How to qualify leads and stop wasting time on bad fits
Reps who work every lead close fewer deals than reps who ruthlessly disqualify early. Time is your scarcest resource in sales.
A qualification framework that keeps your pipeline clean and your AEs working on winnable deals.
Recommended tools (ranked)
| # | Tool | Starting price | Rating | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HubSpot | Free | 4.4/5(11,200) | Try HubSpot |
| 2 | Salesforce | $25/mo | 4.3/5(19,500) | Try Salesforce |
| 3 | Pipedrive | $14/mo | 4.5/5(8,200) | Try Pipedrive |
Resolution protocol
- 01
Use BANT or MEDDIC — pick one and stick with it
BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline. MEDDIC: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion. BANT is faster for SMB sales cycles under 30 days. MEDDIC is better for enterprise deals over $50K ACV. The worst thing is mixing them ad hoc.
- 02
Build a disqualification checklist
List 5 absolute disqualifiers: no budget for 12 months, using a locked-in contract, out of your ICP industry, team size below minimum, wrong geography. If a prospect hits any one, exit gracefully with a 'not right now' — don't drag them through 4 demos.
- 03
Score leads in your CRM automatically
Assign points: job title match (+15), company size fit (+10), visited pricing page (+20), opened 3+ emails (+10), downloaded a case study (+15). Threshold for Sales hand-off: 50 points. Automate the score in HubSpot or Salesforce — manual scoring never happens consistently.
FAQ
What is the difference between MQL and SQL?
MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) met a marketing threshold — opened emails, downloaded content, attended a webinar. SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) has been spoken to by a rep and confirmed budget, authority, need, and timeline. Conflating the two is the #1 cause of Sales blaming Marketing for 'bad leads'.
Related playbooks
- How to track leads efficiently across channelshowto
- How to manage customer relations without losing contexthowto
- How to set up a CRM from scratch in one weekhowto
- How to organize sales contacts so nothing slips throughhowto
- How to track sales performance: the 6 metrics that actually matterhowto
- How to manage a remote sales team without micromanaginghowto