Using MEDDICC to Drive Revenue Predictability

A great qualification approach matters in today’s changing environment. Every buyer is dealing with something they haven’t dealt with before. Because of this, their buying processes are changing. It's likely that new budget cuts, executive-level sign off requirements and solution requirements have caused customer buying processes to evolve.

Elite companies are moving quickly to adapt their qualification methods and ensure their sales teams can effectively qualify the right opportunities and move them forward efficiently. These sales organizations are anchoring on methodologies, like MEDDICC, to help their salespeople maintain a healthy pipeline, close high-value opportunities and increase overall deal velocity. Now is a great time to equip your sales teams to keep pipelines moving and improve revenue predictability in these challenging times.

Why MEDDICC?

Sales organizations that use a strong qualification tool, like MEDDICC, and have a company culture to support it, can come out of uncertain times in a better position to hit their revenue goals. The fastest route to revenue predictability starts with a healthy pipeline and a consistent deal qualification process.

When implemented successfully, MEDDICC provides consistency and efficiency around your qualification process. It helps to ensure that the way you sell is aligned with the way customers want to buy. MEDDICC can help your sellers keep sales process benchmarks top of mind within each of their critical deals, as they navigate through their buyer’s evolving decision-making process.

How to Use MEDDICC to Drive Revenue Predictability:

If you’re committed to making MEDDICC work for your sales organization, how can you implement it in a way that drives results? Many of the sales leaders we’re working with are propelling their sales organizations forward by developing and implementing MEDDICC using these 4 principles:

1. Customization is key:

Customizing the MEDDICC qualification criteria, specifically for your organization, provides the consistency or common deal qualification language that you need to drive revenue predictability.

A new or evolved sales qualification process will likely be a big undertaking for your sales organization. Because of this, it's important to customize each element of your qualification criteria to ensure relevance for your sales team.

The benefit of committing to consistent qualification and successfully implementing MEDDICC means everyone’s on the same page. When your entire sales organization adopts the same language, you'll provide the consistency your team needs to have a clear view of the pipeline at any given time.

2. Create a Qualification Toolkit:

Your sales team will be responsible for understanding how to use MEDDICC to qualify opportunities, instill value early on, and move deals accurately from one sales stage to the next. When reps have adopted MEDDICC principles into their sales planning and preparation they’ll be better equipped to avoid wasting time on deals that don’t belong and accurately predict their number, quarter after quarter. (Here’s a great, real-world example of a company who did just that)

As a sales leader, you own the responsibility of equipping your salespeople to effectively and consistently apply MEDDICC criteria to each of their deals, at the right time, with the right messaging. Like any other sales transformation, the tools and content you provide will be critical to ensure they can execute. Sales consumable tools, like opportunity qualifiers, opportunity coaching guides and buyer-focused messaging frameworks can help you provide your sales team with a consistent approach for deal qualification.

3. Train Your Team:

Ensuring that MEDDICC criteria becomes a common language throughout your entire sales organization will be key to driving predictable revenue. On the front-end of your initiative’s launch, a well-thought-out training engagement will enable you to wrap your entire sales organization around the custom MEDDICC criteria you’ve developed. To build fluency around your sales qualification criteria and toolkit, pair an interactive, instructor-led training engagement with custom, online learning modules. Here are a few ways we drive results for our customers through virtual training engagements and deliveries.

After the initial launch of your initiative, reinforcement and on-going training will fall on the shoulders of your front-line sales managers. How can you equip them to drive lasting results and ensure MEDDICC criteria is applied effectively to every deal to maintain an accurate view of the pipeline? Many of the CROs we work with believe in investing in training focused specifically on their managers. These leaders work to ensure their front-line managers can provide sales coaching on their custom MEDDICC criteria in a way that drives consistent results.

4. Commit to Result-Driven Adoption & Reinforcement

Managers and sales leaders play the largest role in ensuring that qualification consistency is ingrained into the organization and maintained by sales teams, new hires and organizational leaders.

As a sales leader, you can make an impact on reinforcement by providing your sales team with easy access to ongoing training and custom reinforcement materials. From there driving reinforcement will be all about supporting your second and front-line managers and enabling them to be valuable coaches for their sales teams.

For reps to effectively follow through on MEDDICC principles, they need to actively map out deals with their managers. Front-line managers should own that responsibility, using regular deal reviews and coaching sessions to define qualification gaps and help sellers work to apply the MEDDICC criteria correctly to fill these gaps.

Your managers won’t equip reps to execute by simply giving them a to-do list to fill in gaps. Front-line managers need to be able to explain “the how” to execute their to-do list and fill in deal qualification gaps. Here are a few ways you can equip your managers to make an impact on reinforcement and adoption of your critical sales initiative.

Drive Predictable Revenue, Even During Uncertain Times

When executed correctly, MEDDICC provides sales leaders with a true view of where the forecast sits on any given day. It enables organizations to achieve nearly 100% forecast accuracy, quarter after quarter.

Watch a conversation with two MEDDICC enthusiasts, our very own John Kaplan and Roque Versace, CRO at Troops, in this webinar on How MEDDICC Helps Drive Predictable Revenue. They explore the power of the MEDDICC methodology and share examples of how companies are using MEDDICC today to propel their sales organizations forward. Share the webinar link with others in your organization who may benefit from this conversation.