Send for a MEDDIC

In the world of sales theories, there are many acronyms you need to remember. In my last article, I talked about SPIN. Now it’s time to talk about MEDDIC. If you can learn and execute on these sales theories, you’ll ABC* in no time.

What is MEDDIC?

MEDDIC was a sales methodology developed in the 1990s by Jack Napoli and Richard Dunkel who used it to grow their company, PTC, to more than triple their revenue from $300 million to $1 billion in only 4 years.

MEDDIC is a qualification process that gives you a clear understanding of the health of your deals and how to create a detailed closing plan.

The components of MEDDIC

What MEDDIC does is turn the sales process on its head. If you’re not making enough sales, it may not be because you’re not very good at pitching, overcoming objections or closing deals. (Although that could well be the problem!) MEDDIC identifies a different problem, you’re trying to sell to the wrong customers. You need to be selling to the right people, then, if there’s a problem, it’s down to you.

MEDDIC is an acronym that chronologically spells out a successful sales process for you. Let’s analyse each letter one by one:

M – Metrics

The #1 question – What is the economic impact of your solution?

This is the first question you should be asking when deciding who to direct your sales process at. What does the customer gain from your product or service?

You should be able to put a figure on this. Does your product enable them to increase output, quicker time to market or save money on production costs, for example? If so, by how much? What is their return on investment (ROI)?

Example Questions:

1. How is this opportunity being assessed?
2. How would you measure the success of your project?
3. Is there a financial ROI needed?

Find potential customers who have the most to gain from what you have to offer. You’ll soon have a customer.

E – Economic Buyer

The #2 question – Who has profit/loss responsibility for this sale?

In other words, am I talking to the person who signs the cheques? Often, you’ll find the person you are selling to has to bring someone on board from higher up in the company before they can do a deal with you. 

As a top salesperson, you should always be aiming to deal directly with the person with economic responsibility. Getting their sponsorship, criteria and next steps will allow you to understand the complexity of the decision criteria and process. Sometimes this isn’t possible, but make the effort to talk to them too. Don’t rely on a middleman to make your sales for you.

Example Questions:

1. Who has decision making authority?
2. Who controls the budget to get this deal closed?
3. What does success look like for you?
4. What are the next steps if we fulfill the success criteria?
5. Do you sponsor this project?

If you meet the EB and they give you the go ahead with an expected close date, you have a better chance to close. Without the EB, your chance to closing the deal in time drops by half!

D – Decision criteria

The #3 question – What is their technical, financial or vendor criteria?

Technical - Are the use cases covered by the solution? Does it comply? How does it integrate? Usually followed by a proof of concept or technical decision making process.

Financial - is there budget? What is the ROI - typically proof is needed within 12 months to justify the investment.

And, what measures are your prospects considering to make a purchasing decision? When you know what your prospects are looking for, you can make sure you give it to them. You have the chance to prove your product is the solution to their problem.

Example Questions:

1. How is this project being evaluated?
2. What are the technical criteria to make a decision?
3. How do you calculate the ROI for this project to justify the investment?

D – Decision process

The #4 question – Then what happens? Define validation and approval.

This means, what has to happen to be able to close the deal, once your buyer has decided he wants to buy. Find out the process, what conditions need to be met, then you make sure you meet them. This will stop your deal being delayed or bogged down in paperwork.

This is broken down into;

What is the route to a technical decision? What are the steps and who is involved?

What is the route to money? Who needs to approve? How long does this usually take?

What is the route to paper process? Ensure to have executive sponsorship to give negotiations with purchasing & legal the right time and resources needed to ensure this doesn't slip the deal to another QTR! A previous leader of mine told me to be maniacal about the details. This proved true when closing a $ million dollar deal with a VAR of ours - Without it, we wouldn't have got the deal in that QTR.

Example Questions:

1. Which people are involved and what the next steps to reach a decision?
2. What is the approval process for deals of this $ size?
3. What contractual paperwork is needed to complete the sale?
4. What timelines are typical?
5. What problems do you see arising?

I – Identify pain

The #5 question – What are their primary business objectives?

What is the problem that you are going to solve for your customer? For that, you need to know what their pain is. Ensure it is time based, there is a bias for action and you are working with the right people that can find the reason to change!

A high impact pain can be something that effects the customer in terms of time, cost, risk or revenue if not solved within a certain time period. This is called the "consequence of doing nothing!"

Examples could be high production costs, low sales, high staff turnover? Whatever it is, when you know the problem you can sell your product as the solution.

How will your solution fix their problem? By how much? Be as precise as you can with this figure. Don’t be vague.

Example Questions:

1. What causes these delays?
2. What does this mean to you and your company?
3. What is the consequence of doing nothing?

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What is the existing problem?
2. Who is most concerned about it? Ideally this should be across the organisation and not isolated to a single function.

C – Champion

The #6 question – Who will sell on your behalf inside the company when you are not there?

Is there someone in the company who will be your advocate? Who in the company will benefit most from your solution? Who’s life will be made better by what you have to offer? 

This is broken down into 4 stages;

-Identify the champion - Find that person & identify their goals.

-Build your champion - Empower them to be an advocate for your product within their company, to their managers and team members. Show them how you can help by applying how you will enable them to address the pain.

-Test your champion - Get them to sell your product from inside the company.

-Re-use your champion - Ask for help on the next deal. This can be a reference, case study or presenting at events on how you helped them solve their pain.

Questions to ask yourself when finding that Champion:

1. Who is committed to our solution?
2. Why is this person a champion?
3. Has this person got influence within the organisation? Even if they don't officially carry a title they can be identified as accepted individuals by their peers, are influential and have a good track record of success.
4. What is their personal interest?
5. Will they stand up for you and sell on your behalf?
6. How can we help prepare them?

Advantages of MEDDIC

MEDDIC is a simple way to remember to get all the information you need for a smooth sales process. It means you’ll always know that you’re aiming at the right target, so success or failure of the deal depends on you. 

Executed well, MEDDIC allows you to get a clear understanding of the health of your deal which will save time, as you’re not wasting it on customers who won’t buy. It allows you to close a bigger percentage of your customers through a detailed closing plan and it also allows you to forecast revenues more effectively, and keep your sales pipeline clean.

Become a MEDDIC today

If you’re struggling to find the right customers to sell to, it’s time to try the MEDDIC process and start asking the right questions. Start at M and work your way through to C, then reap the rewards.

Let me know what you think of MEDDIC as a qualification and forecasting framework in the comments below.

*- ABC. Always Be Closing.