You didn’t meet your sales quota last quarter. You can’t help but wonder what’s broken? Your sales process? How do you fix it? What measures can you take to close more deals?
Despite what you think, the issue may not be your sales pitch or salesmanship. It could be the people you’re selling to—the quality of your leads.
Luckily, you also have a highly effective solution to change your numbers stat: MEDDIC.
Applying the MEDDIC sales process will help you understand and quantify your prospects better. It ensures you’re focused on the right people in the right way, leading to more closed deals and higher revenue.
But there’s a catch…
MEDDIC can be confusing, especially for beginners. This article will show you a step-by-step breakdown of the MEDDIC sales methodology to set you up for success and transform your selling game.
What Is the MEDDIC Sales Process?
MEDDIC is a B2B sales methodology designed to help sales professionals qualify better leads, which ultimately contribute to a higher closing rate and increased sales success. Using its principles, you can determine whether you should invest your time and effort in getting a customer into your sales funnel.
MEDDIC is essentially an acronym that stands for: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, and Champion.
A Step-by-Step Guide To the MEDDIC Framework
As per the acronym, MEDDIC has six qualification steps. First, let’s review how to check off every letter in the MEDDIC sales methodology and achieve more deals.
And remember that the meddic sales qualification framework is designed to disqualify prospects as well as qualify them. For most sales people, closing deals means getting rid of unqualified buyers from your sales pipeline as much as it means qualifying decision makers to stay in it.
Never be afraiod to kick prospects out of your sales cycle so you can spend more time with potential prospects will will spent money with you.
1) Metrics
Metrics refer to the quantifiable measures of your solution’s value to your prospects.
Find out what quantifiable goals your prospect hopes to achieve by implementing your solution. For example, the prospect may want to double their output or reduce 15% of their total overheads.
See? Quantifiable goals.
Once you know the metrics your customer cares about, you can prove how your solution will provide a good return on investment (ROI). Again, the idea here is to justify your solution from an economic standpoint.
Knowing the metrics will help you justify the economic benefits of your solution from your prospect’s perspective, encouraging them to go further in the sales funnel.
Questions to Consider:
- What goals does the prospect want to achieve?
- How do they measure their success?
- How can you help them save time, boost productivity, and accelerate revenue?
2) Economic Buyer
The MEDDIC methodology prioritizes making effective conversations with decision-makers, the one who has the ultimate power to make decisions and authorize spending. It’s possible this person may not be the point of contact you established within the company, but they’re still important as you can use their help to get in touch with the economic buyer.
Finding your economic buyers is key for sale reps hoping to leverage the meddic process.
Talk to the economic buyer about their expectations, personal metrics, and decision-making process. If you cannot reach out to this person directly, try to collect as much data as possible to know the economic buyer’s mindset.
Knowing this information will help you make the sale more palatable to the buyer—even if they aren’t directly affected by it.
Questions to Consider:
- Are you talking to the decision-maker? Is there anyone else involved in the final decision?
- What does success look like for them?
- How can you customize your sales pitch based on their viewpoint to take the sale forward?
3) Decision Criteria
To take a deal towards a conclusion, you must understand your prospect’s criteria when making decisions.
It’s likely your prospect is vetting different vendors and weighing their options based on a few critical factors—their decision criteria. Finally, they have to make a choice, and they’ll choose a solution that offers them the best deal.
While different companies use different criteria, a few common factors include ease of use, budget constraints, integration, and potential ROI. If a company doesn’t have a formally defined decision-making process, you can ask them to put it to paper.
You want to prove your solution meets all their criteria and position your products in a way that checks all their boxes. Then, show them there’s no reason why they shouldn’t agree to a sale.
Questions to Consider:
- What are the driving factors behind your prospect’s buying decisions?
- If your prospect had a wishlist for your solution, what essential factors and parameters would be on it?
- How can you tailor your sales pitch to highlight these criteria and justify the purchase?
4) Decision Process
Decision criteria define the different factors your prospect weighs when making a decision, whereas the decision process will tell you how the decision is actually made and followed through.
Your prospect’s decision-making refers to the internal steps to finalize a decision. Once you understand the process, you’ll know who makes the decision, what timeframes and processes they have in place to decide, and brainstorm solutions to avoid roadblocks.
All this information will help you take the necessary measures to close the deal faster. For instance, if you know the economic buyer has okayed the sales decision but hasn’t completed the follow-up process paperwork, you can push to get that paperwork completed and close the deal.
Questions to Consider:
- How do they come to a final buying decision?
- Who do you need to talk to when finalizing decisions?
- Is there a formal procedure or paper process involved before approval?
5) Identify Pain
You have to understand what problem your prospect is trying to solve to explain the value of your solution. Otherwise, it’s impossible.
Try to identify your prospect’s pain points. This can be anything from high production costs to low revenue to slow production. After that, create a sales pitch explaining how your product or service can help alleviate that pain.
Be as specific as possible about the customer’s pain. You don’t want to be vague or too abstract—it won’t help you make an impression. For example, which statement do you prefer: “you’re losing revenue because of slow production processes” or “you’re losing $300,000 every quarter because your production process is only half as fast as it should be.”
Exactly.
Questions to Consider:
- What pain points does the prospect have?
- How does the pain point affect the prospect’s bottom line?
- What are the consequences of leaving the pain point unattended?
6) Champion
Find a champion in your prospect’s company. This is the person on the inside who’ll push for you and sway the purchasing decision in your favor.
This person is likely also the most affected by the organization’s pain or who stands to benefit the most from your product or service. As they want your solution, they will use their influence to sell your product or service on the inside.
Your champion doesn’t have to be a manager or supervisor, but they should be well-respected—someone whom other people in the company trust. Trust us, having someone with influence and respect in your corner will help you close the deal considerably faster.
Questions to Consider:
- Who has the most to gain by your offering?
- Does this person have influence?
- Can they explain your product benefits in a way that closes the deal faster?
Use MEDDIC To Take Your Sales Career Forward
Scoring a sale isn’t a cookie-cutter practice. Things can go wrong when you least expect it. But using MEDDIC will put you in a better position, helping you hit your sales quote and achieve your sales objectives.
Want to level up your MEDDIC selling game? Add a P and an extra I to your process. Check out our article to learn more about the more advanced version of the MEDDIC sales process, MEDDPICC.
