If you work in technology sales you probably will have heard of MEDDIC or it’ more recent offspring, MEDDPICC. If you haven’t heard of it – now is the time you did.
What is MEDDPICC?
MEDDPICC is a sales qualification methodology that was created by Jack Napoli, John McMahon, and Dave Dunkel at Parametric Technology (now known as PTC) in the 1990s.
It is an acronym for the eight criteria you need to assess at all stages in a deal when you are selling large, complex solutions to enterprise customers. Those criteria are:
| Metrics | How is value measured by the buyer |
| Economic buyer | The ultimate decision maker with budget control |
| Decision criteria | The key criteria and weightings across areas such as functional capabilities, organizational fit, pricing, service levels, legals and more |
| Decision process | What steps need to be taken to get to a signed contract |
| Paper process | Clarity on how you get from a yes to a signed contract |
| Implicate the pain | Quantification and confirmation of the pain by the customer of the status quo |
| Champion | An individual(s) on the customer side who has influence and is in your corner |
| Competition | Clarity on who you are competing against on a specific deal and how you are positioned in relation to them on the specific deal |
The MEDDPICC methodology asserts that all eight criteria must be fully satisfied to maximize your chances of successfully closing a deal and closing it on time. Failure to meet one or some of the criteria will delay deals and cause deals to be lost or go dormant.
Is MEDDPICC applicable for all sales teams?
No. MEDDPICC is proven to work effectively in the enterprise space, especially for technology sales. It grew out of PTC for the reasons that
- PTC were selling to large companies with many stakeholders
- PTC were selling a complex solution that combined a complex technology product with professional services
- Deal cycles were typically three months or more
If you are selling a product that can be closed in a more ‘transactional’ manner – then you would be better off using methodologies such as BANT or NOTE.
MEDDPICC and MEDDIC
MEDDPICC started out as MEDDIC but over time the Paper Process and then Competition elements were added as criteria. Paper process was added in recognition of the growing importance of procurement and procurement practices generally in the last 20 years. Competition was added in response to the cast array of competitors and substitutes emerging in the Technology and SaaS space.
Is MEDDPICC a sales methodology?
No. MEDDPICC is specifically a methodology for qualifying a sales opportunity throughout the buying process. MEDDPICC doesn’t talk to how you engage with customers, how you conduct discovery, how you pitch a persuasive proposal etc.
You can use MEDDPICC in conjunction with sales methodologies such as Challenger Sales, SPIN, Miller Heiman etc.
It is worth noting that the “I” for “Implicate the Pain” does (in this author’s opinion) contain the flavor of a sales methodology in that it requires you to skillfully get the customer’s buy in and expression of the ‘pain’ – whereas the other seven criteria are more about gathering and confirming qualification information during the process.
Nonetheless, you need to think beyond MEDDPICC if you want to execute an effective sales methodology for your sales organization.
Is MEDDPICC a sales process?
No. But it should be a key element of your sales process. Your sales process should contain best practices such as MEDDPICC but it also needs to specify the unique steps for your sales organization. Your sales process specifies WHAT steps you need to execute to successfully close a deal when selling your unique products and services in your chosen market. Typically these Steps are categorized into the various stages in your pipeline.
In short, your sales process is WHAT you need to do whereas sales methodology is HOW you go about selling. MEDDPICC should definitely be incorporated into your sales process at every step of the process because you need to be constantly referencing the current status of the eight criteria. Note again that MEDDPIC is not a set and forget step in your process to be ticked off once.
In conclusion, MEDDPICC can and should be integrated into your sales process so that it is consistently being referenced throughout the deal cycle.
Note also that in SalesGRID, our concept for a Playbook is to bring all of this together
– Your sales process on WHAT needs to be done
– Your qualification methodology ie. MEDDPICC
– Your sales methodology on HOW you engage with and influence customers
Why is MEDDPICC so popular?
MEDDPICCs advocates swear by its effectiveness at driving a more repeatable and predictable sales pipeline on large, enterprise deals with complex sales cycles.
The predictability is driven by a focus on a broader range of buyer-centric criteria throughout the deal. Let’s look at those three things in bold:
Broader: MEDDPICC considers eight criteria that are proven to be crucial to deal consistency and predictability. Whereas methodologies like BANT don’t include key criteria that are crucial for navigating the complexity of complex feals
Buyer centric: MEDDPIC focuses on the criteria through the lens of the buyer – rather than a vendor-centric view of what needs to be checked off to proceed with a deal. This buyer-centric view means that each of the eight criteria are also in the customer’s interests assuming that they wish to proceed towards a successful implementation of a solution in a timely manner
Throughout: It is vital that MEDDPIC is used at all steps in the deal. Firstly, it is not realistic or appropriate to gather all eight criteria early in the process. Secondly, the enterprise sales environment is fluid over a period of months – so, the sales team needs to be continuously reviewing the validity of current assumptions and information with the customer
How does SalesGRID support the implementation of MEDDPICC in your sales process?
The SalesGRID playbook contains three key objects that can be used to communicate and track MEDDPICC on all your big deals:
Key Actions provide a constant reminder of the mandatory things to do on a step in a deal. So, you can detail one or more of the criteria at any step in the playbook for example “ask who they are evaluating” on the Introduction Call step
Power Moves provide hot tips on how to execute MEDDPICC – for example, a powerful question to ask on “who else are you evaluating” when the customer is being coy about the competition.
Content in SalesGRID can include cards such as competitor battlecards, training videos on how to gather initial MEDDPICC information during an introduction call, customer case studies that reference the competition, etc.
Using MEDDPICC in The SalesGRID Playbook
The playbook enables you to clearly define the Stages and Steps in your sales process. You could detail a Step specifically for MEDDPICC – but this isn’t consistent with the notion that it is a qualification methodology that runs throughout the process.
A better approach is to include all information and general training content on MEDDPICC inside the “Introduction” section in your Playbook. Then, you can use situational or Step specific Content and Key Action reminders and Power Moves throughout the Steps in your Playbook.
Here is a 5 min video on using MEDDPICC inside SalesGRID.
