# What is BANT?

> BANT is a qualification framework asking four questions about a prospect: do they have Budget, does your contact have Authority to buy, is there a real Need, and is there a Timeline for deciding. Originating at IBM, it remains the fastest way to disqualify a weak opportunity.

The fast qualification checklist, and its limits.

Source: https://axelize.com/glossary/bant  
Last updated: 2026-08-10

## Detail

### Budget

Is money allocated, or would it have to be found? An unfunded need is a project, not a deal.

### Authority

Can this person approve the purchase, or are they a researcher reporting upward?

### Need

Is there a problem worth paying to solve, or is this a comparison exercise?

### Timeline

Is there a date driving the decision? Without one, deals drift indefinitely.

## How this works in Axelize

Axelize tracks these four across a live discovery call and prompts the follow-up question when one is still unresolved, the layer underneath an answer that sounded complete but wasn't.

## FAQ

### Is BANT outdated?

For complex, multi-stakeholder B2B deals it is too shallow, because buying committees break the single-Authority assumption. For short sales cycles with one decision maker it is still an efficient filter.

## Related

- [MEDDIC](https://axelize.com/glossary/meddic)
- [Discovery calls](https://axelize.com/use-cases/discovery-calls)