No more missing salesforcasts with the MEDDICC SALES COMPASS

"Letting the salespeople make forecasts themselves is like giving the keys to the prison to the prisoners" 1) Mike Bosworth

Sellers are rarely interested in making forecasts. They feel pressured to make promises about deals they are unsure about. If they are over budget they will keep expectations down, if they are under budget they will blow sunshine into the pipeline, see every deal as a low bidder. The funnel sales process that all companies use to make sales forecasts is more or less outdated. Because today's customers are both educated and active, they do many of the activities that were previously initiated by salespeople on their own. The customer may have done their own problem inventory along with their skilled technicians, an ROI analysis and a risk assessment. They probably benefited from comparative studies of different technologies and solutions that they found on the Internet or asked their contacts for suggestions on reliable suppliers. In other words, the customer may have passed milestones in several sales stages before the salesperson gets in touch with them. No matter how the salesperson twists and turns, it will be difficult to place the deal in the right sales stage. This means that the sales forecast, which is based on the seller's guess, will be more or less misleading.

MEDDICC? SALES COMPASS

It is much better to see the whole of picture of an sales opportunity, to take a Polaroid photo of the position. We have developed a tool, MEDDICC? Salescompass, which allows the seller to assess how strong a position the business has in the MEDDICC 7 areas, Meteric, Economic buyer, Decison cirteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion and Competition. The seller is able to create a graphic presentation of the business situation. It gives an overview of the deal, strengths and weaknesses and what to win it. The seller does not need to get stuck in feelings or assumptions.

An example of this was when a company introduced MEDDICC? Salescompass into its CRM system. In the past, sales forecasts were always missed, the outcome could land plus or minus 40 percent of what the sellers had predicted. Now the salespeople used MEDDICC? Salescompass on all deals and the forecast accuracy increased to 90 percent. Their CRM system uses the total sum of points in the sales compass. Each part in MEDDICC? receives a score between 0 and 100. The seller uses the scale to set a score depending on what he has done together with the customer and what the customer's decision maker has decided. The CRM system calculates the unweighted value of the pipeline and the weighted value of the deals. The result is a credible calculation of the value of the pipeline. MEDDICC? Salescompass gives salespeople the opportunity to coach themselves and think. The executives said that salespeople now ask for help more often and more quickly disqualify deals they don't believe in.

How to interpret the different points of the MEDDICC? Salescompass

MEDDICC? score = 25 – 50%

The deal is qualified and the sellers can continue with the sales process. If extra support is needed such as pre-sales, technical experts such as solution architects etc. the seller must be given the opportunity to use these.

MEDDICC? score = 50 – 75%

The seller can engage a bid team to start a GO-LIVE Plan and quote. The deal will be included in the "upside" of the sales forecast, i.e. it could be won within the time frame of the sales forecast. If another deal falls through, this deal can get increased priority and more resources.

MEDDICC? score = 75-100%

The deal will now be included in sales forecasts and the seller will have full access to the resources needed to win the deal. A requirement is that there is a GO-LIVE Plan that the customer has participated in and approved.

Summary

MEDDICC? Salescompass helps the sellers to describe the situation in each deal instead of telling them what they think about the deal, you have all the conditions to create reliable sales forecasts. You will save lots of valuable coaching time, the sellers will be able to coach themselves. You can set minimum levels for when a deal qualifies, when it should be included in the seller's forecast, and when you give sellers access to resources such as bid teams, lawyers and technical specialists.

Jens Edgren, MEDDICC Master instructor, CEO

[email protected] www.meddicc.se