, and buying process.
A lead that a salesperson has vetted and confirmed has real buying intent, budget, and authority.
A lead that marketing has scored and deemed ready for sales follow-up based on fit and engagement signals.
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