How, when, and why to roll out a sales qualification methodology
Tips for leveraging a sales methodology for team alignment
DEAR STAGE 2: My board is pushing me to implement a sales methodology and recommended MEDDPICC. We’re an early business with 3 AEs and 1 BDR all reporting directly to me, the CEO. We’re hitting the plan we laid out for the year and I am hesitant to change something when sales seems to be working right now. What are the benefits of MEDDPICC? When should we consider changing our sales process? ~CEO Leading Sales
DEAR CEO LEADING SALES: We are huge fans of rolling out a consistent sales qualification methodology across your sales organization, and even bigger fans of doing that early.
There are innumerable benefits of having a common language and framework that the entire company can use to communicate and align on the realities of the pipeline and forecast (more on this later). At the same time, there are many different sales methodologies to choose from — MEDDIC, SPIN, Challenger, Spiced, Value Selling, Solution Selling, etc. The key is to pick one, train the team and be incredibly consistent in how you use it. Given your question and an existing lean towards MEDDPICC, we’ll unpack that framework here.
To help breakdown why, when and how to implement a sales methodology, I called on Stage 2 LP, Chris Reisig. Chris spent 6+ years at PTC and lived and breathed the MEDDIC model. He went on to lead sales teams at companies like Endeca, Veracode, VMTurbo and Dyn where he brought this framework with him.
MEDDIC was originally developed at PTC in the 1990s and variations have evolved over the years — MEDDICC, MEDDPICC, etc…MEDDPICC extends MEDDIC by incorporating paper/contracting process and competition into the methodology:
Why implement a consistent sales qualification methodology at all?
Chris highlights how critical it is to have a common language as a company scales, sharing, “When you have one sales rep and the CEO you are talking about every deal and it is easy to get aligned. When you have a founder, sales leader and 3-5 reps in different time zones, this communication becomes much more difficult and without a common framework, subjectivity and lack of clarity creep in. Now imagine you have 15 reps and 3 sales managers across 6 time zones — the problem explodes. MEDDPICC is a common language that the sales and exec leaders can use to ensure that a deal in the UK with Rep A that is in commit for the quarter, has the same attributes as a deal also in commit with rep B in SFO.”
Other benefits of a consistent sales methodology include:
Streamlined sales process
Forecast accuracy when aligned well with sales process gates/stages
Improved sales team collaboration
Efficient resource allocation
Increased customer satisfaction and trust
Increased Close/Win Rate
Higher ASP
Effctive framework to coach and develop young sales talent
Creates a pathway to scale the sales team
When is MEDDPICC the right fit?
MEDDPICC is not the right methodology for all businesses, but is particularly useful for companies with:
A sales-led go-to-market motion
Mid-Market/Enterprise customers. Larger ACVs + multiple stakeholders + longer/more complex sales cycles
Intense competition or in markets where differentiation is crucial, as it helps sales teams develop a strong competitive advantage and win deals against competitors
A growing/scaling sales team with a methodical leader and high degree of accountability and pipeline inspection
Implementing MEDDPICC
If MEDDPICC is the right methodology for you, Chris advises, “MEDDPICC should be implemented early, as the longer you go without utilizing a common qualification process, the more time bad habits have to metastasize.” But where to start?
Educate your sales team on MEDDPICC methodology: Conduct training sessions to ensure all team members understand the methodology, its components, and their roles in implementing it effectively. Chris recommends a training session with sales leaders and all C-level execs before training the sales team. Any technical resources (pre-sales, solution architects, etc…) should also be trained and should use MEDDPICC to help to qualify resource investment as a part of the sales process.
Integrate MEDDPICC into your sales process + CRM stages: Leverage MEDDPICC as gating factors to opp progression in your CRM, integrating the various components into each stage to ensure a consistent approach.
Establish clear expectations and relevant metrics for measuring success in order to create accountability: Determine the key metrics that align with your sales process and provide insights into the progress of deals, such as the conversion rate at each stage, average deal size, or sales cycle length. Hold team members accountable for adhering to the methodology and achieving their targets.
Reinforce constantly: We can’t stress this enough! Chris highlights, “The most important element of effective utilization of MEDDPICC is the management reinforcement post training. It is important to adequately train your team, but that will be useless if they are not made to use it in their regular deal inspection cadence by leadership. Once training is delivered, the normal sales cadence and forecast reviews should always be centered around MEDDPICC thereafter.”
If you need help rolling out MEDDPICC, Chris recommends working with Sales Meddic Group, a consulting shop that specializes in implementing and training.
If we can leave you with one piece of advice — get started now! Your pipeline will thank you 🙂
Until next week!