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The sdr_lead_qualifier skill

Written by , Founder, AskVault · Reviewed by Aashiq
Last updated: · 4 min read

What BANT qualification means

BANT is a four-factor framework for evaluating sales-ready leads:

  • Budget. Does the prospect have money to spend?
  • Authority. Are they the decision-maker, or evaluating on behalf of someone else?
  • Need. What problem are they trying to solve?
  • Timeline. When do they need a solution?

A lead that's strong on all four is sales-ready. Weak on one or more, it goes to nurture or stays in marketing.

Traditional sales teams do this qualification on a discovery call. sdr_lead_qualifier does it in chat, in 60 to 120 seconds, before a sales rep has spent any time.

The skill is on Growth and above. Growth+

When the skill fires

After collect_lead captures contact info (name, email, phone), sdr_lead_qualifier asks the BANT questions. The full flow:

  1. Visitor shows buying signals.
  2. collect_lead asks for and captures name, email, phone.
  3. sdr_lead_qualifier asks the 4 BANT questions in sequence.
  4. Lead syncs to your CRM with qualification answers as custom properties.

If the visitor disengages at any point, the partial lead still syncs with whatever was captured.

The questions

Default question wording:

  • Budget: "What's the budget range you're working with? Helps me give you the most relevant options."
  • Authority: "Are you the person who'd be making this decision, or evaluating on behalf of someone?"
  • Need: "What's the main thing you're trying to solve?"
  • Timeline: "Roughly when are you looking to have this in place?"

Customize the wording under AI Agents > Skills > sdr_lead_qualifier > Questions. Match your industry's vocabulary.

CRM field mapping

The answers map to CRM custom properties. For HubSpot:

QuestionDefault HubSpot property
Budgetaskvault_budget (custom property, single-line text)
Authorityaskvault_authority (single-line text)
Needaskvault_need (multi-line text)
Timelineaskvault_timeline (single-line text)

Configure custom mappings under Integrations > HubSpot > Field Mapping > sdr_lead_qualifier. You can map to existing custom properties if you already track these.

For Salesforce, the same pattern applies with Salesforce custom Lead fields.

When to skip BANT

Not every lead deserves full qualification. Three patterns where skipping is right:

  • Free-tier signups. The friction of 4 questions kills conversion. Use collect_lead only.
  • Existing customers asking support questions. They're already qualified by definition.
  • Identity-verified visitors with known plan tier. You already know their authority and budget from CRM data.

Configure auto-skip rules under Skills > sdr_lead_qualifier > Skip Conditions. Example: skip if visitor is identity-verified AND their CRM record shows existing customer.

Lead scoring

The skill outputs a 1 to 5 score per lead based on BANT answers. Configurable scoring rubric under Skills > sdr_lead_qualifier > Scoring:

  • Budget signal. Specific number = high; vague answer = medium; "I don't know" = low.
  • Authority signal. Decision-maker = high; evaluator = medium; researcher = low.
  • Need signal. Specific pain point = high; vague = medium; "just exploring" = low.
  • Timeline signal. This month = high; this quarter = medium; "no specific timeline" = low.

The composite score syncs to CRM as askvault_qualification_score. Useful for routing high-score leads to your top SDRs.

Skip mid-flow

The skill can be skipped if the visitor explicitly opts out: "Let's skip the questions, can I just see pricing?" The skill detects this and stops asking. Lead syncs with partial answers.

This is the right behavior. Pressuring a prospect through qualification is bad sales.

Limits

  • Plan availability. Growth and above.
  • Per-conversation overhead. Adds 60 to 120 seconds to the conversation.
  • Each question counts as 1 query. A full BANT flow uses 4 queries.

Common pitfalls

Visitors disengage during qualification. Friction is too high. Shorten to 2 or 3 questions. Or use the qualification only when sales-ready signals are very strong (e.g., visitor explicitly asked about pricing).

Answers are too vague to score. Customer says "I don't know my budget yet". Map low scores to "Marketing Qualified Lead" instead of "Sales Qualified Lead" in your CRM workflows.

CRM fields don't update. Field mapping is incorrect or the custom property doesn't exist in HubSpot. Verify under Integrations > HubSpot > Field Mapping.

Qualification fires on existing customers. Skip conditions aren't set. Add an "identity verified AND existing customer" skip rule.

FAQ

Can I customize the questions for my industry?

Yes. The default questions are generic B2B SaaS. For e-commerce or services, customize under Skills > sdr_lead_qualifier > Questions. The structure stays BANT but the wording can change completely.

What about MEDDIC or other qualification frameworks?

Not natively today. The skill is BANT-specific. For MEDDIC (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion), use the custom_webhook skill to call your own qualification logic.

Does the skill work with anonymous visitors?

Yes. Identity verification isn't required. The skill runs after collect_lead has captured the basic contact info.

Can I configure conditional questions?

Yes. Question 3 (Need) can be conditioned on question 2 (Authority): if the visitor isn't the decision-maker, the bot asks "who is?" instead of jumping to Need.

How accurate is the lead scoring?

The skill produces a rule-based score from the visitor's stated answers. Accuracy depends on how honestly the visitor answered. Use the score as a directional signal, not absolute truth.

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