Lead Qualification Frameworks: BANT, MEDDIC, and Modern ICP Scoring
A side-by-side look at BANT, MEDDIC, CHAMP, and modern ICP-based scoring for B2B sales — when each one fits and how AI changes the game.
Qualification frameworks turn "is this a real opportunity?" into a structured question. Three are worth knowing — and one modern alternative.
BANT — Budget, Authority, Need, Timing
IBM's classic. Best for outbound where you need to disqualify quickly. Weakest when buyers don't yet know the budget (most early-stage SaaS).
MEDDIC — Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion
The enterprise standard. Heavy lift but unbeatable for six-figure deals where the buying group has 6–10 stakeholders.
CHAMP — Challenges, Authority, Money, Prioritization
BANT inverted — pain first, money last. Better fit for SMB / mid-market.
Modern ICP scoring
BANT/MEDDIC/CHAMP are conversation frameworks. ICP scoring is a quantitative layer that runs before the conversation, ranking leads by firmographics and triggering events so the human only spends time on the top decile. AI is especially good at this — it can read the prospect's website, social, and reviews and score against an ICP rubric in seconds.
This article is a stub
Full worked examples for each framework, with templated discovery questions and an ICP-scoring spreadsheet, are coming soon.