Qualification

What is qualification?

Qualification is deciding whether an opportunity is real and worth pursuing, based on need, authority, timing and fit. It happens at the start of a deal and continues to the end, because facts change. Frameworks such as BANT and MEDDIC give teams a shared vocabulary for it, and the founder of MEDDIC Academy titled his book on the method Always Be Qualifying.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

Every hour spent on a deal that was never going to close is an hour taken from one that could. Poor qualification inflates pipeline, depresses win rate and makes coverage targets meaningless. Forrester notes that sales leaders care about qualified opportunities, which is why the qualification standard shapes every pipeline number above it. In services companies with lean sales teams, that standard decides whether sellers chase every bid list or build the accounts that renew and expand.

A fire and life safety company is invited to bid on a new office tower through a general contractor's bid list. The scope is fixed, the contractor has a preferred subcontractor, and price is the only criterion. The seller declines the bid and spends the week on two existing customers with open deficiency quotes, one of which closes.