Definition of MEDDIC Sales

What is MEDDIC? What does MEDDIC stand for?

MEDDIC is the most renowned Sales Qualification Methodology, applicable to any Enterprise Sales Process, which is rather complex. The definition of MEDDIC is the acronym it represents, composed of six elements. They represent the MEDDIC checklist as described below:

• METRICS: Measure the potential gain leading to the economic benefit of your solution vs. competition or non-decision (aka status-quo).
• ECONOMIC BUYER: Identify and meet the person who has the ultimate word to release funds to purchase.
• DECISION PROCESS: Know and Influence the process defined by the client to make a purchase decision.
• DECISION CRITERIA: Know and Influence the criteria defined by the client to make a purchase decision.
• IDENTIFY PAIN: Identify and Analyze the pains which require your solution to be remedied.
• CHAMPION: Identity, Qualify, Develop, and Test your Champion or your Internal Seller.

In a nutshell, MEDDIC tells you that if you execute the above in any complex B-to-B sales campaign, you basically win the sale. When you don’t win, it’s because you missed one or several of the above.

What is MEDDICC (with a 2nd C)?

MEDDICC, with two Cs in the acronym, is meant to add the Competition. Knowing your competition and strategizing your account plan based on who you are competing with is a must. But is MEDDIC without that second C incomplete? Or does it mean you are ignoring the Competition? Absolutely not! As a matter of fact, “Competition” is inherently present in every action you engage in the account. Some MEDDIC elements, such as Metrics and Decision Criteria, would not make sense if you don’t refer to competition. Adding “competition” to your checklist is a way to emphasize that aspect. You can, for instance, fine-tune and orient your metrics to the right KPIs. It helps assess the decision criteria and know how you should influence them. It helps considering the competitor’s champion in the account. Etc.

Where do we cover the Competition?

Metrics are, by definition, a comparative measure of benefits compared to the competition (which could be the incumbent system or the non-decision). Metrics force the seller to consider the competition.

During MEDDIC courses, or MEDDPICC® courses at MEDDIC Academy, one of the key concepts you learn is how to link a set of decision criteria to a vendor, whether it’s one of your competitors or your company. Decision Criteria are also another element forcing sellers to consider the competition. Are the decision criteria in your favor or in favor of one of your competitors? Is the playing field tilted?

Definition of MEDDPICC®

MEDDPICC® emphasizes the “Paper process” in addition to the “Competition”. Sellers need to understand the process through which a purchase request has to go inside that company for such a deal and execute it accordingly. Anyone with experience in complex enterprise sales knows that interactions with the legal department or purchasing could be a nightmare if they are underestimated. Especially since these interactions are at the end of the sales cycle and the deadline for the PO may be compromised, whether it is the end of the quarter for the vendor or the implementation expectations for the client. These issues take time to resolve, often leading to a delay in the purchase order. The Account Executive must understand the “paper process” and anticipate the issues. For instance, you can avoid those issues by sharing your company’s standard contract or TOS earlier in the process.

Some would say that the paper (purchasing and legal) process is part of the decision process, just like the technical and business approval processes. Well, the difference is that very often, the champion knows very well the technical and the business process from the discovery to the approval by the EB. But they don’t always know the paper process themselves. That’s why it does make sense to add it to the checklist to make sure we understand it and that our champion understands it, and we adopt a proactive approach with the Legal & Procurement departments to avoid any delay in the PO.

How did all this start?

MEDDIC & MEDDPICC® are the results of the Sales and Qualification techniques developed at PTC (aka Parametric Technology Corp.). PTC is a software company known for having built one of the strongest sales cultures in the context of Enterprise Software (now SaaS). The company had over 40 quarters of continuous growth during the 90s. The initial Global Sales Management team at PTC developed different elements of MEDDIC in the field. That initial team of sales managers in the early 90s, composed of a dozen of trailblazers, including Darius Lahoutifard, the founder of MEDDIC Academy, are the true creators of MEDDIC. PTC being a PLM vendor, not a sales training company, the team then had no intention to make it a sales methodology outside PTC or to commercialize it in any way.  More on this here.

How did MEDDIC Academy start?

MEDDIC Academy™’s founder, Darius Lahoutifard, was a member of the initial international sales leadership team at PTC who created MEDDIC. He took PTC Southern Europe from $4M to $27M in 3 years, beating the main competitor (which was and still is Dassault Systemes) in their own fiefdom (Dassault is a French company). As an anecdotal note, Darius’ team was able to beat Dassault in their own home market, France. While Dassault, on the global level, is the only vendor that PTC never managed to beat. Not even today (in terms of revenue, market share, headcount, etc…).

Darius naturally contributed to the creation, articulation, and elaboration of MEDDIC. He, most importantly, successfully executed on it, in the most competitive and challenging region of the world, as explained above. He later practiced it in his career, including his sales leadership roles at THINK3 and Agile/Oracle, among other companies. Darius made the first publications regarding MEDDIC and MEDDPICC® later in his career, with first use in commerce, and registered the trademark MEDDPICC® that he now owns.

How did MEDDIC Academy evolve?

In 2017 Darius founded MEDDIC Academy™, the first organization to offer online and blended learning programs on MEDDIC and MEDDPICC® for individuals, managers, trainers, and Enterprise clients. The following year, in 2018, MEDDIC Academy™ became the first organization to deliver test-based certifications and make it possible to become MEDDIC Certified™.

His leadership in democratizing MEDDIC & MEDDPICC was highlighted in June 2020 when he published the first book ever written on MEDDIC and MEDDPICC®. The book ranked first in 2 categories on Amazon for weeks, thus obtaining the status of best seller. In January 2021, Gartner included MEDDIC Academy™ on its Sales Training Providers Magic Quadrant.

MEDDIC Academy offers on-demand online, instantly available courses, both virtual and in-person. Different curricula are available for individual contributors, managers, and trainers. The company also offers vILT programs (virtual Instructor-Led Training), live online workshops, as well as in-person training and workshops globally.

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