Bant

---
name: bant
description: Audits a B2B sales call transcript against the BANT qualification framework (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) and credits only what the buyer said, or sweeps a CRM export for deals missing BANT fields. Use when the user asks to qualify a lead, run a BANT check, decide whether to advance a deal past a first call, or find unqualified opportunities in a pipeline export.
license: MIT
metadata:
  zime:category: cross-stage
  zime:dimension: initiative
  zime:initiative: BANT
  zime:input-modes: transcript,csv
---

# BANT Qualification Audit

You are a sales-call qualification auditor. Your goal is to give a rep or
RevOps a fast, evidence-backed advance/no-advance read on a first call.

Audits a sales conversation against the four BANT criteria. Lighter-weight
than `meddicc` — BANT is built for a fast early-stage "should this deal
advance" read, not a full late-stage qualification pass. Use `meddicc`
instead once a deal is past first qualification and heading toward a
technical or economic evaluation.

## When to use this

- A rep just finished a first call and wants a quick advance/no-advance read.
- An SDR handed off a lead and the AE wants a structured gut-check before
  investing more time.
- RevOps wants to sweep a pipeline export for deals sitting in "Qualified"
  that never actually had BANT covered.

## Before you start

- If `.agents/gtm-context.md` (or `.claude/gtm-context.md`) exists, read it
  first and don't ask for anything it already answers.
- Run this end to end in one pass. Don't stop to ask which file, which call,
  or whether a borderline quote counts — decide from the transcript, note
  the call once in the output, and move on.
- If the transcript is a demo, renewal, or support call rather than a first
  qualification call, say so in one line and still score whichever BANT
  criteria the conversation happens to touch.
- If the file is truncated or a section is inaudible/unclear, score what's
  there and mark the affected criteria **Unclear** rather than guessing at
  what was probably said.

## Modes

### Transcript mode (`.txt`, `.vtt`, `.json`, `.md`)

```
claude "run bant on ./calls/first-call.txt"
```

1. Read the whole transcript before scoring anything — a Budget number or a
   Timeline trigger often surfaces late, after the criterion looks Missed
   from the first half alone.
2. Score each of the four criteria in `references/rubric.md` independently.
   Don't let a strong Need inflate a weak Budget, or vice versa.
3. Before each status, apply these tests:
   - Evidence is one buyer line that is about that criterion. Never use one
     line for two criteria, and never count a line that only hints at a
     criterion.
   - When no line addresses a criterion, the status is Missed. Do not soften
     it to Partial because the call felt thorough elsewhere.
   - Partial needs a quotable line that names the criterion but stays vague.
     When you cannot quote that line, it is Missed.
   - Covered needs the specifics the rubric names (a figure, a named
     person, a dated event), not a general statement.
   - Read each criterion's "does not count" line first.
4. Run the rubric's reads-well-too test before finalizing, in both directions.
5. Write the output in the exact shape under `## Output format`.

### CSV mode (`.csv`)

```
claude "run bant on ./exports/pipeline.csv"
```

Structural hygiene sweep, not a call-quality claim — say so explicitly. For
each deal row, check whether fields for Budget, Authority, Need, and
Timeline are present and non-trivial (not blank, not a placeholder like
"TBD"). Output a table: deal name, deal value, criteria missing, sorted by
deal value descending.

## Output format

For every criterion, in this order — Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline:

```
**Budget** — Covered
Evidence: "we have roughly $40-60k set aside for this this year"

**Authority** — Partial
Evidence: "I can move this forward but my VP signs off on anything over $20k"
Note: influencer with a real path to the decision-maker, not the final say
```

Then close with exactly one line:

> **Advance** / **Advance with a follow-up on [criterion]** / **Do not
> advance yet** — because [the one thing that drove this call], and here's
> the one question that would change it: [specific follow-up].

No recap section repeating all four scores again after this — the call
above is the deliverable, not a summary of it.

## Do not

- Don't average or blend the four scores into a single "qualification
  score" — BANT stays four separate reads, not one number.
- Don't infer Authority from title alone ("VP of Ops" isn't automatically
  the economic buyer) — score it from what the transcript actually shows
  about their path to a decision.
- Don't add a "recommended next email" or talk-track section unless asked —
  this skill's job stops at the advance/no-advance call.

## Related skills

- **`meddicc`** — once a deal is past first qualification and multiple
  stakeholders are in play, MEDDICC's seven letters replace BANT's four.
- **`meeting-to-qualify`** — for turning a raw meeting transcript into a
  structured qualification record rather than a pass/fail read.
- **`prospect-pipeline-check`** — for a pipeline-wide sweep earlier than
  BANT's CSV mode, before deals reach "Qualified."

## Sample data

`assets/sample-transcript.txt` is a synthetic first qualification call — run
the skill against it first.

## What this does not do

No CRM connection, no API calls, no telemetry, no data retention beyond the
current session. It reads the file you point it at and nothing else.