Sales lead qualification criteria for corporations

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MEDDIC advocates that pitching to leads and prospects who are highly qualified will result in a higher closing rate. It’s a step-by-step process that outlines proper lead qualification to ensure that you’re building a strong foundation to meet  your team’s sales goals and it's   credited with fueling software company  Parametric Technology Corporation’s  rapid sales growth from $300 million to $1billion. You need to be able to identify prospects that tick all their business’s boxes quickly   and easily, so they can start driving them towards the sale. A poor qualification process often causes you to chase leads that are not worthwhile  and potentially burn out. Let’s take a deeper look into how the MEDDIC sales process works and how it can be effective for your business. MEDDIC stands for: Metrics. Provide prospects with proof of the economic benefit of investing in your solution versus a competitor. Economic buyer. Determine who the decision-maker is, specifically the person with purchasing power to close the deal. Decision criteria. Understand which factors a prospect uses to make their purchase decisions Decision process. Determine and influence the steps that will lead to the prospect agreeing to purchase your product. Identify pain. Understand which pain points and problems your product can help prospects relieve. Champion. Determine if there is someone associated with your prospect that can act as an advocate on your behalf. MEDDIC provides a blueprint for qualifying leads at the beginning of a sales cycle, asking the most important questions to move deals forward. Focusing on these elements makes it easier to identify sales-ready leads versus leads that are unlikely to buy. If nothing else, the methodology spells out six crucial elements to close just about any deal. So, what does MEDDIC actually look like in practice? Metric, the first part of the MEDDIC sales process, is all about applying the principle of “show, don’t tell”. Sales professionals are trained to make your product or service sound like an ideal solution. But, when it comes to what your product can specifically do for them, it’s crucial to provide concrete proof like customer success stories and case studies, rather than vague promises. Here are some examples of statements that you could provide that highlight data points for prospects: “On average, our customers save ten hours per week on data entry once they adopt our product.” “We actually have a client of your size in the same industry that managed to see a return on investment within three months.” Or “If you’re interested in increasing revenue by 10% by the end of the year, that’s definitely a possibility.” The second part of the MEDDIC sales methodology is economic buyer. MEDDIC prioritizes talking to decision-makers first and foremost and sometimes doing so requires a direct approach. So ask qualifying questions such as: “How does your organization typically make buying decisions?” “Is anyone else involved in the buying process?” Or “What’s your role in the decision-making process?” Make sure you are familiar with the typical  titles and roles of prospects  who make product-related decisions. By understanding the roles and responsibilities of the decision-maker, it’s easier to spot them. Next is decision criteria. Every company is different in terms of its criteria for making a purchase, but chances are your leads aren’t going to spell out exactly what goes into their decision criteria. Keeping in mind that 77% of B2B buyers state that their latest purchase was very complex or difficult, here are some key factors to consider: pricing, features, level of service provided, onboarding assistance,  product integrations,  ease of use, name recognition and industry reputation. Based on their lead qualification efforts, you should already have a good idea of what those factors are and should structure the pitch to align with their prospect’s needs and goals. This will help to simplify the decision-making process and move the deal along quicker. Moving on to decision process. At this point, your lead is at the very least evaluating your product for purchase. This means that you should do everything in their power to speed up and smooth out the decision-making process, which includes: providing a hands-on demonstration or free trial of your product, bringing in new stakeholders and others involved in the decision-making process and confirming the typical timeline for making decisions. The key is to be proactive and suggest the next steps to keep things moving even if your average B2B sales process can take multiple months. Next is identify pain. Tapping into your customers’ struggles is a surefire way to speak their language and better frame your product as a winner. So anything you can do to reassure them of your solution’s effectiveness is a huge point in your favor. Here are some examples of typical pain points which B2B buyers face: inefficiencies and wasting time, wasting money, their current solution is too complicated or clunky or they have a need to eliminate tedious tasks. In addition to highlighting these pain points, consider how you can also ease their prospects’ minds when it comes to your solution versus a competitor. Here are some additional talking points: the price tag of your solution and why it’s worth it for its features, ease of use versus competitors, how quickly your customers can get up and running,   and how your product integrates with existing services and tools. The final step is champion. This last piece involves finding someone at your leads’ company who will advocate on your behalf. By having a “champion”, your company gains a sense of credibility while also influencing decision-makers. This doesn’t necessarily need to be someone involved in the decision-making process, but rather someone associated with your lead. Of course, it’s not always possible, but this is a situation where referrals and scouring your mutual connections on LinkedIn can help give you an edge when it comes time to close a deal. If you’re focused on speeding up your lead qualification so you can spend more time selling, MEDDIC can help. Ensuring that your sales process covers each letter in the acronym means you are taking the right steps toward closing deals. If you want to learn more about different sales methodologies, you can find out more by continuing to watch the video series on different sales methodologies or head over to our blog, where we’ve gone more into detail on popular sales methodologies. Thanks for watching.