Key Takeaways: Day Zero to One in Adopting MEDDPICC

Everyone, even seasoned pros, have to start their journey somewhere. Whether picking up a guitar, kicking a ball, or embracing a new sales framework, we all had a Day One. But getting there can be intimidating! How do you go from Day Zero to Day One? 

To dive into that journey from Day Zero to One with MEDDPICC adoption, our CRO Pim Roelofsen was joined by leaders whose organizations are at different stages of MEDDPICC adoption at the first panel event of MEDDICON 2. The expert panel included Jessica Norwood, Global Sales Content Strategist at Cisco, President of Numerated, David O’Malley, and Patrick McDonough, Director of Sales Productivity at Crowdstrike. 

If you missed it, keep reading to learn more about different reasons why MEDDPICC could be the right choice for your organization and some best practices for MEDDPICC adoption.

Why did our panelists’ organizations adopt MEDDPICC in the first place?

One key attraction of MEDDPICC for our panelists was how it serves as a common language across the organization, and how it allows organizations to standardize processes amongst different departments. As Jessica said, “We have to make sure that there is a process in place, and that from team to team, from country to country, there is an expectation set for how you move a deal through the pipeline.” This can be really beneficial, because, as David said, “It’s forced everyone to really get on the same page about a lot of things.”

MEDDPICC can bring things into focus in your sales process and elevate your whole team’s selling. By anchoring on key metrics, like M1s and M2s, David noted that Numerated were able to reopen the conversation across the board and target what really mattered. On that same vein, Patrick shared that MEDDPICC enabled Crowdstrike to reassess their selling and take things to the next level. When “what you were doing before isn’t going to necessarily allow you to win at the same rate as that would now,” MEDDPICC can be used to refresh your approach to selling.

How are our panelists supporting their team in MEDDIC adoption?

Ensuring the organization is using MEDDPICC as a common language is essential to its effectiveness. To build a cohesive sales culture, it’s important for everyone to have a universal idea of what certain things mean and refer to. The best way to get everyone to buy in to MEDDPICC is to start at the top and work down. Jessica said, “For us, it was getting the frontline leaders and director level and above bought into the idea of why MEDDPICC is important […] because we know that everything we’re rolling out in terms of training and enablement, it’s going to live and breathe or live and die with the frontline leaders.”

And how do you get that buy-in from the top? The same as you would in a deal - by showing the value. When you provide a solid reason for why you’re changing, and why MEDDPICC is the solution for those changes, you win credibility within your organization. Patrick’s route was to “shine a light on some of the negative consequences that we were experiencing and how that was affecting key sales metrics. Then, how MEDDPICC, and doubling down on it, and revisiting it, can really drive some of those improvements’ outcomes.” By showing the value of MEDDPICC, leaders in your organization will become internal champions, advocating its use, and that will filter down, and soon enough your team will all be speaking that common language. 

How do you solve any challenges in getting team members behind an initiative?

The key to success with implementing initiatives like MEDDPICC is forming habits, and continually reinforcing those habits. Without continuous reinforcement, resistance will not be challenged, and progress will be impeded. That means, as David correctly said, “you have to drive it from the top and it has to matter to you.” As pointed out previously, driving an initiative from the top of an organization will demonstrate its importance throughout the business, and will encourage its adoption across teams. 

What advice would our panelists give to someone who is starting out in their journey with MEDDPICC?

In true MEDDPICC fashion, Jessica’s advice is that it all comes down to your champions. “You have to find the change makers and the people who are open to doing things differently and realizing that the way we used to do things is not the way we can move forward and find success…It has to start with leadership, it has to start with your internal champions, your internal stakeholders.”

For Patrick, it’s all about the anchoring into the why. “Build your business case, identify some data around the problem statement and why it’s important. Find those concrete examples so that you can build the groundswell that you’ll need.”

David gives his advice in three stages. “Number one, just start. You’re going to make mistakes, and it’s okay, because you’re already ahead of where you were yesterday; you’ve already started. Number two, invest in yourself. When I talk about investing, what I mean is: force yourself to study. Number three, keep going. You have to champion the program, you have to lead by example.”

A resounding takeaway from the session was that your leadership team can really be a force multiplier in MEDDPICC adoption. They can be your internal champions and drive the initiative from the top down. Our panelists provided some really valuable insights, so we hope that beginners feel empowered to kick off MEDDPICC in their own organization, and that MEDDPICC alumni feel reinvigorated about the framework!