Here is a very basic Inside Sales Playbook I wrote a couple of years ago for a client which uses the C.H.A.M.P. sales qualification framework instead of the outdated B.A.N.T framework.

1. Lead Qualification Playbook
For Inside Sales / SDR’s (Sales Development Reps) and Sales Reps
Version 1.1
Last updated: 28 November 2013
Martin Walsh
Chief Digital Officer
For more detail on this topic, I highly recommend this book
PREDICTABLE REVENUE, Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler.

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Introduction
Most sales professionals are familiar with the qualifying acronym and methodology called BANT –
Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing. But there are a few fundamental flaws with BANT. For example,
the implication with BANT is that “B” or Budget comes first. However, Need, also known as pain,
problem or challenges that the company is facing, is really the first and most important area that sales
reps must qualify first before talking about Budgets, Timelines or anything else. On one hand, it’s easy
to claim that one can just reorder and call it NATB, since Need comes first, speaking to the right
decision-maker is second, then Timing then Budget. But that would not resonate well with your sales
team who should be using this daily.
Alternatively, you could think that BANT doesn’t imply that you must always ask for “B” first and you
could claim that BANT is merely a reminder and that your sales reps can just start with qualifying for
Need (“N”) first. But then why not just have an acronym that is both sequenced correctly and one that
implies that if you get it right then you are a deal winner, a rainmaker, a closer, a true sales champion?
So here we’d like to share a modern, new “sales qualification 2.0” approach that, once and for all, can
replace the legacy BANT and make all modern sales reps more successful. It is time to adopt a more
modern acronym that puts your prospects’ needs first – after all, the modern definition for Inside Sales
is helping your prospects – and correctly defines the timeline aspect of qualifying leads.
The modern lead qualification acronym that I advise companies and their Inside Sales teams to use is
CHAMP, which stands for CHallenges, Authority, Money, and Prioritization.
Let’s go through them one by one. We’ve included examples of qualifying questions in each category.
These questions should be spaced out over the course of several sales meetings throughout the buying
process. Don’t ask them all at one meeting – that’s like asking someone to marry you on the first date!
CHallenges
Your prospect buys things because they have a challenge. If you have a solution for the challenges that
your prospect and their company are facing then you have a real beginning of an “Opportunity” and
some potential to sell to this prospect and account. It is the first fundamental part of sales qualification
so it deserves the first spot in the modern sales qualification acronym. A challenge is a need and a pain
that your prospect has been dealing with. And you need to solve this challenge with your solution –
only then you will get a sale.
Asking questions early in the selling cycle like, “What are your business’s biggest challenges that you’re
dealing with and how have you been solving them so far?” and “What are your personal challenges
when trying to do your job?” help you gain the information you need to understand the nature and
scope of the opportunity. In the later stages, these questions help you determine if your product or
service represents the best fit for the defined opportunity.
The best way to gain insight on your prospect’s pain or need (i.e. their challenge) is to ask them
questions and listen carefully to their answers.
Challenge Questions:
 What challenges is your business facing and what problems do you need to solve?
 What is driving your interest in our solution?

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 How long have you had this challenge or problem? What made you decide to solve this
problem now?
 What objectives are you looking to achieve by solving this pain?
 What are the likely consequences if the pain is not solved?
The answers to these questions will enable your sales team to determine whether your product or
service is a match for your prospect. You’ll know you’re a match if you believe your product or service
will satisfy the prospect’s needs.
Authority
Authority is not a blocker – it’s a call to action.
It is often the most misunderstood step in the lead qualification process. Many sales reps believe that
“Authority” means you should disqualify leads with low-influencing contacts. NOT the case! “Authority”
means you must ask your prospect questions that help you map out their company’s organizational
structure.
It doesn’t matter if the initial contact on the lead has low authority – they can help you get an idea of
who the decision-makers are. Who are the 5 key influencers you need to get in touch with? Are they
the CEO, the CFO, the CMO, VP Sales, a Board member, a manager? Your prospect has that valuable
insight, and you as a sales rep just need to find out.
Once you know who the decision-makers are, it is your job as a salesperson to reach them. I
recommend reading our blog posts on how to turn low-authority contacts into customers and how to
get past the gatekeeper and reach decision-makers quickly to learn tips and tactics on reaching high
influencers.
Authority Questions:
 Who, in addition to yourself, is involved in making this solution happen at your company?
 How are purchasing decisions made for products like ours and who is involved in looking at this
solution?
 Who in addition to yourself is the decision maker with most clout? And next to that person,
who is the next person? How important is it that they be on board with the decision?
 What concerns do you think they may have? If they have any potential concerns, how do you
think we should handle them?
 Would it make sense for us to schedule a call together with them to answer any potential
questions they may have?
 Are you comfortable, perhaps prior to our next meeting, if I call (Name of Decision-maker /
Influencer) to have a brief conversation? My experience has been that while everyone in the
organization is pretty aligned on the needs, typically everyone has got a little bit of a different
perspective as to what they are looking for in a solution like this. That way everyone will have
input in this. And, by the way, if I get a different perspective from him/her, would you mind if I

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give you a call? What I hope is that you all have a consensus as to what the solution should
look like for our next meeting. Fair enough?
Money
Money is a critical factor in any buying decision. If your prospect can’t afford your product or service,
you won’t be able to sell to them. Once you’ve qualified their challenges and needs, it is time to find
out their expectations for the investment they’ll need to make to fulfil these needs. Have they set aside
a budget to solve this challenge? If they don’t have the funds now, will they in the future? What else
are they spending money on? Now is also a good time to mention the typical ROI for your product or
service to remind them why the investment is worth it.
Money Questions:
 What are your expectations for the investment necessary to purchase the solution?
 Do you have a portion of your budget allocated to this?
 Is your finance team or CFO involved in approving this? (Note: While this can come off as an
“Authority” type of qualifying question, it is equally indicative of how the budget approval
process works at the company depending on the prospect’s answer)
 What is your typical budget allocation process from when you need to invest in a solution like
this that was outside of the original budget?
 When do you plan to ask for budget allocation for this investment?
Prioritization
BANT calls this “Timing”. And timeline is a function of prioritization. When a prospect says they need to
solve this problem by their next board meeting in 2 weeks, what they’re really saying is “this is a top
priority.” So ask your prospect: how important is solving this problem relative to other priorities? What
date or event is their priority attached to (end of month, end of quarter, by a certain event)? Is it a top
priority for Q2, or is it a goal they want to solve at some point before the end of the fiscal year? If they
don’t need a solution until the end of 2014 that means it is in a queue of other priorities. Find out what
they are to get an idea of your prospect’s business plan.
Prioritization Questions:
 Do you currently have a contract? If so, when is it due for renewal? Is there a cancellation fee?
 When were you planning on starting the implementation?
 So when is the latest when you would want to make a decision? So you want to have a decision
made no later than 2 months. And ideally, when would prefer to get this done?
 So what’s a realistic kind of timeframe that we should be targeting here? When would you like
to have the problem solved?
 How important is this to you and where does this stack up in terms of priority and urgency?
What are some of the other priorities now?

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 Do you have the time and bandwidth to begin implementation now?
 Would you like to hear about how other people I’ve worked with have implemented plans like
these? (If they are interested then it indicates that this is important and high on the list of
priority and timeline)
Prioritization can also be related to how you are ranked relative to your competition. Here are
questions that will help you find out:
 Are you looking at or evaluating any other similar solutions to help you solve the problem?
 Where do we stack up in terms of functionality and pricing when compared to these other
solutions you’ve been looking at?
 What is your relationship like with your current vendor? (If they have one)
Final thoughts on Qualification
Asking these CHAMP questions and listening closely is the key to correctly qualifying your opportunities.
If you don’t ask questions with genuine interest while actively listening, then you will not successfully
qualify them.
In addition to CHAMP, you should remember that, to truly move the deal forward, it is critical to for you
to understand the “D” or Decision Process (or Buying Process) and “C” or Competition (note that
competition to you may simply be “status quo” or “complacency” in which case there is a possibility
that you haven’t really gone through the “Challenges” discovery as well as you could have).
Also, don’t forget that after you go through your CHAMP list and qualify, you should always have next
steps. Here are a few last questions that will help you with that:
 Do you have a calendar and what is the best date and time to schedule our next meeting?
 Ideally, what would be the focus of our next meeting?
 What would be the best way to get to you everything that you may need such as customer
references and other information about the solution as a right fit for you and so you feel
comfortable making the decision in the timeframe that you mentioned?
If you take anything away from this playbook, it is that discovering your prospects’ challenges and
needs should take priority over any other qualification questions. And the other questions, when they
flow in the right order, will help each one of our SDR’s and Sales Reps to become a Champ if they use
the CHAMP methodology!
Call Planning
Even if a salesperson takes just five minutes, they can quickly generate of objectives for their call:
 What Answers do you want to learn in the call?
 What Attitudes do you wish the prospect to feel?
 What Actions should occur after the call?

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Call Flows
The order of questions (how the conversation flows) makes a dramatic difference in the ease and
productivity of calls. First, we reverse the classic cold call method that teaches salespeople to use the
first 30 seconds to bark out an elevator pitch to spark a prospect's interest.... because remember we
have already conversed via email or have a referral before we call.
So while the salesperson does want to begin with explaining why they are calling, and who they and
their company are, it's not a cheesy "cold call pitch”.
Salespeople should use a nonthreatening, research-oriented approach that uses the first half of the call
to learn about the prospect's business and needs. The salesperson positions their service and value at
the end of the call, after they've uncovered what the prospect actually wants. This means they position
the solution to the specific needs of the prospect without lots of distracting, irrelevant information and
features the prospect doesn't care about.
Below is a typical "flow" for a qualification call:
1. Opening ("Did I catch you at a bad time?") and Introduction
2. Discuss prospect's current business situation (authentic curiosity)
3. Probe for prospect's needs (and confirm understanding of the needs)
4. Position solution to meet those specific needs
5. Handle objections
6. Next steps
You don't need fancy scripts to help salespeople make effective calls. They can be useful during
training, but don't let people get dependent on them and lose their own authentic voice.
Use more role-playing training and fewer scripts to teach them how to think on their feet and have
more natural conversations.
Leaving Voicemails
Since email is the primary way people communicate today, use voicemail as a tool to increase response
rates from emails rather than to attempt to get people to call you back (especially when targeting large
companies; i.e., small business people are more likely to return voicemails).
Leave voicemails with the same demeanour you would use with a friend or family member. You want to
be disarming and warm — not salesy, sounding like a jackass or "corporate" (no personality). You
should:
 State your name AND number at the beginning and end of the voicemail. This way, if they
repeat the voicemail to get your phone number to call you back, they don't have to listen to it
the whole way through to get to your number.
 Speak slowly and clearly. S-p-e-a-k s-l-o-w-l-y a-n-d c-l- e-a-r-l-y. Remember it can be hard to
understand phone messages, especially if someone is calling into their messages through their
cell phone.
 Explain in one or two sentences why you're calling them and at a minimum, imply a reason for
why they should respond and how: "Responding to your email," "Saw you visited our website,"
"Wanted to ask for the courtesy of a response to the email I sent you.
 Say their name at least twice, as people love hearing their own name, and it's rapport-building.

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If you haven't sent them an email yet, send an email as soon as you them the voicemail — give them
more than one way to get back to you.
 Example 1: "Hi John, this is Aaron Ross from Salesforce.com. My number is 555-555-5555. John,
I sent you an email a couple of days ago and hadn't heard back, and I was hoping you could give
me a quick courtesy response. I'll resend it here in a minute. Again, Aaron Ross, 555-555-5555.
Thank you and have a great day."
 Example 2: "Hi John, this is Aaron Ross from Salesforce.com. My number is 555-555-5555. John,
I'm calling to follow up on the email I sent you, I'd love to hear either way if you can please help
me out or not. Again, Aaron Ross, 555-555-5555. Thank you and have a great day.
 Example 3 (the mysterious version): "Hi John, this is Aaron Ross following up. My number is
555-555-5555. I'm free after 3pm today. Again, Aaron Ross, from Saiesforce.com, 555-555-
5555. Thanks and have a great day.
The last message is likely to get you the highest call back rate, since it is mysterious. I'm not a fan of this
last message with new prospects because they can call you back thinking it's something important only
to find out Oh it's a salesperson," and leaving a bad taste in their mouth. I suggest using it with people
you've already had contact with who could or should recognize your name.
Voicemail can be effective in combination with email. When people do call you back directly, they'll
often say things like, "I wasn't going to call you back at first, but you were so persistent... or, “Thanks
for the reminder, I've been meaning to call you back…”
Voicemail also lets them hear your voice and helps establish that you're a real human, which is why it's
important not to get too mechanical with scripts and lose the humanity in your voice.