Over 40% of projects are ad-hoc: another nail in the coffin of BANT

It surprises and shocks me how many sales organisations still regard BANT as a practical way of qualifying sales opportunities. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, it dates back to the steam-driven days prior to the emergence of the Internet, SaaS and modern buying behaviours and stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe.
Now, at some point, any significant purchase decision probably requires all four elements, but using BANT as an early stage qualifier is madness – something that is reinforced by recent research by Gartner that revealed that over 40% of software buying efforts were ad-hoc rather than formally budgeted in advance.
That means any sales person insisting that leads are “BANT” qualified before they are prepared to engage with them is missing out on nearly half of their potential opportunities – and by the time that all four BANT boxes can be ticked, other more astute salespeople are likely to have reached