Qualifying Leads

The process of evaluating whether a prospect has the budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT) to purchase, before investing significant time in a sales relationship.

Failing to qualify leads wastes hours on people who cannot or will not buy. Qualifying quickly protects your time and keeps your pipeline full of real opportunities.

On a discovery call, a designer asks: "What's your budget for this project?" and "Who makes the final decision?" If the budget is too low or they're not the decision-maker, she stops the process early.