Spoiler alert: There is no such thing as a magical formula! However, what comes close is the BANT Sales Framework—a qualification framework designed to help your sales team get valuable information about sales leads. As Sales Odyssey puts it, “its goal is to enable salespeople to spend more time selling to prospects who are really ready to buy”. BANT is an acronym and stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline and are the respective metrics that each lead is measured by. If a prospect has a positive response to at least three of these criterias, you can consider this as a quality lead.

‍

1. Budget: Does the lead have the budget for your customer’s service?

As with many things in life, the bottom line is the money. Before you proceed with pursuing a lead, it is important to figure out whether the lead in question has the spending and buying power for the product or service you are providing.

‍

2. Authority: Is the person you’re talking to the decision maker?

The last thing a sales representative should do is barking up the wrong tree. The solution here is to do your research. Who is the key decision maker? Are there multiple stakeholders? ““It’s good to get a sense of who we’re going to have to sell into because you don’t want to overspend time on someone that isn’t going to have the authority to make something happen”, says New Breed Avenue.

‍

3. Need: What is their compelling reason to talk?

Figuring out their pain points and what they need is valuable because you have a solution. Before pursuing a lead, it’s important to put yourself in their shoes and ask what challenges they are facing. If the product or service you are selling does not help or improve the lead’s situation, it's a sign that it is not a good fit.

‍

4. Timeline: How soon can the prospect make the purchase?

To assess urgency, ask your lead how quickly they want to address the issue. For obvious reasons, the higher the urgency the better because it means a quick decision and a fast deal. Determine whether your lead is cold, warm or hot; the latter should be your top priority!