All you need to know about CHAMP methodology in 2023!

About 22% of the sales reps consider ‘qualifying’ the most challenging part of their sales process.     

This is why 67% of lost sales result from reps failing to qualify prospects properly. 

Asking qualifying questions that help you discover your buyer’s pain points, needs, and goals is critical!  

But on what grounds do we decide the qualifying question?  

Here is why sales qualification frameworks come into play! 

This blog covers one of the most effective sales qualification frameworks- CHAMP. 

CHAMP is popular and qualifies better as it takes a customer-centric approach, a winning attribute of any qualification framework. 

Let’s look into CHAMP framework in detail.

What is CHAMP sales qualification? 

The CHAMP is a sales qualification framework that takes a customer-centric selling approach. It stresses uncovering prospects’ Challenges, Authority, Budget and Priorities.  

This framework helps sales reps ask relevant questions and allows them to tailor their sales pitch keeping the customer’s requirement in the first place. 

CHAMP stands for… 

CH	Challenges	What are your biggest business challenges at the moment?
A	Authority	Who are the decision-makers in this deal?
M	Money	What budget have you allotted for the solution?
P	Prioritization	What are your top priorities when solving your business problems with our solution?

With this framework, you get to know your prospect’s challenges at the initial stage of your qualification process. 

So, this way, you can discover unique opportunities to pitch your products/services as a solution to their challenges. 

Once the prospect understands the benefit of your solution, the decision maker and the deal’s budget are the next most important topics to uncover.   

This way, the reps can present their product as a cost-effective solution in front of the authority and, finally, identify their priorities regarding business needs. 

Moving on to the next section, which talks about the CHAMP stage in detail.

What is CHAMP sales methodology? 

Here is a complete discussion of CHAMP sales methodology. Plus, includes CHAMP sales qualification questions by stage.

Challenges 

A smart sales rep knows how to turn buyers’ challenges into opportunities!

Also, buyers are always interested in learning how a brand can help them to overcome their roadblocks. 

Sales reps can quickly discover prospects’ challenges using the CHAMP qualification questions.

Once a challenge is identified, an opportunity gets created.  

This approach helps sales teams quickly qualify their leads by determining whether our product is the solution for them. 

Below are some of the qualifying questions to discover the prospect’s biggest roadblocks at the initial qualification stage:   

• What are the challenges that you are facing currently? 
• What are your major concerns, and how can we address them? 
• Where is your existing solution failing? 
• What do you think about the ideal solution? 
• For how long have you been experiencing this problem? 
• What led you to look for a solution now? 
• What would your operations look like if this problem gets solved today? 
• Are there any pressing problems that require a faster solution? 
• What are the consequences of not solving these problems? 

This is how you can easily get started with your sales qualification using the CHAMP framework.   

Authority 

As a sales rep, you must know the person who has the influence or power in the decision making process.  

So, once knowing the challenges, you need to connect with someone who will have the final in the deal. 

Connecting with these contacts isn’t easy, as the decision-makers vary from business to business.

In some companies, it may be managers or departmental heads or stakeholders, etc.   

Hence, asking relevant questions while connecting with a lead can help you discover the right contact person for the deal.

Even though they might not be able to make the purchase, they can assist you in many other ways.

For example, they can aid you in understanding their company’s organizational structure or connect you with the appropriate authority early in the process.

Below are some of the qualifying questions that will help you identify the decision-maker: 

• Is this you or anyone else who has a hold on decision-making?  
• Who is the final authority to lock the deal?  
• What’s the purchasing process, specifically for products/services like ours?  
• Who else needs to be involved in the purchasing process?  
• Is a group call okay with you, or should I alternatively schedule a call with every involved person? 

Money 

A crucial factor in any deal is the money or budget.    

You can use the CHAMP framework to move prospects into the part where purchasing patterns are discussed. 

This approach allows sales professionals to gauge the lead’s challenges. Plus, you can demonstrate how your product or service can solve their problem perfectly.

Also, justify the solution pricing by comparing it with the value it brings. 

Here are some of the relevant qualifying questions to discover the budget of the deal:

• Does your company have an allocated budget for a solution? 
• Are you open to a flexible budget? 
• May I know your allocated budget now? If not, when can we discuss it? 
• Is there any process to go beyond the allocated budget? 

At the money stage, sales reps want to uncover the price. So, consider this qualification stage a great time to demonstrate your solution’s ROI. 

Prioritization 

The last step of CHAMP qualification is to know how soon the prospect wants to implement the solution.  

When moving a prospect through your sales process, it is essential to know their priorities to fix the problem. 

This way, you’ll find where your solution stands on the list.   

Plus, it helps you understand how to pitch your solution in sync with their priorities.  

You get to know this thing while you ask them relevant qualifying questions at the prioritization stage:

• How soon would you like to see this problem get solved? 
• Do you have a solution in place? When does it expire? 
• How soon would you like to implement this solution? 
• Are you in the process of looking for a solution from someone else? 
• How soon will you be able to make this decision? 

Following the above flow, you can execute CHAMP sales qualification effectively. 

Let’s look at an example to understand the CHAMP methodology.

An example of CHAMP methodology 

Check the example below between a rep and the prospect to understand how you can implement CHAMP methodology in your sales process.

John (sales rep)- Hello, Ms. June! This is John from “XYZ company”. We received your details from the web form you filled out. So, can you help me know what exactly you are looking for?    

June (prospect)- Hi John! I wanted to know more about your marketing automation software features.  

John- Sure. Please let me know the primary problem you want to solve by implementing marketing automation software. 

June- Yes. Our marketing team is spending the majority of its time on repetitive tasks. Unfortunately, this is also affecting the operating effectiveness of the group. Hence, we’re looking for an automation tool to overcome this. 

John- Understood, we have a perfect solution for this problem. However, before we proceed with the discussion, please let me know who will participate in this conversation.   

June- Sure. I, along with my Sr. Manager, will take the final call.   

John- Noted. Please help me with your senior’s coordinates so I can contact them during this purchase process.    

June- Sure. I’ll text you the same.   

John- That’s great. Further, do you have any budget allotted to this solution?   

June- We have yet to decide on the budget, as we are open to a pricing plan. If your solution is the right fit, we will happily accept your pricing. 

John- This sounds accurate. Lastly, before we move on to our following conversation, how soon do you want to implement marketing automation software?  

June- It would be great if we could do it in the next couple of weeks as we have been facing issues for so long and cannot continue.    

John- Got it. I have taken all the essential details. How about we connect on Monday to discuss how our marketing automation software is ideal for your system?  

June- Sure, we can do it. Please schedule it around 11:00 AM and send the invite to my senior authority and me. 

John- All right. I’ll share the meeting link shortly. It was great talking to you. Let’s connect on Monday.  

June- Sure.  

Hope the above examples made clear how you can leverage the CHAMP framework during your sales communication to qualify a prospect better in one go.

How CHAMP & BANT frameworks differ?

BANT is one of the oldest qualification frameworks, and CHAMP is an updated version of BANT.  

Both of these frameworks have similar qualification points. But what differs is the order of qualifying leads and the timeframe.  

Here are two crucial differences between CHAMP and BANT sales frameworks. 

1. In CHAMP, challenges precede the budget 

CHAMP framework focuses on the prospect’s challenge and treats it as a top priority proving to have a customer-centric approach. 

On the contrary, the BANT framework prioritizes the budget, followed by authority, need, and time.    

BANT focuses more on the monetary aspect of the lead and is seller-centric.   

This is valid to an extent; however, the major drawback of this framework is it disqualifies the lead if they don’t meet the budget bracket.  

Whereas, once you provide the perfect solution and try to negotiate the budget, there are chances of closing the lead.   

2.  In CHAMP, timing is only a part of the prioritization 

CHAMP considers the priority of implementing the solution for potential customers. 

On the contrary, BANT considers the time frame by which the solution needs to be implemented. So, this gives a clear idea of how the sales reps can move down leads through the sales funnel.

With the CHAMP qualification framework, sales teams can focus more on understanding how soon the prospect needs the solution.  

There’s no timeline concerned but the importance of solving the problem.   

You must completely understand your prospect’s priorities, making them realize your product or service is the right solution to boost their business. 

Is the CHAMP sales right for you? 

CHAMP framework is popular among many sales methodologies as it takes a customer-centric approach.

The sales team can potentially get more deals using the CHAMP methodology.  

Also, it lets you understand your prospect’s problems and put your product or service as the best current solution. 

Add the CHAMP framework to your sales arsenal, as it works well with goal-hungry sales reps.