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MEDDPICC/MEDDICC/MEDDIC – Everything You Need To Succeed

MEDDIC qualification questions, core to the MEDDPICC and MEDDICC Sales process, ensure thorough discovery with prospects. Are you using these in your sales efforts?

What is the MEDDIC Sales Process?

MEDDIC qualification questions, core to the MEDDPICC and MEDDIC Sales process, ensure thorough discovery with prospects. Are you using these in your sales efforts?MEDDIC is a lead qualification process widely used by sales organizations – perhaps even by your sales team.

The goal is to gather enough information to determine if the potential customer is indeed a potential buyer, not simply a good fit for your offering.

MEDDIC stands for the following:

  • Metrics
  • Economic Buyer
  • Decision criteria
  • Decision process
  • Identify pain
  • Champion

Each of these covers a core component of the lead qualification in the MEDDIC sales process.  

And each is discussed in detail below.

Is MEDDICC a sales process or a methodology?

MEDDIC is a sales process that can be used to help qualify leads. It’s important to remember that the MEDDIC sales method is not a silver bullet, and it should be tailored to your specific business and market.

What is the difference between a sales process and a sales methodology?

A sales process is a repeatable way of selling that is based on certain steps. A sales methodology is a set of techniques or tactics that a sales rep uses to try to close deals.

What is the difference between MEDDIC, MEDDICC, and MEDDPICC?

MEDDPICC is an extension of the MEDDIC sales process — ideal for longer and more complex B2B sales cycles. With MEDDPICC, the P stands for Paper Process (e.g., legal, security, procurement processes, and documents), and the additional C stands for Competition.

We discuss MEDDPICC in detail below.

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MEDDIC Sales Process Checklist

We will dive into each element in a moment, but first, an overview of the MEDDIC sales process via a simple checklist.

  1. Document the answers to the metrics-related questions.
  2. Identify the economic buyer and confirm your understanding of the key challenges and metrics-related answers.
  3. Identify the decision-making process and confirm with the economic buyer and key stakeholders.  Ensure there are no surprises.
  4. With key stakeholders, your economic buyer, and champion, uncover the decision-making criteria.
  5. By this point, you have a sense of crucial challenges but now must drill down to identify the pain point the customer will pay to solve. 
  6. As you work to identify the central pain point, identify who needs this problem solved most.  Can this individual, or these people, become your champions?

Now that you understand the MEDDIC sales process checklist let’s dig into each section more deeply.

MEDDIC Sales Process Details

Metrics Questions

The initial set of MEDDIC qualification quests are Metrics – you will need them as part of your lead qualification process. Can you impact the business in the manner that the potential customer requires?

  • What is your average order value?
  • How are you tracking against the target?
  • What is your growth target?
  • How are you tracking against that goal?
  • How long is it taking?
  • What would you do with that time if you had it back? How would that affect your plans?

Understanding the right metrics that matter to your potential buyers will allow you better define the possible ROI of working with your business.

Economic Buyer

Next up in the MEDDICC sales process… The company’s economic buyer.

You need to know who has the power to make decisions and authorize spending. It may be beneficial to talk to someone higher up in the company than your current contact. Knowing the economic buyer and their mindset will help you close sales as the buyer’s veto power makes them the one person at the potential customer who absolutely must be convinced.

If possible, talk directly to the economic buyer to learn about their expectations, financial criteria, budget constraints, and the decision-making process for purchasing solutions. In some cases, talking will not be possible. You should try to get this information about the economic buyer from your contact. Use this information to make the sale palatable to the lead, even if it is not directly affected.

Here are a few example MEDDIC qualification questions your account executives can ask the economic buyer.

  • Who would ultimately sign off on this (i.e., who has the final decision)?
  • Would they need to see the product?
  • What value would they get from the product?
  • How would it help their objectives?
  • What are their metrics?
  • What are they likely to say?

Sometimes you will be surprised how senior an economic buyer can be; for example, who do you think makes the purchasing decision at Trust Enablement?

Decision Process

Next up in the MEDDIC sales methodology.

The decision process.

While the decision criteria tell you what goes into a company’s decisions, the decision process tells you how that choice is made and followed through. A decision process will include the person who makes a decision, the potential customer’s timeline, and any formal approval processes. You need to know this information to have an accurate sales pipeline.

When you know the decision process, you are much less likely to lose sales due to stagnation. You know what needs to happen on the potential customer’s side to close the deal, so you can work to meet those conditions.

If, for example, you know that the economic buyer has okayed the decision but has not completed the follow-up process paperwork, you can specifically push to get that paperwork taken care of, thereby closing the sale.

Understanding this process gives you an edge in getting to a buying decision.

Decision Criteria

As you move through the MEDDIC sales process, you have learned the key metrics, uncovered the economic buyer, and understood the essential elements in the decision process.

Now you need to uncover how they make financial decisions.

  • What exactly would you need to see to make a decision?
  • What would (other stakeholders) need to see to make a decision? Who are the decision-makers?
  • Why is that important to you?
  • Which one of these pieces of criteria is the most important?
  • What exactly would we need to demonstrate to be your partner of choice?
  • Who else would we need to impress to get this over the line?

These questions will help you uncover the critical factors in your prospect’s decision-making process.

Identify Pain

The potential customer must have evident business pain before pursuing a solution, and it’s vital to understand these pain points.

This pain can manifest in many ways, including high costs, slow production, and low revenue. Identify the pain the customer is experiencing, and then identify how your solution can relieve it.

What will happen if they don’t decide on a solution or if they make a terrible decision? And how will your solution fix it?

These MEDDIC qualification questions are crucial to your success.

  • What are the priorities you’re focused on right now?
  • How do your departmental goals (targets) affect the overarching business goal?
  • What are some of the considerations/concerns/risks to consider?
  • What are the implications of not hitting that target/solving that problem?
  • How does that feed into the overarching business goal?
  • What is the strategy for solving this problem?
  • What have you tried in the past to solve that problem?
  • What would a good year look like?
  • Why has the business picked that number? (Target)
  • What effect would it have on the company if you overachieved that target?
Champions

Your Champion must not be a senior leader, but they must be well respected. If they have influence and respect in their business, your Champion will significantly simplify your deal and make the purchase process move forward more quickly.

Want to determine if you have a true champion?

  • If this was your decision and budget, would you buy it?
  • What do WE need to do to get this in the hands of your team?
  • Are you prepared to take the proper steps/work together to get this over the line?
  • Have you asked your CEO/Boss for something like this before? What did they say?
  • Does your boss trust your decisions?
  • What objections are they likely to have?
  • How will you help them see the value?
  • How will they measure the return on investment of this purchase?

The MEDDIC Sales Process

Let’s discuss MEDDPICC

As noted above, MEDDPICC adds two elements to the MEDDIC qualification questions.

Paper Process

Your goal in the paper process is to uncover any obstacles in getting contracts, NDA, security questionnaires, and similar reviewed and approved by appropriate stakeholders:

The MEDDPICC paper process step is essential in complex B2B deals as working with procurement, legal, and security teams can almost be like starting the deal all over again.

It is crucial to identify these requirements, the critical stakeholders for each, and include them early in the process.

For the MEDDPICC paper process, ask questions such as:

  • Do you have any concerns with the proposed
  • How does the procurement process work?
  • Will we need to be added to an approved vendor list?
  • Does your security team need to validate our solution?
  • What type of contract will be required?
  • What is the typical timeline for getting approvals?
  • What are the specific steps we need to take to get this approved?
  • Who needs to approve this, and what is their role?
Competition

Few deals occur without Competition. Another vendor, another option, almost always exists.

Adding Competition to MEDDPICC is vital, especially for complex B2B sales where there is always another competitor in the mix.

To gain a competitive advantage, watch for traps set by your potential competitors and build great relationships with stakeholders to uncover their existence in the deal.

Consider competition-related questions like these for MEDDPICC:

  • Do you have any other vendors in mind?
  • What solution is vendor X suggesting?
  • What key differentiators are you seeing from vendor Y?
  • What would it take for us to be the primary/only vendor?
  • When are you looking to finalize your vendor selection?

When should you use MEDDPICC instead of MEDDIC or MEDDICC?

As you can see, the MEDDPICC qualification questions are vital in complex B2B sales. These questions can ensure you uncover all potential obstacles in getting your deal approved and moving forward.

If you are unsure which variation to use, use MEDDPICC to build a more in-depth understanding of your prospect’s needs.

Note:  Battlecards can be a powerful weapon as you seek to battle competitors, educating your sellers, of course, and keeping information on the competition at their fingertips. If your Enablement program is not yet using battle cards, consider doing so, as it can make a huge difference.

If you do not use a full-fledged competitive analysis tool, you could simply create a document like the following for each of your products or use cases.

A simple competitive analysis template - Critical for the MEDDPICC process.

The MEDDIC sales process does not guarantee you sales success. However, it can play an essential role in helping improve your sales efforts and is worth your understanding and potentially adding to your overall sales process.

The MEDDIC Book by Andy Whyte

The MEDDICC book from Andy Whyte is a must-read for teams looking to implement the MEDDIC sales process — consider it the bible for those looking to immerse themselves in the approach.

MEDDIC vs BANT – A Quick Comparison

BANT focuses on buyers’ needs and whether they meet the qualifications to buy; MEDDIC takes a more step-by-step approach to the sale.

BANT is also less formal, giving sellers more latitude in qualifying and selling to buyers.

MEDDIC vs BANT as a comparison is straightforward, as you can see above.

Both frameworks are effective, and the question of which you should use for your sales team, MEDDIC vs BANT, is, to some degree, a matter of preference. However, when considering the question of BANT vs MEDDIC, we recommend:

  • Use BANT for more straightforward sales scenarios.
  • Use MEDDICC for deals with more complexity (e.g., a more significant number of stakeholders).

Is MEDDIC Complimentary to Miller Heiman, Challenger, and Other Approaches?

The MEDDIC sales process is complementary to other frameworks and approaches, such as:

Reinforcement and Systems

Implementing MEDDIC is relatively straightforward, but implementing it in a manner that drives results can be challenging if you:

  • Fail to tie the MEDDIC sales method into your sales process.
  • Fail to connect MEDDIC into your CRM system.
  • Fail to train, reinforce, and regularly coach your sales reps on the process.
Tie MEDDIC into your sales process

You can’t turn your discovery calls into interrogations, but you want to ensure you uncover the critical pieces of information through the buying journey and at the correct times.

Bake this into your sales process to get buyers and sellers excited about the experience.

Connect MEDDIC to your CRM system

Baking any methodology into your process is critical, and then tying it into your CRM system further reinforces it.

Regardless of the CRM systems, add the MEDDIC data to the deal/opportunity records. Review this data as part of your forecast/deal reviews and coaching sessions to ensure sellers capture this data.

Note: If you are struggling to identify the right CRM system for your business, check out our article on how to select the right CRM.

Train, Reinforce, and Coach

Reinforce, reinforce, reinforce.

The Surrounded Learner Technique is the most impactful approach to sales training — give it a try.

You must train and coach groups and individuals to create behavior change and ensure your teams use the MEDDIC questions correctly.

And don’t forget to use the win-loss analysis process as another tool to reinforce MEDDIC.  As you review closed deals, ensure that the appropriate data is captured consistently and in enough detail.

Put in the work; it will pay off.

MEDDIC Must Be Embedded In Your Whole Process

Gathering information is not a one-and-done activity; it is ongoing and runs the length of your process.  Embed discovery into early outreach, baking it into the cadences you run through your sales outreach systems (e.g., AutoKlose, Klenty, Reply, etc.).

As you collaborate with your prospects and work with additional buying committee members, you must validate that understanding multiple times. Ensure all details are captured in your CRM to develop a complete picture throughout the sales cycle.

And when prospects become customers, you use this information as part of succession planning and maintain the information within your CRM.

Listen to a podcast episode on the MEDDIC sales process

Thorsten Stiller, EMEA Senior Sales Consultant, Sales Planning & Strategy Dell Technologies | Field Sales Enablement, joined DACH Regional Host, Britta Lorenz, to discuss the power of MEDDIC.

[buzzsprout episode=’8826021′ player=’true’]

How Should Sales Enablement Reinforce and Drive Adoption?

This hour-long video from one of the Trust Enablement events shares a thoughtful approach to using MEDDIC language and processes in everyday enablement efforts to reinforce and drive adoption, build credibility and understanding, and increase the impact of this process on your team.

MEDDIC Summary

Who created MEDDIC?

Dirk Dunkel created MEDDIC during his time at PTC in the mid-to-late 1990s.

What is MEDDIC?

The MEDDIC acronym stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion

What does MEDDIC stand for?

The MEDDIC acronym stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion

What does MEDDPICC stand for?

The MEDDPICC acronym stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper Process, Identify pain, Champion, and Competition

What does MEDDICC stand for?

The MEDDICC acronym stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion, and Competition

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