MEDDIC Questioning and Inspection Framework
Overview
The tutorial material is a guide for asking questions to get answers to MEDDIC as sellers proceed through the sales process stages. The information is segmented into prospect facing questions per MEDDIC element, following a general to specific flow and corresponding to the item checklists in each MEDDIC qualifier. There is also corresponding inspection questions sales leaders can ask sellers to confirm the status of each MEDDIC element to gain agreement with the seller that the item checklist status is accurate. Sellers are encouraged to review the inspection questions themselves to prepare for a MEDDIC based opportunity review. The goal is to use the common language of MEDDIC to know where the opportunity is really at, what is the next best activity, and what forecast category the opportunity should be placed in.
The grey, yellow and green status indicators are also defined here. The status indicators are a result of the seller selected checklist items in each of the MEDDIC qualifiers. The default is 3 checklist items per MEDDIC element.
Our coaching is designed to be simple, lightweight & mobile to assist you in advancing your partnership with the prospect. In today’s hyper competitive complex buying / selling environments, how we sell can differentiate you as much as what you are selling. Gaining the coveted trusted adviser status is done by focusing on the customer and earning the right to advance the sale.
General descriptions of the grey – yellow – green status indicators.
GREY:
You are just getting started.
Guiding light principle: your approach is subtle and designed to build rapport. These are low cost, high activity, and sales initiated. A initial discovery call is an example of rapport building sales initiated activity.
YELLOW:
They seem to be listening & buying in, and they are taking action.
Guiding light principle: Tangible – Evidence is emerging, you are building confidence.
Sales led; however requires more collaboration with the client, other sales team members are engaged as well. A documentation of the decision criteria by the prospect (stakeholders) with their weighting and capabilities connected to business outcomes is an example of this type of activity.
GREEN
They buy in and they are acting on our guidance.
Guiding light principle: Overt – Demonstrates ownership by the prospect.
Customer-centric, collaborative & coordinated actions to publicize the potential impact on business outcomes. Example: The Champion owns the ROI created from the business outcomes uncovered in metrics and will defend it in a meeting with the economic buyer.
To assist you in thinking about questioning, here is a guide on the anatomy of good discovery questions.
Good discovery questions have 3 main components:
Open Ended
– Allow the customer to expand and give details
– Has no right or wrong answer
– Help the sales person analyze the customer situation better
2‐Sided
– You learn by asking
– The customer learns by answering
T-E-D
– “Tell me about…”
– “Explain for me…”
– “Describe for me…”