3-Dimensional Decision Criteria

It’s time to think about Decision Criteria three-dimensionally. When most people think about Decision Criteria, they think of the technical criteria: the features, the bells and whistles. While those are important, if you only focus on the technical criteria, you overlook other areas where you could significantly differentiate yourself and your solution.

First: Economic Decision Criteria. This is not just about how much your solution costs, but the other things around it: the CapEx and OpEx, the contract duration, and ROI. 

Second: Relationship Decision Criteria. This is often overlooked, and can be hard to pin down as it comes down to a feeling that the customer has. Do they see themselves having a good relationship with you? Do they feel like they can trust you?

Of course, gut feeling isn’t the only thing that impacts Decision Criteria, it can be informed by market reputation or referrals. Don’t underestimate Relationship Decision Criteria, they can make or break deals. 

Getting beyond the technical Decision Criteria and looking at them from a three-dimensional perspective is so important for GTM teams in our increasingly competitive industry. While some salespeople might get beyond the technical criteria sometimes, if you don’t do it in a proactive and deliberate way, you miss out on the chance to broaden the influence of your deal with other stakeholders.

Think of it this way:

You are considering two identical security vendors. They both do the same thing, and the price is fairly similar. But one of them, when engaging with you, has said “We noticed that you are a major AWS house. Would you be interested in procuring our product on AWS marketplace?” 

Not only does that fall under Economic Decision Criteria, it ties into relationship Decision Criteria as well, as it shows your interests align. There are a lot of benefits for both parties immediately, and the security vendor has differentiated themselves. Even if the other vendor also works with AWS, by failing to lead with that aspect proactively, they have less of an impact. 

Looking back at the last year with three-dimensional Decision Criteria as a lens can help you to get clarity on what you can focus on to proactively drive sales cycles and opportunities forward. When you were successful, what were the Decision Criteria that helped you?

The use of Decision Criteria doesn’t need to be limited to just sales – since MEDDPICC is most effectively used as a common language for the full GTM team across the customer lifecycle, every function can benefit from looking at Decision Criteria in this way.

Looking at Decision Criteria doesn’t need to simply be all positive. If there are some aspects of your solution that are lacking, the best approach is to identify what things are necessities for certain prospects and to qualify out before you waste any time. Or, you can explore if it’s possible to partner with that customer without that specific Decision Criteria by demonstrating how while you might do things differently, it will still be a success.

Ultimately, approaching Decision Criteria three-dimensionally, with a proactive mindset, is how you can best prepare to differentiate your solution and set yourself up for success.