TL;DR
BANT stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline — a basic sales qualification framework. Does the prospect have budget allocated? Are you talking to someone with buying authority? Do they have a genuine need for your product? Are they making a decision soon? It's a useful SDR-level filter, but MEDDIC is more rigorous for complex deals.
BANT was developed by IBM in the 1950s as a simple qualification checklist. It's still useful as a first-pass filter — especially for SDRs qualifying inbound leads or early-stage outbound responses.
B — Budget: Has money been set aside for this type of purchase, or would it require new budget approval? SDR question: "Do you have budget allocated for this kind of solution, or would this need to go through a separate approval process?" Why it matters: A highly interested prospect with zero budget is a long-term relationship, not a short-term deal. Know early.
A — Authority: Is the person you're talking to someone who can make or significantly influence the buying decision? SDR question: "Who else would be involved in evaluating a solution like this?" Why it matters: Spending 8 hours on discovery calls with someone who has no authority is wasted effort. Get to the economic buyer.
N — Need: Does this prospect have a genuine problem your product solves — one that's important enough to pay to fix? SDR question: "What's the biggest impact of this problem on your business right now?" Why it matters: Some prospects are curious but not suffering. Need urgency predicts close rate.
T — Timeline: When are they looking to make a decision and implement? SDR question: "Is this something you're looking to solve in the next quarter, or is it more of a long-term initiative?" Why it matters: A 12-month timeline deal should be worked differently than a 6-week deal. Pipeline forecasting requires timeline accuracy.
BANT limitations: - Overly rigid — a prospect might not have budget yet but can create it if the solution is compelling enough - Doesn't capture champion or decision process (both critical for enterprise deals) - Often used to disqualify too aggressively at the expense of promising early-stage opportunities
When to use BANT: Early-stage SDR qualification, inbound lead scoring, and as a basic checkpoint for whether a deal deserves AE time. Use MEDDIC for deals with $25K+ ACV where complexity warrants deeper qualification.
From Cactus: Cactus incorporates BANT checks in SDR qualification scripts as a first-pass filter before deals advance to AE-level discovery, keeping pipeline quality high.
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Book a free strategy call →How do I hire my first SDR?
Hire your first SDR only after you've personally closed 5–10 customers and can articulate exactly what messaging, ICP, and objection handling worked. An SDR hired before the founder has figured out the sales motion will fail — they need a playbook to follow, not to build one from scratch.
What should an SDR quota be?
A typical SDR quota in B2B SaaS is 8–15 qualified meetings booked per month, or $150–300K in pipeline generated per quarter. The right number depends on your ACV, lead source, and market. Set quota based on what's achievable from proven activity metrics, not what would be convenient for the business.
How do I onboard an SDR?
Build a structured 30-60-90 day plan with clear milestones: product mastery in week 1, ICP and messaging training in week 2, supervised calling in week 3, and independent ramping with quota from day 31. Document everything — the SDR should have a playbook on day one, not six weeks later.
What is a good SDR conversion rate?
A good SDR conversion rate is 2–5% of outbound contacts to qualified meeting, and 25–40% of qualified meetings to SQL (sales accepted opportunity). Below these benchmarks suggests targeting, messaging, or qualification issues — not necessarily SDR execution.