1. HOW TO DEFINE A
QUALIFIED LEAD
Inspired by a post on the Vorsight blog.

2. 1. THE DEFINITION

3. 1. THE DEFINITION
• Having a clear definition of a qualified lead is
essential
• Without one, there is a break in the sales funnel
where reps receive leads too quickly or too slowly
•
This makes your sales engine run below optimal
performance- too many leads, you flood the
engine, too few and it’s sputtering along the road

4. 2. THE SAD TRUTH

5. 2. THE SAD TRUTH
• Many organizations lack a clear
definition
•The definition of a qualified lead is
not universal- it should be defined
within the scope of your business

6. 3. BANT

7. 3. BANT
Budget
Authority
Need
Timing
• Some organizations use the BANT acronym to
used to determine how qualified a lead is
• The term is frequently debated and may not fit new
buyer profiles because it’s too highly focused on
budget rather than finding the person of influence
who has a need

8. 4. ANUM

9. 4. ANUM
• Instead, use an acronym coined by
InsideSales.com’s president, Ken Krogue
Authority
Need
Urgency
Money
• The subtle difference is this:
• You start by building need with an authority
figure, then helping them find a way to fund it

10. 5. LEAD HANDOFF

11. 5. LEAD HANDOFF
• Think of lead transfer as the aperture of a
camera:
• The wider it’s open, the more leads will
funnel through
• The degree to which you open or close your
aperture depends on how many leads your
business needs to thrive

12. 6. THE APERTURE

13. 6. THE APERTURE
• Using the ANUM acronym, you can customize
how open or closed your sales aperture is
• If you want more leads, make it meet less
requirements of ANUM (for example, just
“Authority”)
• If you want fewer leads, add the appropriate
acronym letters to filter exactly which leads get
through

14. 7. OPEN APERTURE

15. 7. OPEN APERTURE
• So when might you want a large flow of leads to
get to sales?
• You’re far behind quota
• You have few Sales Development Reps
(SDRs)
• Have a sales team that doesn’t work many
late stage opportunties
• Have few inquiries through marketing
• Sell mostly outbound
• Have an evangelical product still unknown to
the market

16. 8. CLOSED APERTURE

17. 8. CLOSED APERTURE
• When do you want fewer leads to get to sales?
• Have lots of SDRs
• Have sales teams that are working many late
stage opportunities
• Have a lot of inquiries through marketing
• Sell to mostly junior people at smaller
companies
• have a hot offering that is creating pull
demand

18. 9. THE GOAL

19. 9. THE GOAL
• Opening or closing the aperture is meant to
tailor lead flow to your business
• Most companies are somewhere in between a
highly filtered and wide open aperture (a good
middle ground is 3 out of 4 ANUM letters)

20. 10. THE DANGERS

21. 10. THE DANGERS
• If you open the aperture too wide,
you’ll flood your sales team with
fool’s gold (leads that aren’t going to
buy).
• Filter too many leads and you’ll miss
out on opportunities to sell

22. makes it easier to generate
accurate and targeted lists of
leads from the internet.
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