The MEDDPICC Sales Methodology – How It Works
In this article, we’ll explore something called the MEDDPICC sales methodology (MEDDPICC sales process); including how it works, and how it can benefit your sales conversations to close more sales.
The MEDDPICC sales methodology has been popular since the 1990’s; and still works well if you use it in your consultative sales process today.
Keep reading to learn how you can also utilise it within your own business or sales function.
The MEDDPICC Sales Methodology – How It Works
What Is The MEDDPICC Sales Methodology?
Put simply, the MEDDPICC sales methodology (MEDDPICC sales process) is a sales qualification framework and acronym to use to ensure that you’re speaking with qualified buyers – or potential clients.
By using the framework; you can quickly ascertain whether or not you’re entering into a conversation with someone who can actually make a buying decision – and whether they’ll be the right fit for your business.
Why Is The MEDDPICC Sales Methodology Important?
The reason why the MEDDPICC sales methodology is so important, is because it potentially saves you both a lot of time, money, and also resources.
A lot of Sales Professionals and Business Owners meet with potential clients who aren’t qualified to make a buying decision.
This could be because they’re not a decision maker, they don’t have the authority, don’t have the budget, or perhaps even a need for the solution you’re selling.
Below is a breakdown of the MEDDPICC sales methodology in more detail.
Related article: Qualifying Sales Leads – A Step By Step Guide
The MEDDPICC Sales Methodology Break Down
Below is a breakdown of the MEDDPICC sales methodology (MEDDPICC sales process), and how you can use it within your own business.
Put simply; the MEDDPICC sales methodology acronym stands for:
- Metrics
- Economic Buyer
- Decision Criteria
- Decision Process
- Paper Process
- Identifying Pain
- Champion
- Competition
M – Metrics
The first step in the MEDDPICC sales methodology is to identify what metrics your potential client is looking for in their solution.
Many people – including your potential clients, may be looking for a vague outcome to determine whether or not they’re successful.
Your role as a Sales Professional or Business Owner, is to identify exactly what it is they’re wanting to achieve.
By doing so – you can get exact clarity on what it is that they want, and of course – whether or not you can help them achieve those goals and outcomes.
E – Economic Buyer
The next step on the MEDDPICC sales methodology is learning who is the economic buyer.
This means working out who has the actual authority to make a buying decision.
Something we teach in our own sales process called The 5% Sales Blueprint, is that you should always do your best to speak with the person with buying authority as soon as possible.
The reason this is so important, is because it saves you time when conversing with potential clients, and secondly – it prevents the “I need to speak to” sales objection from coming up later.
D – Decision Criteria
The next step in the MEDDPICC sales methodology is the decision criteria.
This means, to learn how they make decisions before making a buying decision.
Not only does this save you time and resources, but it also informs you exactly how to present in a way later that aligns with how they buy.
When presenting your offer or solution, it’s critical to always ensure you present in a way that aligns with how they buy.
Related article: Sales Pitches – How To Do It Right
D – Decision Process
The next step in the MEDDPICC sales methodology is understanding the actual process about how they go about making a decision.
This is slightly different from the decision criteria.
Where the criteria create their benchmark against how they make a decision – the decision process is the steps they take to identify how a business or solution actually meets the criteria.
Both the decision criteria, as well as decision making process are fundamental to learn during your qualifying process.
By learning both; you can ask the right sales probing questions throughout the conversation to get intelligence on how you’ll meet the needs for both.
Related article: 20 x Gap Selling Discovery Questions
P – Paper Process
The next step of the MEDDPICC sales methodology is learning their ‘paper process’.
Although they may not physically or literally use paper – it’s a metaphor to understand and learn the process behind authorising a deal to get done, as well as the various layers within a business to approve the sale.
Question to ask include if they need inside vs outside approval, the authority level of people who need to sign off the deal, and the people in the business responsible for reviewing the documents.
I – Identifying Pain
One of the most important parts of your overall sales conversations, as well as the MEDDPICC sales methodology; is learning your potential clients pain points.
Learning pain points is very important, because it’s the emotional basis behind why a person makes a buying decision in the first place.
An issue a lot of Sales Professionals and Business Owners make, is that when learning about their potential client’s pain points – they keep the conversation very surface level.
When we keep the conversation surface level, we keep the conversation very logical.
And the issue with this, is people buy deeper down – they buy emotionally.
We’ve written an entire article about the importance of learning about pain, and how you can go about finding pain the right way.
Read the article below to learn how.
Further reading: Pain Points & Sales – Your Ultimate Guide
C – Champion
The second last step of the MEDDPICC sales methodology is learning who will be the champion for you when making a buying decision.
Put simply – the champion is a person within their company who will benefit from the outcome or solution that you sell and can sell to their colleagues and decision makers on your behalf.
This is mostly a B2B sales situation, where the sales can be a lot more complex because there’s generally a lot more people involved.
Finding a champion within their company can be highly beneficial because not only can they advocate for you, but they can also keep you in the loop with how things are progressing, as well as give you intelligence on what to do next.
C – Competition
Another important and usually overlooked action, is who is your competition for this sale?
By learning who the competition is, you can understand their potential positioning angles, and craft your presentation in a way that’ll focus on your own unique selling points.
The MEDDPICC Sales Methodology – Final Thoughts
The MEDDPICC sales methodology (MEDDPICC sales process) is a great qualifying criterion to learn whether or not a potential client is qualified to make a buying decision, as well as whether or not you should spend any more valuable time or resourcing in a sales conversation.
Although a lot more robust then most – our sales process dives a lot deeper from a questioning point of view.
To learn more about our own sales process, keep reading on to learn more, as well as how it can help you close more sales with consistency.
Want To Close Consistently Without The Guesswork?
If you’re committed to increase your closing rate more consistently, then you should look into our online sales training program, The 5% Sales Blueprint.
Our online program is self-paced and is an affordable investment that’ll teach you exactly what to do to close more sales.
No more guess work – learn the exact process to win sales without being pushy.
Click the link below to learn how.
