The best way to make sure your sales efforts pay off is to ensure you’re working with quality leads and accepting only those who are genuinely interested in your product or service.
Lead qualification can help you do just that by ensuring that your leads are qualified before they ever speak with a sales rep.
In this blog, let’s see how to build a strong lead qualification process with MEDDIC.
What Is MEDDIC?
MEDDIC is an acronym of Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify Pain and Champion.
According to the MEDDIC framework, selling to highly qualified leads will lead to higher conversion rates. However, this is a step-by-step approach that identifies the right leadership skill to ensure you are laying the right foundations for achieving your team’s sales goals.
MEDDIC became famous in the 1990s when the Parametric Technology Company (PTC) revenue rose from $ 300 million to $ 1 billion in revenue. It is still used today in modern B2B sales.
The MEDDIC Framework
Metrics
First, understand what the customer expects from your solution. Make sure those benefits are measurable.
For example, the result of the solution be like:
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Generate X additional stuff per month
- Saving X hours in one working week
You can use these metrics to describe the economic benefits of your solution. Once you’ve identified a customer’s critical KPIs, you can show how your solution offers a strong ROI. If you can justify the solution economically, you are one step closer to closing the sale.
Economic Buyer
An “Economic Buyer” is a person who decides to buy your product or service from the company you want to sell it to.
You need to find out who is acting as the economic buyer of the company or who has the authority to make decisions and sanctions.
It is often necessary to speak to someone higher than your current contact in the organization. Knowing and thinking about an economic buyer will help you close the sale because the buyer has a veto and is the one to convince.
If possible, speak to the economic buyer directly to understand their expectations, personal criteria, and the decision-making process.
In some cases, the conversation may not be possible. In such a case, you should try to get your audience’s information about the economic buyer.
Decision Criteria
First, be aware of the factors in the organization’s decision-making process because most companies are faced with many solutions from different sources and are forced to compare and choose. Knowing how people make this decision can help organize your pitch.
Standards vary, but organizations often base their judgments on variables like usability, integrity, budget constraints, and potential return on investment.
If the company has not yet defined any formal decision criteria, you can persuade them to do so. At this point, you can prove that you can meet all of their requirements and show that there is no reason for them to object to the sale.
Decision Process
While decision criteria describe the factors that influence a company’s decision, the decision-making process describes how this decision is made and implemented.
The decision-making process includes:
- The person is making the decision.
- The implementation schedule.
- Any formal on-site approval process.
Once you understand the decision-making process, you are less likely to lose the deal by procrastinating. They know precisely what you need to do at the end of the agreement to complete the transaction so you can work towards meeting those requirements.
Here are some questions to help you figure this out:
- Is it necessary for another person to approve the purchase decision if all the decision criteria (first “D” in MEDDIC) are met?
- If so, who? Is it just one person or the whole board? How long does it usually take to make a decision?
Identify Pain
An excellent sales pitch identifies and presents a company-specific potential problem. Here are some common business problems: high production costs, limited revenue, and slow production.
With a clear and complete cost-benefit analysis, you can show your potential customers precisely the benefits of your solution.
First, show them the risks and obstacles their business is facing without your product. Give me enough clarity about your product.
For example, if the main problem for potential customers is losing money, tell them how much money they lose each year without your product and how much money they can save with it.
Champion
The Champion is usually the hardest hit by the company’s problems or who benefits the most from your solution. Because they want your solution, they want you to be successful, and they use their power to market solutions from within. However, having an influential and respected employee by your side can make a difference.
For example, your Champion can be a senior salesperson in a potential company with a significant impact on the executive team. This employee knows what your product can do for the company (and their team) and takes money to help you sell it.
This person can give you a lot of information about who to contact, how to deal with them, and specific facts that you would otherwise not have had access to that you can use to improve your sales level. And then take you to the decision-makers and bring you to a meeting.
Summing Up
Having an effective lead qualification process is an essential part of the sales process.
This post will give you some tips on building a MEDDIC-based solid lead qualification process and help you better qualify leads so that you can spend less time with prospects who aren’t serious about purchasing your product or service.
