MEDMEN: The Worst Take on MEDDIC

One of the worst takes on MEDDIC that our CEO Andy Whyte has ever heard was someone who claimed the concept of a Champion was a thing of the past. 

This self-proclaimed sales guru invited Andy to a webinar where they proudly declared that the concept of someone in the customer’s business who is doing things on your behalf doesn’t happen anymore.

Andy, understandably, was skeptical. He said, “Could you tell me about a deal that you’re really proud of?”

They told him. Andy then asked, “What was the best meeting you had in that scenario?”

“Oh, it was great! This person was there, and that person was there–”

“Ah, so how did you get those people into that room?”

“... They were invited?”

“By who? Did you send the invitations?”

“No, of course not.”

“Well who did?”

Obviously, the answer was the Champion. In any deal that a seller is proud of, there was a Champion. The things that make good selling what it is are ineffective if there is no Champion; it’s like shouting into an empty room. It doesn’t matter how good you are at discovery or overcoming objections, if you don’t have somebody working on the inside for you, nothing you do will matter.

This person then went on to say that you don’t want a Champion, you want an executive sponsor, which makes you think: like an Economic Buyer? From the way this person was talking, it wasn’t actually clear.

MEDDIC facilitates clarity and conciseness. When you don’t use it, you risk confusion not just because you aren’t using something that’s proven to be effective, but also because whatever you’re replacing it with likely isn’t as useful, and just creates new inefficiencies.

When you think about this person’s refusal to use MEDDIC language, you can try to imagine how they talk about deals, how they talk to marketing, or their sales people.

Talent is often attached to MEDDIC. We always talk about the clear correlation between companies that use MEDDIC and high performance and retention rates. When someone like that is in a leadership position, you have to wonder - does excellence go out the door when MEDDIC does? It’s likely.