Several decades ago, IBM's top salespeople developed a system called BANT for gauging a lead's potential for conversion. Only leads that satisfy at least three of the following four conditions of Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline should be considered a qualified-lead. BANT's strength lies in the fact that it provides salespeople with a uniform scorecard, as well as a framework within which to ask qualifying questions and collect relevant data.

The lack of preparation is a major factor in why salespeople don't ask better discovery questions. If you have a plan or a set of tools ready ahead of time, you can prepare your discovery questions with confidence. This article covers a few general types of questions that can help you improve your skills at asking discovery questions.