You will be able to use the MEDDIC checklist to see what you still do not know in a complex sale.
Hafiz has had three good meetings with Rachel, the operations manager at the logistics firm in Tuas. She likes the product, the gap is clear, and the night shift gives her a deadline. Then she emails: "I've shown it to our director and he has some questions. Also finance wants to compare two other vendors." Hafiz has never met the director. He did not know finance was involved. And he has no idea what "some questions" means.
BANT from lesson 5.1 would have caught part of this. In a sale with several people, several meetings and a larger price, it is often not enough. MEDDIC is a longer checklist built for exactly that kind of deal. This lesson covers its six parts and how to use them to see what you still do not know.
MEDDIC stands for metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, identify pain, and champion. Like BANT, it is a list of things to know by the end of discovery, rather than a script for the meeting.
Metrics are the measurable results the buyer expects. They come straight from the impact work in module 4. For Rachel, the metrics are payroll closed in one day, no more than one or two corrections a month, and the S$13,800 a year she estimated in the example worksheet from lesson 4.4, Build an impact worksheet.
Identify pain is the root problem and why it matters, which you found in lesson 4.1, Find the problem underneath the first problem. For Rachel's firm, it is losing experienced drivers who have stopped trusting their pay, with a night shift about to make overtime more complicated.
The other four parts are about people and process, and they are where most sellers have gaps.
The economic buyer is the person who can approve the spend. In a small firm that may be the owner. In a larger one it may be a director, a finance head, or a committee.
The economic buyer may never attend your meetings. They often delegate the search to someone like Rachel and step in only at the end, to approve or refuse. That is why deals go quiet at the last stage: the person who decides has not heard the problem described, has not seen the numbers, and has a dozen other things competing for the same money.
You do not always need to meet the economic buyer, though it helps. You do need to know who they are, what they care about, and whether your contact has talked to them about this. Hafiz's questions for Rachel: "When something like this gets approved, who signs it off?" "What does he usually want to see?" "Has he heard about the overtime problem from you yet?"
These two sound alike and are easy to mix up.
Decision criteria are how the buyer will judge the options. Price, of course, but also things like whether it handles shift overtime rules, whether drivers can use it on their phones, how long setup takes, and what support is available. Criteria can be formal, written in a tender, or informal, in the director's head. Ask for both. "When you compare options, what will matter most?" "Is there anything that would rule an option out straight away?"
Decision process is the steps and people involved between now and a signed agreement. Who shortlists, who tests, who negotiates, who approves, and in what order. "What happens between now and a decision?" "Who else needs to see this before it's approved?" "Has the company bought something like this before, and how did that go?"
Hafiz's email from Rachel showed he had both wrong. He had assumed one decision maker and one criterion, the overtime problem. In fact there was a director with his own questions, and a finance team comparing vendors on criteria Hafiz had never heard.
A champion is someone inside the buyer's organisation who wants the change and will sell it when you are not in the room. A champion is not just a friendly contact. Plenty of people are friendly and do nothing for you once the meeting ends.
The test is action. Does this person explain your proposal to the economic buyer? Do they tell you what is going on inside? Do they warn you about objections before they arrive? Rachel might be a champion. She clearly wants the change. Whether she will argue for it with the director and with finance is something Hafiz has to find out, and the way to find out is to ask: "When you take this to the director, what do you think he'll push back on? How can I help you make the case?"
MEDDIC is most useful as a sheet with six rows. For each, write what you know and how you know it. Leave a row blank if you do not know, and be honest about the rows you have filled with a guess.
When Hafiz fills one in after Rachel's email, metrics and pain are solid. Champion is likely but unproven. Economic buyer is a name with nothing beside it. Decision criteria has one item, and decision process has a single line that now looks wrong. The sheet makes his next move obvious: a call with Rachel to understand the director's questions and the finance comparison, ideally followed by a short meeting with the director himself.
You do not need MEDDIC for every sale. For a quick decision by one person, BANT is plenty. Use MEDDIC when there are several people, several meetings, or a price that needs approval from someone you have not met.
Pick the biggest or slowest opportunity you are working on now, and have your notes from every meeting on it in front of you before you start the activity below.
Fill in a MEDDIC sheet for one current opportunity and write the question you will ask next to close the biggest gap.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).