Lead Qualification: MEDDIC

Qualify complex enterprise opportunities using the MEDDIC framework to ensure deal viability and improve forecast accuracy.

When to Use This Skill

• Enterprise deal qualification

• Complex sales cycles (60+ days)

• Multiple stakeholder deals

• High ACV opportunities ($50K+)

• Improving forecast accuracy

Methodology Foundation

Based on PTC's MEDDIC methodology (developed by Dick Dunkel), extended to MEDDPICC:

• Metrics - Quantified value

• Economic Buyer - Decision authority

• Decision Criteria - How they'll choose

• Decision Process - How they'll buy

• Identify Pain - Business problem

• Champion - Internal advocate

• Competition - Competitive landscape

• Paper Process - Legal/procurement

What Claude Does vs What You Decide

Claude Does You Decide

Structures MEDDIC questions Deal prioritization

Scores each component Resource investment

Identifies gaps Coaching focus

Creates deal summaries Forecast commit

Suggests next actions Win strategy

Instructions

Step 1: Define MEDDIC Components

Component Definition Key Question

Metrics Quantified outcomes "What numbers will improve?"

Economic Buyer Person with budget authority "Who can say yes and write the check?"

Decision Criteria How they evaluate "What criteria will you use to decide?"

Decision Process Steps to purchase "What happens between now and signed contract?"

Identify Pain Business problem "What happens if this doesn't get solved?"

Champion Internal advocate "Who's fighting for this internally?"

Competition Alternatives "What else are you considering?"

Paper Process Procurement/legal "What's involved in getting contracts signed?"

Step 2: Discovery Questions by Component

Metrics:

• "If this project succeeds, what numbers will change?"

• "How will you measure ROI?"

• "What's the cost of the current problem?"

• "What KPIs are you trying to impact?"

Economic Buyer:

• "Who ultimately approves the budget for this?"

• "Have you worked with them on similar initiatives?"

• "Can I meet them before we finalize a proposal?"

Decision Criteria:

• "What are the must-haves vs nice-to-haves?"

• "How will you compare solutions?"

• "Who developed these criteria?"

• "How important is [your differentiator]?"

Decision Process:

• "Walk me through the steps from here to signed contract."

• "Who else needs to evaluate this?"

• "Are there approval committees or board reviews?"

• "What could delay or derail this process?"

Identify Pain:

• "What's driving this initiative now?"

• "What happens if you do nothing?"

• "How is this affecting your team/business/customers?"

• "Have you tried to solve this before?"

Champion:

• "Who's the biggest advocate for this project?"

• "What happens to them if this succeeds/fails?"

• "Can they get us access to [stakeholder]?"

• "How much influence do they have?"

Competition:

• "What alternatives are you considering?"

• "How far along are you with other vendors?"

• "What do you like about what you've seen?"

• "How does that compare to what we've shown you?"

Paper Process:

• "What's your typical procurement timeline?"

• "Are there security or legal reviews required?"

• "Have you worked with vendors like us before?"

• "What can we do to expedite the process?"

Step 3: Score Each Component

Score Criteria

🟢 3 Confirmed, documented, verified

🟡 2 Identified but not confirmed

🟠 1 Weak or incomplete

🔴 0 Unknown or missing

Deal Qualification Levels:

Score Status Action

21-24 Strong Commit to forecast

16-20 Developing Address gaps

11-15 Early More discovery needed

<11 Weak Qualify out or restart

Examples

Example 1: Full MEDDIC Analysis

Output:

MEDDIC Deal Scorecard: GlobalTech ($250K)

Deal Overview

• Account: GlobalTech Inc
• Value: $250,000 ARR
• Stage: Proposal
• Close Date: March 15
• Sales Cycle: 90 days (Day 60)

MEDDIC Score: 18/24 🟡 Developing

Component Details

Metrics: 3/3 🟢

Status: Strong - Quantified and agreed

Evidence:

• ROI target: 3x in Year 1
• Specific KPIs: Reduce CAC by 20%, increase pipeline by 40%
• CFO signed off on business case
• Baseline metrics documented

Quote: "If we can hit these numbers, this pays for itself in 6 months."

Economic Buyer: 2/3 🟡

Status: Identified but not met

Evidence:

• EB: CFO Jennifer Walsh
• Champion confirmed she has budget authority
• Haven't had direct meeting yet
• Email correspondence only

Gap: Need face-to-face with CFO before proposal review

Action: Request 15-min executive alignment call

Decision Criteria: 3/3 🟢

Status: Strong - Criteria aligned with our strengths

Evidence:

• Formal RFP with weighted criteria
• Our top differentiators match their priorities:
  • Integration depth (30% weight) - ✅ Our strength
  • Time to value (25% weight) - ✅ Our strength
  • Price (20% weight) - ⚠️ Neutral
  • Support (15% weight) - ✅ Our strength
  • References (10% weight) - ✅ Have 3 ready

Quote: "Integration is non-negotiable for us."

Decision Process: 2/3 🟡

Status: Mapped but timeline fuzzy

Evidence:

• Step 1: Technical evaluation ✅ Complete
• Step 2: Business review ✅ Complete
• Step 3: Proposal review ⏳ This week
• Step 4: CFO approval ⏳ Pending
• Step 5: Legal/Procurement ⏳ Unknown timeline
• Step 6: Contract signed ⏳ Target March 15

Gap: Steps 4-6 timeline not confirmed

Action: Get specific dates for approval meeting and legal review

Identify Pain: 3/3 🟢

Status: Strong - Urgent, quantified pain

Evidence:

• Current problem: 40% of leads fall through cracks
• Business impact: $2M estimated lost revenue
• Trigger: Missed Q3 target, board pressure
• Previous attempts: Tried 2 solutions, both failed

Quote: "This is keeping our CEO up at night."

Champion: 3/3 🟢

Status: Strong - Active, influential champion

Champion Profile:

• Name: Marcus Chen, VP Revenue Operations
• Motivation: His initiative, career impact
• Influence: Direct report to CFO
• Actions taken:
  • Built internal business case
  • Scheduled all meetings
  • Defended us vs. competitor
  • Sharing our content internally

Quote: "I'm putting my reputation on this."

Competition: 1/3 🟠

Status: Weak - Incomplete intel

Evidence:

• Know they evaluated CompetitorX
• Don't know current status
• Champion said "we've narrowed to two"
• No details on competitor proposal

Gap: Critical blind spot

Action:

• Ask champion directly about competitor status
• Understand their proposal/pricing
• Prepare competitive battle card response

Paper Process: 1/3 🟠

Status: Weak - Unknown

Evidence:

• They have a procurement team
• Security review likely required
• No timeline documented
• Haven't met procurement

Gap: Could add 2-4 weeks we haven't planned for

Action:

• Ask champion about typical procurement timeline
• Offer to start security questionnaire early
• Get intro to procurement contact

Gap Summary

Forecast Recommendation

Current: In forecast at 50% probability Recommendation: Keep in forecast, but address gaps before increasing commit

Path to 80%:

1. Meet CFO (Economic Buyer confirmed)
2. Confirm competitor status (know we're preferred)
3. Map procurement timeline (no surprises)

Risks:

• Competition could have better pricing
• Procurement could delay past March 15
• CFO hasn't engaged directly

Example 2: Champion Assessment

Output:

Champion Evaluation: Marcus Chen

Champion Scorecard

Champion Profile

Name: Marcus Chen Title: VP Revenue Operations Reports to: Jennifer Walsh (CFO) Tenure: 8 years Role in Deal: Project owner and recommender

Why They're Championing

1. Personal Win: This is his initiative; success = promotion
2. Pain Owner: Responsible for the problem we solve
3. Budget Influence: Makes recommendation to CFO
4. Trusted: Long tenure, respected internally

Champion Actions Taken

✅ Built internal business case ✅ Scheduled all meetings ✅ Shared our ROI calculator with CFO ✅ Defended us when competitor name dropped ✅ Gave us competitive intel ✅ Proactively updated us on internal discussions

Champion Test Questions

Question: Can they sell when you're not in the room? Answer: Yes - built business case, defends us

Question: Will they give you bad news? Answer: Yes - warned us about CFO concerns

Question: Can they get you to the Economic Buyer? Answer: Partially - email intros yes, meeting not yet

Champion Gaps

Champion Coaching Plan

Help Marcus succeed by:

1. Provide leave-behind for his CFO conversation
2. Share competitor objection responses
3. Arm with 3 references he can share
4. Prepare him for likely CFO questions:
   • "Why not build this ourselves?"
   • "What's the implementation risk?"
   • "Can we get better pricing?"

Skill Boundaries

What This Skill Does Well

• Structuring complex deal qualification

• Identifying deal gaps systematically

• Creating deal coaching plans

• Improving forecast accuracy

What This Skill Cannot Do

• Replace relationship skills

• Guarantee deal outcomes

• Know competitor strategies

• Handle negotiation tactics

References

• PTC MEDDIC Framework (Dick Dunkel)

• Force Management MEDDICC

• Salesforce Enterprise Selling

• Winning by Design MEDDIC

Related Skills

• lead-qualification-bant

• Simpler qualification

• deal-risk-scoring

• Risk assessment

• pipeline-forecasting

• Commit based on MEDDIC

Skill Metadata

• Domain: SDR Automation / Sales

• Complexity: Advanced

• Mode: centaur

• Time to Value: 45-60 min per deal

• Prerequisites: Enterprise sales experience