At MEDDICC, we have a saying: No Champion = No Deal. This means that without a champion pulling through for you, your deal is much less likely to succeed. On the flipside of that, we also like to say that Big Champion = Big Deal. When you have someone advocating for your solution internally, the value of the deal is likely to increase largely. We can also apply this to the Customer Lifecycle, where the Sales Engineer, or lack thereof, can seriously impact the success of your deal. An SE will translate the value of your solution, and pain without it, on a technical level. Depending on the complexity of the technology involved, without an SE you are less likely to be able to articulate the true value of your solution to the customer. No matter how talented your team’s salesperson is, when it comes to technical matters, the customer wants to hear from the technical expert. This is where the AE will call in the SE, who can use their technical knowledge to demonstrate and explain the value of their solution to the customer. Not only that - since the SE typically sees 5 times more sales cycles than an AE will, they can provide AEs with valuable insights, as well as a consultative approach to the entire sales process as they help uncover value and pain that no one else can.
In sales, we often warn against single-threading -selling there should not only be one person in an organisation to whom a GTM team is talking to. This is to ensure that should something happen, like someone going on leave, the salesperson is not left in the lurch. What is often not considered, however, is reverse single-threading. Usually, a sole salesperson is the one with all the contacts in customer organisations. But is this the best way to approach the deal? If you wouldn’t single-thread, why would you reverse single-thread? Involving the SE alongside the salesperson allows for your team to talk to people at varying levels of the customer organisation when making a deal.
When the SE is involved, they can provide insight into the behind the scenes of the deal process that the AE might not have access to. Where the AE will have a Champion, the SE can build a relationship with the Champion’s technical counterpart, and create a Technical Champion. If something is holding up the deal from the AE’s perspective, they can turn to the SE, who can consult their contact and help the AE realign if needed. Without an SE, it can be harder to influence the decision criteria, as you cannot delve as deep.
But how does MEDDPICC fit into all this? As we often say, MEDDPICC serves as the common language for the GTM team, and is most effective when it is spoken by the most people internally. Therefore, when an SE has a clear understanding of MEDDPICC, it makes it easier for them to communicate with their entire team. When working alongside one another, it is important for the AE and SE to be on the same page. With MEDDPICC, they can ensure they are referring to the same criteria and are on the same wavelength.
So, how can an SE implement MEDDPICC?
In general, SEs can assist the AE early on when it comes to qualifying in or out of an opportunity. They can share a non-biased, informative perspective of an opportunity, and can utilise MEDDPICC as the framework to provide this feedback.
During the Selling stage:
SEs can use Metrics to technically demonstrate how the customer can benefit from your business’ solutions. Specifically, they can use M1s and M2s to do this. M1s, which we touched on when discussing SDRs, use proven and relevant value from your existing customer base to enable your prospective customer to rapidly capture understanding of the value you provide. M2s involve personalising the Metrics to the customer. Working with the customer, the SE can identify what the customer really needs, and how they can achieve that with your solution. Using both M1s and M2s allows the SE to create a cohesive and scalable value framework and accurately convey what benefits the customer can expect.
When SEs have an insight into the inner workings of the customer organisation due to their technical expertise, they can empower the rest of the GTM team in figuring out and influencing the Decision Criteria. They can draw from the M1s previously outlined and consider how the value they delivered was unique to their specific solution. SEs can explain the technical, economic, and relationship based differentiation of your solution to the customer and solidify in their mind why they should choose your solution. Focusing on differentiation is important, because otherwise your competition could point to what your solution solves and claim that they do the same. An important thing to remember, for SEs and the entire GTM team, when it comes to Decision Criteria is that you cannot assume the customer has already outlined their Decision Criteria. They might not know what precisely they are looking for from your solution, so it is your responsibility to show them what they might not even know they want!
During the Closing stage, SEs can help with the Decision Process. The SE team can do this by proactively working through the processes and identifying the compliance requirements. They can determine whether there are any technical events in the Decision Process that they can make progress on early - this way they can speed up the overall Customer Lifecycle!
We at MEDDICC know that elite AEs rely on SEs to bring the technical side of the solution to life, and the best SEs can connect with the value, stakeholders and process.
Other elements of MEDDPICC that can be implemented by SEs include:
I - What pain has been identified? How can the SE contribute towards the Implication?
Ch - Can the SE contribute towards building alignment with the Champion’s vested interest?
As you can see, the ways SEs can implement MEDDPICC are practically endless! But if you’re still curious about how SEs can apply MEDDPICC, check out Med Men: MEDDIC for your SE’s from our CEO Andy Whyte and CRO Pim Roelofsen. We’ll see you back here next time, for our next instalment on the Partner!