Jack Napoli’s Jackism’s

Jack Napoli is famous for MEDDIC, but perhaps more famous for his Jackism’s!

Jack Napoli is famously known as the ‘Godfather of MEDDIC’ a nickname he enjoys. But, there is one thing Jack is even more famous for than his association with MEDDIC, and, that is the world-renowned Jackism!

A Jackism is a phrase often repeated by Jack to the point where it has become one a catchphrase.

They are not strictly phrases created by Jack, in fact, some of the favorite Jackism’s people talk about are Jack’s renditions of famous business phrases such as the phrase from Louis V. Gerstner, Jr the CEO of IBM as featured in #Jackism1.

This first Jackism ‘People Don’t Do What You Expect. They Do What You Inspect.’ in Jacks context refers to how organizations expect their Sellers to do certain things, such as keep CRM systems up to date, but, in this case, ‘Sellers don’t do what you expect, they do what you inspect’, meaning that if you want your Sellers to keep your CRM up to date then be sure to inspect that they are doing so.

Of course, Jack is always super fast to point out that many of the ‘Jackism’s he’s credited with were originally said by other people that he has had the pleasure of being associated with.

The fact that it is Jack that people associate with the phrases just goes to show how much charisma, eloquence and above all fun Jack brings to his engagements with professional Sellers.

The second Jackism is all about showing another customer’s Metrics before you show your own.

This approach prevents you from offending the customer you are engaged with by ‘calling their baby ugly’ while at the same time social proofing your solution by showing how you’ve made somebody else’s baby less ugly!

Jackism #2 ‘Show Them Someone Else’s Ugly Baby Before You Call Their Baby Ugly.’

To switch into MEDDIC mode for a moment, this is a sensational tip – if you run into a prospective customer’s office and tell them about all of their problems then it’s unlikely to be met with a happy consensus. Instead, by showing another customer's 'ugly baby’ you reassure the customer that it is not just them that has had this problem, while, at the same time you get to show them how your solution has helped make another customer's ugly baby’ beautiful. Are you tired of this analogy yet? OF COURSE, YOU AREN’T!! 😄

Showing another customer's Metrics early in your sales cycle is what we refer to as ‘Metrics 1’. You use Metrics 1 in MEDDICC before you switch to ‘Metrics 2’ which is where you work with specific Metrics tailored to your customer.

The third Jackism came as a result of many requests!

Jackism #3 ‘Even Shamu Gets a Fish Once in a While.’

Elite Sellers know the difference between gaining advancements versus continuations.

Advancements are activities like:

• Gaining Access to the Economic Buyer

• Documenting the Decision Criteria with the customer

• Defining a Compelling Event

• The cost of doing nothing being defined

• Mutual Activity Plan devised and collaborated upon with the Champion

Where as Continuations are things like:

• Yet more reference calls

• More demos

• Another POC

• More data, more collateral, another slide deck

So, in the case of this Jackism, the Seller is Shamu, the performing Orca. The Seller needs a fish (Advancement) for their efforts. No more promises of a deal after they do all of the work. They need to eat along the way!

Side note: As much as Shamu is a famous and classic part of American Show Culture. It is pretty cruel to keep Orcas in captivity. It felt like the right thing to do to make a donation to the Wild Orca Org. You too can donate by clicking here.