BANT

Definition

BANT is a lead qualification framework used in sales and marketing. It stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. Organisations apply BANT to evaluate potential customers, helping teams focus on prospects most likely to convert. This structured approach speeds up sales cycles and ensures efficient use of resources during lead generation.

Why Use

• Improves quality of leads reaching sales teams.
• Reduces wasted time on unqualified prospects.
• Prioritises prospects ready to make decisions.
• Aligns sales and marketing around qualification criteria.

Core Concepts

• Budget: Can the prospect afford the solution?
• Authority: Is the contact a decision maker?
• Need: Does the prospect have a real problem to solve?
• Timeline: When will they be ready to buy?
• Qualification framework: Process to score leads methodically.

Examples

Scenario 1: A software vendor asks if a prospect has authority to approve purchases, needs new project management tools, has the right budget, and plans to decide this quarter.

Scenario 2: An agency qualifies a lead by checking if they have budget approval, a marketing need, contact is a decision-maker, and purchase is needed before year-end.

Common Pitfalls

• Relying on rigid scripts instead of real conversations.
• Ignoring less obvious decision makers in the process.
• Overlooking timeline changes after initial contact.

See Also

Related terms include lead scoring, MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead), account-based marketing, and sales funnel.