Qualifying Leads is NEAT

Effective lead qualification is crucial for sales success. While traditional qualification frameworks have served sales teams well in the past, evolving buyer behaviours and more sophisticated purchasing processes demanded updated approaches. One such solution is NEAT selling. It helps sales professionals evaluate prospects through the four essential qualification criteria familiar to them while maintaining a strong focus on value creation.

While NEAT is often discussed as both a selling methodology and a qualification framework, we'll focus on its qualification aspects. NEAT can be effectively used as a standalone qualification framework even if your organisation follows different sales methodologies and the full N.E.A.T Selling methodology is not relevant. The framework's emphasis on understanding economic impact makes it particularly valuable in helping sales teams determine which opportunities deserve further investment of time and resources.

What Is the NEAT Qualification Framework?

NEAT selling is a modern sales qualification methodology developed by The Harris Consulting Group and Sales Hacker (nowadays GTMnow) in response to the evolving B2B sales landscape. Compared to the golden age of BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline)When qualifying a lead with NEAT, sales representatives must identify if the prospect has the need, economic justification, and access to authority to make a purchase decision within a reasonable timeframe., buyers have become more informed, and decision-making units have grown. To meet these changes, NEAT shifts the focus from budget-first conversations to value-based discussions.

When qualifying a lead with NEAT, sales representatives must identify if the prospect has the need, economic justification, and access to authority to make a purchase decision within a reasonable timeframe. The best way to do this is to follow the framework and ask open-ended questions from the prospects.

Using NEAT, sellers can effectively qualify prospects by first understanding their needs and the potential economic impact of the solution. By including and underlining “E”, NEAT prompts sales teams to deeply understand the value of a solution, rather than just its features. Economic impact means expected results, the financial value, and the ROI of solving the prospect's challenges, including cost savings and potential revenue increases. NEAT excels when the economic impact needs to be demonstrated, making it especially valuable for technology, SaaS, and professional services sales.

NEAT excels when the economic impact needs to be demonstrated.

The framework is specifically designed for B2B sales professionals dealing with long sales cycles with multiple stakeholders. “Access to Authority” means identifying and engaging with the key decision-makers who can make the purchase. In modern B2B sales, decisions rarely rest with a single individual. Instead, there's typically a decision-making unit consisting of various stakeholders with different interests and levels of influence. The goal is not just to find the person with signing authority but to understand all the stakeholders and formal approval processes, identify potential blockers, and ensure you have a champion with access to different levels of the organisation.

The Components of the NEAT Framework

Need: What critical business challenges does the prospect face?

Example questions to ask:

• What prompted you to start looking for a solution at this time?
• What specific business challenges are you trying to solve?
• How is this challenge impacting your business?
• If you could change one thing about your current situation, what would it be?
• How are these issues affecting your customers or end-users?

Economic Impact: What's the financial value of solving these challenges?

Example questions to ask:

• If this problem were solved, what would be the financial or operational benefits?
• How does this challenge impact revenue, expenses, or cash flow?
• What potential revenue opportunities are you missing?
• How do you measure ROI for similar investments?
• What would it mean to your bottom line if you could reduce the problem by even 10%?

Access to Authority: Who are the key decision-makers?

Example questions to ask:

• Who else should we include in our discussions?
• What is your role in the decision-making process?
• How does your organisation typically evaluate and approve new initiatives?
• Is the budget holder or primary approver aware of the challenges we discussed?
• What level of support is needed from executive or board-level stakeholders?

Timeline: What is the timeframe for implementation?

Example questions to ask:

• What happens if the challenge isn’t resolved by your desired date?
• What is driving your timeline?
• What are the critical steps that need to happen before you can move forward?
• What other projects might impact this timeline?
• How does this project rank among other priorities you’re working on right now?

NEAT qualification framework offers a structured approach to understanding the prospect's needs and the potential value of your solution. While it can serve as a broader sales methodology, you don't need to adopt the entire approach to selling to benefit from NEAT.

Start by incorporating NEAT into your qualification process. Focus on understanding needs and economic impact. This approach helps build trust and demonstrates value early in the sales process. If the NEAT qualification resonates with your sales team and aligns well with your customer's buying process, explore the complete NEAT Selling methodology.