Sales MEDDIC: How to get started

MEDDIC is a B2B sales methodology that helps businesses decide whether the partnership is beneficial for both parties. It can serve as a sales template and navigate through various decision factors that determine a deal's success.

Want to guide the customer's buying decisions toward sales success? MEDDIC can help you get there. Learn more about MEDDIC and see how it can make your sales efforts even better.

What is the MEDDIC sales process?

MEDDIC is a B2B sales qualification methodology that a salesperson may use when thinking about how to talk to their customers during a sale.

You can implement this method at the start of your deal qualification stage. This is better done early to ensure its applicability and to keep sellers attentive during the sale process.

It helps decide if it is worth the effort to enter a customer into your sales funnel. The method was developed by John McMahon, Richard Dunkel, and Jack Napoli as a way to train their new sales hires at PTC in the 1990s.

What does MEDDIC stand for?

MEDDIC is an acronym for the six steps in the sales qualification process. Below we’ll explore that these steps are and the relevant questions they answer.

M – metrics

What it refers to:

Quantification of potential gains and economic benefits. Your customers may have different objectives, and they need to be quantifiable.

For example, say a company wants to reduce the average response time to customer inquiries from 24 hours to two hours, improve its customer satisfaction ratings from 3.5 to 4.5 out of 5, and improve the ROI of their sales campaigns by up to 50%.

It’s easier to help when you know the metrics you want to improve and understand your prospect’s sales objectives. Then you can be more specific in showing how your services may assist them in achieving these goals.

Helpful questions:

• Why do people buy your product?
• What numbers or goals is the customer trying to achieve?
• How does what you’re selling help them do that?

E – economic buyer

What it refers to:

Communication with the person in charge of the funds. You must know who in the company has the power to say yes or no to buying your product or service.

Why? Because you do the talking, and the talking has to be good enough. Get to know what your economic buyer’s desires and concerns are, and propose your offerings to resolve the issues.

Helpful questions:

• Who is the person with the money and power to say yes or no to buying what you’re selling?

D – decision criteria

What it refers to:

Buying criteria used by the client to choose between options and make a purchasing decision. It’s the sales reps role to find out what those criteria are.

Maybe it's how easy the product is to use or how well it fits with what they already have? Once you get familiar with the decision criteria, you can start getting prospects moving through your sales pipeline.

Helpful questions:

• What things are important to the customer when they’re deciding what to buy?
• What features of a product design or service aspects weigh most heavily in your purchase decision-making process?

D – decision process

What it refers to:

An organization's buying process. Here, consider the steps a customer takes from thinking about buying a product to actually doing so.

For instance, how the approval process looks, what paperwork needs to be filled out, or how long the whole process might take. In that case, you'll know exactly when and what to ask about to keep a complex sales process on track.

Helpful questions:

• What steps does the customer go through before they decide to buy something?

I – identify pain

What it refers to:

A company's pain points that can be relieved with your product or service. Once you learn about them, it’s time to propose your product and showcase how it solves the problem.

This is a big part of your sales strategy that can support your sales pitch. On top of that, it shows sales leaders how to connect with customers and keeps the sales cycle going.

Spending too much time on a task, not getting enough customers, budget constraints, and dealing with errors and mistakes are examples of customer pains.

Helpful questions:

• What problems does the customer have, and how does what you’re selling solve those problems?

C – champion

What it refers to:

People within your clients’ companies who are powerful and influential and support your solutions. A champion will sell on your behalf when you're not there.

They can tell you how to best show off your product, solution, or service and what the best customer interaction tactics are. It is a key part of the sales qualification framework.

With a champion on your side, you have someone who makes your job easier, getting your project the attention it deserves.

Helpful questions:

• Do you have a go-to person for evaluating and recommending new tools or services for your business?

Example of MEDDIC usage

Metrics

A software company first tries to understand what a potential client, like a programmatic marketing agency, wants to achieve with clear and measurable goals. They find out the agency wants to speed up how fast they finish projects by 20% and make it easier for their team to work together.

Economic buyer

They figure out that the boss of the marketing agency, the CEO, is the one who will decide whether they will buy the software or not.

Decision criteria

The software company learns that the key factors for the agency are how simple the software is to use, if it integrates well with other tools, and the costs. They also find out about some technical criteria that are important to the agency.

Decision process

They are told that the agency will first try out the software to see if they like it, then the team will talk about it, and finally, the CEO will make the final call.

Identify pain

The company finds out the agency’s pain points. They realize that their current tool is hard to use and missing some collaboration features, which is slowing down their production.

Champion

A project manager at the agency, who is really feeling the pain and wants a better tool, starts to really back up the software company’s product. They think this new tool will really help in speeding up projects and improving how the team works together.

The company can sell more effectively, even in competitive markets. They show the marketing agency exactly how the tool gets them to achieve their quantifiable goals. Their sales efforts are more efficient, and their chances of closing deals are higher.

What are the differences between MEDDIC vs. MEDDPIC vs. MEDDPICC?

There are also very similar frameworks to MEDDIC, but with some additional steps.

MEDDICC:

• Metrics – what numbers or goals are the customer trying to achieve?
• Economic buyer – who has the money and power to say yes or no to buying?
• Decision criteria – what things are important to the customer when they’re deciding what to buy?
• Decision process – what steps does the customer go through before deciding to buy?
• Implicate the pain – what problems does the customer have and how does what you’re selling solve them?
• Champion – who in the customer’s network likes what you’re selling and will talk it up to others?
• Competition – who else is selling something similar and how is your product better?

MEDDPIC:

• Metrics – what are the customer’s goals and important numbers?
• Economic buyer – who decides if they will buy and has control over the money?
• Decision criteria – what factors does the customer consider important in making their choice?
• Decision process – what are the steps the customer takes to make a decision?
• Paper process – what paperwork or administrative steps are needed to finish the sale?
• Implicate the pain – what challenges is the customer facing and how can your product help?
• Champion – who at the customer’s company really supports your product?

MEDDPICC is like MEDDPIC but with one more thing to think about:

• Metrics
• Economic buyer
• Decision criteria
• Decision process
• Paper process
• Implicate the pain
• Champion
• Competition – who are you competing against in trying to sell your product, and why is your product the better choice?

To sum up: MEDDIC focuses on competition, MEDDPIC focuses on the paperwork, and MEDDPICC includes both competition and paperwork.

How to implement the MEDDIC sales process?

Knowing how to implement MEDDIC is just as important as understanding the methodology. So we’ve got you covered – check out our tips on how to start.

Get everyone on board

Everyone in your team, especially the sales managers and sales reps, needs to understand and use MEDDIC. It should be the common language in your company. The sales team uses it to find champions and economic buyers, and for the marketing team, it’s used to talk about their plans and label contacts.

Read 30+ digital marketing tools for small businesses in 2024.

Train and support your sales team

Give your front-line sales team all the training and help they need. They should know the best ways to use MEDDIC and what to do afterwards. Make sure everybody knows the common goal of this method and is on the same page.

Look at what works and what doesn't

The key aspect of every method – check, ask others for feedback, and talk with the sales team about the successes and failures. Also, be ready to answer tough questions from customers. Review your sales data every week to see how things are going.

Consider the economic impact of your product on the customer's business

Use this information to strengthen your sales pitch. Think about how your product will change the customer's business in terms of money. Your sales organization should always have this in mind.

When you talk to customers, show them clearly how your product is a smart financial decision. Explain how it can save them money or help them make more money in a specific time frame.

Best practices for the MEDDIC sales process

If you are about to implement the MEDDIC sales approach, then you need to be aware of best practices.

1. Know your metrics

Focus on measurable and quantifiable results that correspond with the potential buyers’ goals. Don’t dwell on vague objectives – metrics are better here.

Differentiate between below-the-line metrics (cost savings, efficiency) and above-the-line metrics (revenue, profits, customer satisfaction).

2. Talk to the right person

Find the person in the company who makes the buying decisions. Prepare well for your meeting with them and show them how your product or service will benefit their business.

3. Create an ideal customer profile and update it

Think of buyer personas like character profiles in a video game. Each profile has different traits, likes, dislikes, and needs. In sales, profiles let you understand who your ideal customers are.

Building your own ideal customer profile helps you identify potential customers and speak their language. If your buyer persona is a busy manager, you’ll want to get straight to the point in your sales pitch. If it’s an IT expert, you’ll be able to use more tech jargon.

People change, and so do companies. Maybe your ideal customer used to be all about saving money, but now they’re more interested in quality. Regularly updating your buyer personas means you won’t miss out if their priorities shift.

4. Learn the customer’s decision-making criteria

Learning what determines customer decisions is like having a cheat sheet that tells you exactly what to focus on to get prospects further down the sales funnel. Ask the right questions and dive into what really matters to them.

Is it the price? The quality? How easy is it to use? Or maybe it's the customer service that comes with it? Get them talking about their ideal scenario and take notes. Sometimes, it's not just about the product itself, but rather how it fits into consumers’ overall plans or workflow.

Get the gist of customers’ priorities because then you show them that your product is exactly what they need.

5. Give you team useful tools

A must-have tool for all sales teams is a CRM system.

Why?

• MEDDIC says you must know what numbers or results the customer cares about. A CRM lets you keep all that info in one place.
• Find out who in the company can say yes or no to a deal. A CRM helps you keep track of these big decision-makers.
• MEDDIC involves understanding the customer's problems. A CRM is a great place to jot down these issues.
• After you win or lose a deal, a CRM provides insight to see what went right and wrong. You will see clearly what to do better next time.

A CRM tool like Capsule is a great option due to its easy integration and simple interface.

6. Keep learning and improving

Explore all aspects of MEDDIC. What does it mean to truly understand the metrics of a deal? How can you effectively identify and communicate with the economic buyer? Understand each component, and you’ll see the effects.

But to get them, you need to practice. The more you use MEDDIC, the more it becomes second nature. Also, stay curious – always be on the lookout for new ways to develop your MEDDIC skills.

Keep an open mind and be willing to try new approaches. Organize sales training on MEDDIC for your sales professionals if you see it’s necessary.

7. Hire the right people

You want to bring in employees who really get how the MEDDIC sales framework works so they can use it in every step of the sales process. Then you must hire carefully.

That means finding sales reps who know how to talk to economic buyers, find out what they are looking for, and show them why your product is the best choice.

It’s very likely that these people will build up a great team that uses your sales resources smartly. They don't waste time on trying to close deals that won't close. They target customers who are ready to make business decisions and are likely to buy.

The right people with the effective selling skills means more closed deals, a smooth sales process, and better results for your company and your clients.

Ready to level up your sales with the sales MEDDIC process?

MEDDIC is a sales methodology that makes the decision-making process a bit easier for both sides. It’s a sales acronym that stands for metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, identify pain, and champion.

By understanding the MEDDIC sales strategy you can get to work and easily find more qualified leads.

A good CRM solution is a must-have to organize your customer base. To find out how it can help you try Capsule for free and discover how it can boost your business.