BANT

Budget, Authority, Need & Timing

Prospects meeting more BANT criteria are considered more qualified than those with less. For example, if prospects meet all four BANT criteria, salespeople may be instructed to contact them immediately. On the other hand, prospects that fit two of the four BANT criteria may be placed into email nurturing programs (e.g., managed by Marketing) until they meet the remaining two criteria.

Budget:

Businesses allocate budget amounts to the purchase of particular products and services (e.g., $40,000 for new storage hardware this quarter). The “Budget” criteria evaluates whether the prospect’s stated budget amounts align with the selling prices of the company’s products and services.

Authority:

In a B2B setting, purchase decisions are made by a committee, which is comprised of practitioners, business stakeholders and technical stakeholders. The “Authority” criteria evaluates the degree to which the prospect influences the purchase decision. If, for example, the prospect is a student who’s performing research, then he is said to have zero Authority in the BANT criteria.

Need:

The “Need” criteria evaluates whether the prospect’s organization has an active or ongoing need that the company’s product can address or solve. If no need exists, then there is no sale.

Timing:

The “Timing” criteria evaluates the period in which the prospect’s organization will make a final purchase decision. A prospect looking to purchase this month is far different than one who will decide in 2 years.

BANT criterias combine both binary criteria (e.g., Budget and Need) and relative criteria (e.g., Authority and Timing). With Authority, a binary “yes or no” answer can mask important details. For instance, an influencer might recommend a particular product but require consensus from the rest of the buying committee.

A technical or business stakeholder, on the other hand, may have the authority to select or reject a product outright. A savvy salesperson understands a prospect’s level of authority and attempts to engage with as many members of the buying committee as possible.