Don't Let BANT Downgrade Good Leads

Qualifying criteria is important when it comes to ranking leads, for a number of reasons. A couple of those reasons are that having defined criteria surfaces the short-term opportunities and avoids wasted effort and resources being deployed on the wrong prospects at the wrong time, to name a couple.

Something to be careful of though is downgrading something that would be a strategic entry into an account or discounting access to decision makers and influencers in key accounts. Many times, vendor preferences are established well before the budget or timing is clear, and to miss that early window of entry sometimes means missing the deal altogether. I have known of situations where a prospect's willingness to talk to a vendor wasn't pursued because it didn't meet BANT criteria (BUDGET AUTHORITY NEED TIMELINE) and later when the account was revisited it was only to discover another vendor got the business. What happened? Many times it was because the investment was made in the relationship at an early stage, and when the deal materialized, the other vendor was well established in the account.

So before downgrading a lead, ask yourself if this is worth investing some time in to get the business and have a more long-term view of the opportunity.

Use BANT to help understand a prospect, but don't let it downgrade something unnecessarily you should be pursuing and actively engaged with. Good opportunities are valuable in today's market, so examining multiple areas of prospect information will help you make intelligent decisions on how to build your pipeline.