How to qualify B2B leads without killing the top of funnel
Most qualification frameworks (BANT, MEDDIC) were built for enterprise cycles and 90-min discovery calls. For sub-€100k ACV they gate too hard. Here's the 4-question version we run — fast enough to keep pipeline flowing, strict enough to protect rep time.
Trigger, fit, authority-adjacent, timeline. Ask all four before the meeting. Meetings that pass all four convert to opportunity at 3x the rate of those that pass three.
The four questions, in order
- Trigger — what changed recently that made you reply? If there's no trigger, timing usually isn't real.
- Fit — how does the problem show up in your day-to-day? Vague answers = fit is projected, not felt.
- Authority-adjacent — who else needs to be in the room for this to move? "Just me" on a €30k+ deal is a warning.
- Timeline — is there a date attached to a decision, or is this exploratory? Both are fine — but treat them differently.
Ask them before the meeting, not on it
Discovery on the call is where cycles go to die. Move all four questions to the booking confirmation email — a 20-second reply from the prospect qualifies the meeting for you.
Score, don't gate
Rank meetings A/B/C by how many of the four cleared. A's get the senior rep and a same-week follow-up. C's get a shorter meeting and a slower cadence. Nobody gets dropped just because they answered only two — you'd be surprised how many C's turn into A's when a trigger hits three months later.