There is always another framework to study add to your sales toolbelt. We promise this one might actually revolutionize your sales yields. Whether you’re referring to MEDDIC, MEDDPICC, or MEDDPIC, we’re going to delve into the enterprise sales framework that puts the buyer, and their unique situation, at the forefront of your sales methodology and pitch. By the end of this article, you’ll know the basics – such as what MEDDPICC stands for, and how to utilize the methodology best!
Oh…and when you’ve finished the guide, don’t forget to check out our MEDDPICC-friendly sales call recording solution.
Sales has become harder in recent times. According to ONE study, 54% of sales professionals feel it is harder to close deals today than 5 years before. Increasingly, sellers need a sales methodology to zone in on the most promising leads, customize their sales pitch, and maximize results. MEDDPICC is a framework that outlines how sellers should approach each step of the sales process.
Or, alternatively, the whole team can design a product for you to sell (even if Product is convinced nobody will use it).
White Elephant features aside, this guide will help tweak your sales process, converting that hot lead into a new user or customer!
Table of Contents
What is MEDDPICC?
MEDDPICC is a sales qualification methodology that’s popular among enterprise B2B sales teams. The MEDDPICC methodology outlines specific steps involved in the B2B enterprise-sales process, which include: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Implications of pain, Competitions, and Champion. Before we dive into mastering this 8-step B2B enterprise-sales process, we’re going to disseminate the difference between MEDDICC, MEDDPICC, and MEDDIC.
What is MEDDIC?
MEDDIC is the OG sales methodology that has spawned more spin-offs than a Hollywood blockbuster.
Developed by the sales gurus at PTC back in the day, it’s been helping salespeople close deals and rake in the dough for decades.
Despite the emergence of various newfangled frameworks like MEDDPICC and BANT, MEDDIC remains the gold standard of enterprise sales. It’s like the Beatles of sales methodologies – everyone’s heard of it, and for good reason.
With its emphasis on understanding the customer’s needs, identifying key decision-makers, and aligning your solution with their metrics and criteria, MEDDIC is like a Swiss Army knife for salespeople. It’s got everything you need to navigate the perilous waters of enterprise-level sales, all in one handy package. So if you want to be a sales superstar and crush your quota, skip the knock-off brands and go straight to the source, or one of the new and improved flavors.
MEDDPICC, MEDDPIC, MEDDICC, or MEDDIC?
As stated above, MEDDIC was first coined and created by Jack Napoli, John McMahon, and Dave Dunkel at Parametric Technology (now known as PTC) in the 1990s. This framework has been credited for driving PTC to a billion-dollar-plus in revenue. Since then, the framework has had additional steps added to the popular B2B enterprise-sales process, resulting in the following four variants of MEDDIC:
- MEDDIC – the original
- MEDDICC – an enhanced version
- MEDDPIC – an enhanced version
- MEDDPICC – an enhanced version
The MEDDIC framework is used to develop, qualify, and choose accurate prospects. It focuses on qualification and is based on SPIN, a selling principle created by Neil Rackham.
MEDDICC, MEDDPIC, and MEDDPICC all build on the foundation of MEDDIC and expand it to take into account more nuanced needs. Throughout this article, we’ll be referring to the MEDDPICC process, however the information herein can be applied to all variants of MEDDIC – including MEDDPICC and MEDDPIC.
What does the MEDDPICC acronym stand for?
MEDDPICC stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Paper Process, Implications of Pain, Champion, and Competition. The full explanation of what MEDDPICC stands for is:
- Metrics – The economic benefits of your solution to your lead.
- Economic buyer – The person who has the authority to make key economic decisions at the prospect company.
- Decision criteria – What’s influencing and driving their decision.
- Decision process – How decisions are made in that company.
- Paper process – The process and paperwork necessitated to sign, onboard and keep the work in order.
- Implications of pain – Actual pains that the company should resolve to relieve their own customer’s tensions.
- Champion – A powerful and influential person or, in this case, the actual end-user of your product/service/brand.
- Competition – The competition for the prospect company and why they compete.
MEDDIC does not have the additional P (paper process) or C (competition).
Before we explain the benefits of the MEDDPICC sales methodology and MEDDPICC sales processes, let’s look at the difference between these two.
Distinction between a sales process and framework
A sales process is a step-by-step structure that unifies and brings out the best from all processes, from prospecting to closing. In comparison, sales methodology is the tactics and methods employed by a sales rep to move prospects through that processes.
A sales process deals with how a new technology, product, brand, or service enters the market. It also involves discovery, messaging, and other sales activities. On the other hand, a framework or qualification framework is a guiding principle that helps shape these unyielding and hard sales processes, like a weary traveler being shown the right path. So a framework navigates and points toward the right path, but the responsibility of following that path lies in the process.
Tip: While MEDDPICC is great, your sales team needs to be fully familiar with the methodology in practice before they can start applying it. To train and upskill your sales reps or new employees, we recommend onboarding software like tl;dv. Effortlessly create a library of teachable moments from past sales calls, demos, meeting insights, or client check-ins. You can add timestamped highlights to, or create clips of, great call moments.
Benefits of the MEDDIC & MEDDPICC sales methodology
The MEDDPICC sales methodology is your checklist to make sure any vital part of the sales process is not overlooked. There are innumerable goals to standardizing a sales methodology within your team, via the use of a framework such as MEDDPICC.
For example:
- The MEDDIC and MEDDPICC sales methodology will help you to collect quantifiable and actionable high-quality data. Through the guidelines set by MEDDPICC, the sales rep will collect data that will improve forecasts and overall results. Also, getting concrete data will allow the deal to move forward. Analyze the data and only go through with the objective if conditions are favorable. This allows for smarter prioritization and time allocation.
- MEDDPICC will reveal the gaps in a sales campaign and will direct reps to the next action. To facilitate the sales, MEDDPICC will allow you to close the revealed gaps and shorten the sales cycle.
- Help identify and categorize leads. This can help sales reps divide their time more effectively. Sellers can self-assess by using the MEDDPICC methodology. This can help the sales management to focus on coaching rather than micromanaging.
- The MEDDPICC methodology makes it very easy to spot the roadblocks and strengths in your team’s sales cycle.
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MEDDIC & MEDDPICC processes
Now that we’ve got the MEDDIC and MEDDPICC sales acronyms out of the way, let’s deep-dive into how we can put MEDDPICC into action for tangible results! A MEDDPICC sales process argues that a higher closing rate for deals will depend on pitching to better-qualified customers and identifying their exact sales path. Remember the MEDDPICC acronym: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Implications of pain, Competitions, and Champion. Let’s go through each step:
Metrics
Question to ask yourself: How will the prospect succeed? Which quantifiable goals do they want to achieve? To do this, learn about the quantifiable gains a customer requires from the product/service or brand your prospects. After getting the relevant information, convince your lead of the economic benefits of your product or service. This is the way some buyers will justify their position as budget buyers or economic buyers. The current state of the product/brand/service against the desired state is an important element to look for in this process.
Economy buyer
Question to ask yourself: Am I talking to the decision-maker?
Ask for the person who has the authority to make important financial decisions for the company that you want to represent your product. Have conversations with the economic buyer and learn about their preferences and decision-making process. Then convince them to buy your product, taking note of their veto power. If you are backed by an economic buyer, no one will refute your worth.
Economic buyers create the budget, so don’t confuse them with the budget buyers.
Decision criteria
Question to ask yourself: What’s driving their decision? And what changes should I make? Understand the decision-making mentality of the company. Your messaging and product coding should be interesting enough to warrant the company’s attention. Convince them that you fit any criteria and help them in making a choice.
To make decisions, most companies use factors like budget constraints, integration, simplicity of use, and potential ROI. If the companies don’t have a defined decision-making process, urge them to put their existing decision-making progress on paper. Then you can prove to them that your product/service can meet all the criteria.
Decision process
Question to ask yourself: Who is involved, and how do they come to a final decision? Decision criteria tells you what companies look for, and the decision process is the methods through which they make the decision. If you know the process, you won’t lose time, and your product won’t suffer. Always know the process!
Paper process
Question to keep in mind: What is the process of getting everything completed and signed? The best way to avoid any delays from the prospects is to get ahead of the legal departments and administrative tasks. The larger an organization, the more complex the paperwork.
The implication of pain
Question to ask yourself: What is the risk is in terms of lost revenue? How soon before this problem becomes unbearable? A customer needs something because of a particular pain. So, learn to identify this pain and the ways your product will be beneficial to your prospect’s customers.
The pain can manifest in multiple ways, which include high costs, low revenue, and slow production. The best way to counter this is to identify the pain and the ways in which your product/service could relieve the pain. By identifying which serious pains could negatively impact your prospect’s revenue, you can outline plans to avoid such pitfalls.
Champion
Question to ask yourself: Who in the company will feel the most pain? Who will be most invested in your solution to fix it?
The champion is the end-user of the product, and this person gives valuable information and support to the company and the users. The champion should be the one with the most pain and who will get the maximum benefit from your product/service. Since they are in dire need of a solution, they will back you up. Therefore, choose a champion who’s well respected and whose decisions have value.
Finding out who is your champion is about understanding your customer deeply, their pain points, and how your product will unburden this. We’ve deep-dived into this topic with a customer success expert below and also in this article here.
Want to record your own insight sessions? Use our online meeting software to capture important takeaways!
Competition
Question to ask yourself: Which of your competitors is the prospect considering, and how good is their product?
Know your competitive advantages and how the competition is solving their customer’s pains and meeting their success metrics. Know your strengths and weaknesses in relation to those of your competitors. Try being unbiased and honest when you explain the pros and cons of your competitors. Focus on your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses.
MEDDIC and MEDDPICC training and resources
To get information about MEDDPICC and MEDDIC training, check out MEDDPICC.net and MEDDICC.com. Also, check out this book that has detailed explanations on MEDDICC and MEDDPICC. Several online training centers and practices are available. There are also many videos online, even from the Godfathers of MEDDICC themselves, such as this YouTube video, from one of the creators of MEDDIC, John McMahon.
ChatGPT Prompts For MEDDIC, MEDDPICC & More
Utilizing AI and in particular ChatGPT can help any sales team see their gaps, even if they are using a framework like those above. Here are some prompts that you can quiz ChatGPT with to help identify areas for improvement, and sales acceleration.
- How can we use MEDDIC/MEDDPICC to prioritize our sales efforts and close more deals?
- What are the key components of the MEDDIC/MEDDPICC framework and how can we apply them to our sales process?
- What are some common challenges we may face when implementing MEDDIC/MEDDPICC and how can we overcome them?
- How can the MEDDIC/MEDDPICC framework help us to identify and engage with the right stakeholders in our sales process?
- How can we use qualification in the MEDDIC/MEDDPICC framework to improve our sales effectiveness?
- How can the MEDDIC/MEDDPICC framework help us to understand and address the needs and pain points of our prospects?
- How can we use MEDDIC/MEDDPICC to identify and mitigate risks throughout our sales process?
- What are some best practices for implementing MEDDIC/MEDDPICC in our sales organization?
- How can the MEDDIC/MEDDPICC framework help us to align our sales strategies with the needs of our customers?
- What are some examples of successful implementation of MEDDIC/MEDDPICC in sales organizations, and how can we apply these learnings to our own process?
Another way of using AI to help with the MEDDIC framework is by utilizing smart technology such as tl;dv. Essentially an AI meeting assistant, it can record sales video calls, transcribe in multiple languags, timestamp, and even collect smart insights for extra leverage when closing deals.
Final thoughts on MEDDIC, MEDDICC & MEDDPICC
Knowing what MEDDPICC stands for is simply, and the concept around the methodology, is simply the first step of mastering the framework and process. No matter which you prefer, MEDDIC or MEDDPICC – if done right, both are incredibly advantageous to learn. With its different prospects and processes, both MEDDIC and MEDDPICC can show you the way to success. So don’t waste time; check online or locally to get MEDDIC and MEDDPICC training and make use of it to increase your closed deals ratio. With this kind of robust sales framework, it is not a surprise that the PTC sales team recorded a 90% growth with MEDDIC.
We hope you enjoyed this read on MEDDPICC. If you’re looking for other ways to increase your efficiency and productivity at work then check out our article: Deep Work by Cal Newport. In that guide, we summarize how to use the best-selling author’s advice for effective deep working sessions – improving focus and productivity as a result.
