blackroad-os-sales-playbook/02-methodology/QUALIFICATION_MATRIX.md

✅ BANT++ Qualification Matrix

PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL

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Overview

Qualify hard. Close easy.

The BANT++ framework helps you determine if an opportunity is worth pursuing. It's BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) enhanced with Competition and Champion analysis.

Rule of Thumb:

• Score 80%+ = Qualified (pursue aggressively)
• Score 50-80% = Conditional (pursue with caution)
• Score <50% = Disqualified (politely exit)

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The BANT++ Framework

1. Budget (B)

Question: Does the prospect have money to spend?

Scoring Criteria

Score	Criteria	Evidence
25	✅ Budget allocated and approved	"We have $500K budgeted for infrastructure improvements"
20	✅ Budget not allocated, but can be justified	"We'd need to build a business case, but we can reallocate from cloud spend"
15	⚠️ Budget exists, but competitive	"We have budget, but we're looking at multiple solutions"
10	⚠️ No budget, but willing to find it	"We don't have budget, but if ROI is strong, we can make it happen"
0	❌ No budget and no path to get it	"We have zero budget for this"

Discovery Questions

"What's your current annual infrastructure spend? (Cloud bills + DevOps headcount)"

"Do you have budget allocated for infrastructure improvements?"

"If not, how do budget approvals work at your company?"

"What's the approval threshold? (e.g., <$100K = VP approval, >$100K = CFO approval)"

"Have you purchased similar solutions before? What was the budget range?"

Red Flags

• 🚩 "We have no budget" + no willingness to create budget
• 🚩 "We're just doing research" with no near-term timeline
• 🚩 Price is the ONLY consideration (not value)

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2. Authority (A)

Question: Can the prospect make or influence the buying decision?

Scoring Criteria

Score	Criteria	Evidence
25	✅ Economic buyer engaged (CFO, CEO, VP)	Direct access to decision-maker who can sign
20	✅ Technical buyer + economic buyer in process	CTO/VP Eng + CFO both engaged
15	⚠️ Champion + path to decision-maker	Strong internal advocate who can sell for us
10	⚠️ Influencer but not decision-maker	Individual contributor or manager (not VP+)
0	❌ No access to decision-maker	Stuck at low level, no executive sponsorship

Decision-Maker Hierarchy

Economic Buyer (Signs the contract):

• CFO, CEO, COO
• VP Finance
• Head of Procurement (for large companies)

Technical Buyer (Validates the solution):

• CTO, VP Engineering
• Head of Infrastructure/DevOps
• Solutions Architect

User Buyer (Uses the product):

• DevOps engineers
• SREs, Platform engineers
• Development teams

Champion (Internal advocate):

• Anyone who actively sells for you internally

Discovery Questions

"Who else will be involved in this decision?"

"Who has the final say on spending $X?"

"Walk me through your typical buying process for infrastructure tools."

"Who signs the contract?"

"Who needs to say 'yes' for this to happen?"

"If you could only get one person to approve, who would it be?"

Red Flags

• 🚩 "I'll present this to my boss" (and you never meet the boss)
• 🚩 Can't identify the economic buyer
• 🚩 Decision-maker is avoiding meetings

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3. Need (N)

Question: Do they have a real, urgent pain that we solve?

Scoring Criteria

Score	Criteria	Evidence
25	✅ Critical pain, quantifiable impact	"Downtime costs us $50K/month. We need this solved ASAP."
20	✅ Significant pain, clear business impact	"Slow deployments are delaying product launches"
15	⚠️ Pain exists, but not urgent	"We have issues, but they're manageable for now"
10	⚠️ Nice-to-have improvement	"This would be nice, but not essential"
0	❌ No pain or unclear problem	"Just exploring options"

Pain Indicators (High Need)

• Compliance deadline: "We need SOC 2 by Q2 to close enterprise deals"
• Rapid growth: "We're scaling 10x and infrastructure can't keep up"
• Outages/incidents: "We had 3 production outages last month"
• High costs: "Our AWS bill is $100K/month and growing"
• Team burnout: "DevOps team is working 60-hour weeks"
• Competitive pressure: "Competitors ship 3x faster than us"

Discovery Questions

"What's the business impact of [problem]?"

"How much is this costing you? (Time, money, opportunity cost)"

"What happens if you don't solve this in the next 6 months?"

"On a scale of 1-10, how urgent is this? What's driving that urgency?"

"What triggered you to start looking for a solution now?"

"What's the cost of the status quo?"

Red Flags

• 🚩 "No major pain, just exploring"
• 🚩 Can't quantify impact
• 🚩 "We'll solve it eventually, no rush"

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4. Timeline (T)

Question: When do they need this solved?

Scoring Criteria

Score	Criteria	Evidence
25	✅ Urgent: <3 months	"We need to be live by end of Q1"
20	✅ Near-term: 3-6 months	"Planning to implement in Q2"
15	⚠️ Mid-term: 6-12 months	"Evaluating for next fiscal year"
10	⚠️ Long-term: 12+ months	"This is for 2027 planning"
0	❌ No timeline	"Just researching for someday"

Timeline Drivers

External Deadlines (Best):

• Compliance certification deadline
• Product launch date
• Funding round dependency
• Contract renewal (existing vendor)
• Regulatory requirement

Internal Deadlines (Good):

• Budget cycles (fiscal year, quarter)
• Roadmap commitments
• Executive mandate

No Deadline (Bad):

• "Whenever we get around to it"

Discovery Questions

"When do you need this solved by?"

"What's driving that timeline?"

"What happens if you miss that deadline?"

"Is this tied to a product launch, funding round, or compliance requirement?"

"When does your budget year end?"

"Are there any external deadlines (customer commitments, regulatory, etc.)?"

Red Flags

• 🚩 "No timeline, just exploring"
• 🚩 Timeline keeps slipping ("We'll decide next quarter" → "We'll decide next quarter" ad infinitum)
• 🚩 "We'll implement when we have time"

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5. Competition (C)

Question: What alternatives are they considering?

Scoring Criteria

Score	Criteria	Evidence
15	✅ Competitive but favorable	Evaluating us + 1-2 others, we're leading
12	✅ Early in evaluation	Just starting to look, no strong preference
9	⚠️ Competitive and close	Us + competitors, neck-and-neck
6	⚠️ Incumbent advantage (not us)	Existing vendor has inside track
0	❌ Already decided on competitor	"We're going with [Competitor], just checking boxes"

Competitive Scenarios

Scenario	Strategy
No competition	"Just you" → Great, but verify (might be lying or uninformed)
Us + AWS/DIY	Position on simplicity + TCO
Us + Heroku/PaaS	Position on scalability + cost at scale
Us + OpenShift/Tanzu	Position on speed + simplicity + cost
Incumbent (AWS/Azure)	Position as cloud abstraction layer (complement, not replace)
Budget competitor (DIY)	Quantify opportunity cost + risk

Discovery Questions

"What alternatives are you evaluating?"

"How did you narrow down to this shortlist?"

"What do you like and dislike about each option?"

"Which vendor are you leaning toward right now?"

"What would it take for us to win this deal?"

"Have you used [Competitor] before? What was your experience?"

Red Flags

• 🚩 "We're going with [Competitor], just getting another quote"
• 🚩 Existing vendor with multi-year contract (hard to displace)
• 🚩 Strong executive relationship with competitor

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6. Champion (C)

Question: Do we have an internal advocate?

Scoring Criteria

Score	Criteria	Evidence
10	✅ Strong champion at VP+ level	VP Eng is actively selling for us internally
8	✅ Champion with influence	Senior engineer/architect who influences decision
6	⚠️ Weak champion	Interested individual, but limited influence
3	⚠️ No champion, just contact	Point of contact, but not advocating
0	❌ Hostile champion	Internal blocker or competitor advocate

Champion Qualities

Good Champion:

• Has authority or strong influence
• Understands our value prop
• Actively sells us internally (without us being there)
• Gives us inside information (process, politics, objections)
• Introduces us to other stakeholders

Weak Champion:

• Low-level individual contributor
• Passive (interested but not advocating)
• Can't navigate internal politics

Discovery Questions

"Who internally is pushing for this solution?"

"Who's the strongest advocate for solving this problem?"

"If you could only get one person to say 'yes,' who would it be?"

"Can you help us understand the internal dynamics? Who's supportive? Who's skeptical?"

"Would you be comfortable introducing us to [decision-maker]?"

Building a Champion

How to Turn a Contact into a Champion:

1. Make them successful:

   • Provide data, ROI models, competitive analysis
   • Arm them to sell internally

2. Understand their motivations:

   • Career advancement? (Show how this makes them a hero)
   • Pain relief? (Show how this solves their problem)
   • Innovation? (Show how this differentiates their company)

3. Give them credit:

   • "This was [Champion's] idea"
   • Make them the hero, not you

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BANT++ Scorecard

Scoring Summary

Criteria	Max Score	Your Score
Budget	25	___
Authority	25	___
Need	25	___
Timeline	25	___
Competition	15	___
Champion	10	___
TOTAL	125	___

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Qualification Thresholds

Score	Status	Action
100-125 (80%+)	✅ Highly Qualified	Pursue aggressively, prioritize
80-100 (64-80%)	✅ Qualified	Pursue, but watch for risks
63-80 (50-64%)	⚠️ Conditionally Qualified	Pursue cautiously, derisk gaps
<63 (<50%)	❌ Disqualified	Politely exit or stay in touch for later

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Example: Qualified Opportunity

Company: TechCo (500 employees, SaaS company)

Criteria	Score	Rationale
Budget	20	No formal budget, but CTO says "We can reallocate from AWS spend"
Authority	25	CTO engaged + CFO introduction scheduled
Need	25	Critical: 3 outages last month, CEO demanding fix
Timeline	25	Must be live by end of Q1 (compliance requirement)
Competition	12	Evaluating us + AWS (DIY), no strong preference yet
Champion	8	VP Engineering is strong advocate, sells us internally
TOTAL	115 / 125	92% - Highly Qualified ✅

Verdict: Pursue aggressively. High urgency, strong need, exec engagement.

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Example: Disqualified Opportunity

Company: StartupCo (20 employees, pre-revenue)

Criteria	Score	Rationale
Budget	0	"We have $0 budget, can you do free trial for 6 months?"
Authority	10	Junior engineer, no access to founder/CEO
Need	10	"It would be nice to have, but not critical"
Timeline	0	"Someday, when we raise our Series A"
Competition	6	Using Heroku, happy enough
Champion	3	Weak champion (no influence)
TOTAL	29 / 125	23% - Disqualified ❌

Verdict: Politely disengage. No budget, no urgency, no authority.

Disqualification Email:

"Based on our conversation, it sounds like BlackRoad OS might be over-engineered for your current needs. I'd recommend sticking with Heroku for now. If things change when you raise your Series A, happy to reconnect. Best of luck!"

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When to Disqualify

Hard Disqualifiers (Walk Away Immediately)

1. No budget + no willingness to find it

   • "We have $0 and no plan to get budget"

2. No decision-maker access

   • "I can't introduce you to my boss"

3. No pain

   • "We're happy with current solution, just exploring"

4. No timeline

   • "Someday, maybe"

5. Already decided on competitor

   • "We're going with [Competitor], just checking boxes"

6. Bad-fit use case

   • They need features we don't have and won't build

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Derisking Conditional Opportunities

If score is 50-80%, try to derisk:

Low Budget Score?

• Build ROI model to justify budget
• Offer phased approach (start small, expand)
• Identify budget reallocation opportunities

Low Authority Score?

• Request introduction to decision-maker
• Multi-thread to economic buyer
• Use champion to navigate politics

Low Need Score?

• Quantify cost of inaction
• Create urgency via competitive pressure or external deadline
• Walk away if pain isn't real

Low Timeline Score?

• Create urgency (price increase, limited availability)
• Tie to external deadline (compliance, product launch)
• Stay in touch, revisit when timing improves

Low Competition Score?

• Differentiate aggressively
• Offer unique value (pilot, custom POC)
• Address specific concerns vs. competitor

Low Champion Score?

• Invest in building champion relationship
• Arm them with materials to sell internally
• Find alternative champion (multi-threading)

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Qualification Cadence

When to Qualify

Initial Qualification: First call (20-30 minutes)

• Quick BANT++ assessment
• Decide: Pursue or politely exit?

Deep Qualification: Discovery call (60+ minutes)

• Comprehensive BANT++ scoring
• Technical and business alignment

Re-Qualification: Throughout the sales cycle

• Things change (budget cuts, timeline shifts, new competitors)
• Re-score monthly or after major events

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CRM Integration

Track BANT++ scores in your CRM:

HubSpot Custom Fields:

• BANT++ Total Score (0-125)
• Budget Score (0-25)
• Authority Score (0-25)
• Need Score (0-25)
• Timeline Score (0-25)
• Competition Score (0-15)
• Champion Score (0-10)
• Qualification Status (Qualified / Conditional / Disqualified)

Use scores to:

• Prioritize deals (focus on high scores)
• Forecast accuracy (high scores = higher close probability)
• Coaching (identify patterns in wins/losses)

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FAQs

Q: What if they score high but we still lose? A: BANT++ predicts fit, not guarantees. You can have a qualified opportunity and still lose on execution, price, or competitive positioning.

Q: What if they score low but we want to pursue anyway? A: Sometimes strategic deals justify lower scores (e.g., anchor customer in new market). But acknowledge the risk and manage expectations.

Q: How often should I re-score? A: Monthly, or after major events (budget cuts, new decision-maker, competitor entry).

Q: Can I skip BANT++ for inbound leads? A: No. Inbound ≠ qualified. Always qualify.

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Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: January 4, 2026 Owner: Joaquin, Sales Master

Qualify hard. Close easy. Never waste time on bad-fit deals.