MEDMEN: Is MEDDIC A Methodology?

00:00 Pim Roelofsen: Welcome to The MedMen Show. My name is Pim and that's Andy. 00:03 Andy Whyte: What are we talking about today, Pim? 00:05 Pim Roelofsen: Today, Andy — we are talking about whether MEDDIC is a methodology. So what do you think? 00:10 Andy Whyte: Well, I think it depends how you use it. But yes — my answer would be: MEDDIC is a methodology. Because if you break down the definition of a methodology, it's a method by which to do something. So it can be — absolutely. 00:23 Andy Whyte: And what I mean by that is — let's zoom in and look at champion as an example. If you use MEDDIC purely as a qualification framework and say, reactively: "On this opportunity, do I have a champion? Yes or no?" — that's not a methodology. That's a reactive checklist qualifying whether you have a champion or not. But of course, good salespeople, if they find out they don't have a champion, take action. And the actions they take become methods. One method could be: how do I find a champion? There are methods by which you go and find one — you look for what traits champions have, you ask questions, you do discovery. All those things are part of the methodology. It's part of how you sell. It could be that you have someone you think could be a champion but you just haven't qualified or tested them yet. So you get involved in the methods that allow you to build a champion — great discovery, great value creation, all those things. Those are methods. 01:24 Pim Roelofsen: Yeah. Because when you do this, ultimately these methods become patterns — this is how you do things. They're like effective plays that form your playbook, built with methods. 01:35 Andy Whyte: Yeah. And "plays" is an interesting word, because the term comes from playbook. The classic playbook people think of is in sport — particularly American football, where at the professional level they run on plays. Those are methods you're following. 01:53 Pim Roelofsen: Right. So what about value selling then? 01:55 Andy Whyte: Value — that's a good point. I think value selling is a bigger thing. It is still methodology. If you want to uncover value, you need to deploy not just one method but multiple methods — value pyramids, business value assessments, different plays. But again: can MEDDIC be a value framework? Of course it can. It's in the language and in the methods you use. Because if you think about value — what value really is is showing a customer or prospective customer the value you can bring to them. That's done by talking about their current state, their pain, how much value there is in solving that pain, and how your solution does that. 02:38 Andy Whyte: So from the way we do MEDDIC — and not all MEDDIC is equal, so if you're using it just as a qualification framework this isn't you — our customers use MEDDIC as a value framework, a value methodology. They come in and look at: what pain does this customer have? What value do they get from solving that pain? How do they measure the delta between those two states — that's the metrics. How does your solution deliver this value? And you want to make sure that's part of the customer's decision criteria — so be proactive with it, inspire and influence it. Then think about who's going to benefit from this value — that's the champion, that's the economic buyer. Of course they see that value differently. Champions are typically more interested in the broader decision criteria — including technical, economic and relationship. The economic buyer is less interested in the technical and more interested in the economic decision criteria — clue's in the name. But they're also very interested in the relationship decision criteria. 03:46 Andy Whyte: So all of a sudden, just from talking about those five letters, we've talked about the value we provide and who we provide that value to. And using our MEDDIC value methodology, we give our customers the methods to build value into not just their sales cycle, but their entire customer lifecycle across their entire go-to-market team. 04:01 Pim Roelofsen: So in short — yes, MEDDIC can be a methodology. It kind of depends on how you look at it and whether you let it be one. Because if you're stuck in the mindset that it's just for reactive qualification, it will be that for you. But you're leaving enormous potential value on the table. 04:18 Andy Whyte: Exactly right. 04:19 Pim Roelofsen: Here's to MEDDIC as a methodology! 04:22 Andy Whyte: Cheers!