Customer Success Managers can leverage the MEDDIC that their peers in sales have worked hard to develop. Below is how CSMs can leverage MEDDIC and why it is crucial. I linked each piece of MEDDIC below to a more detailed description.
METRIC - Remember, the Metric is a dollar value bound by time. This is the expected value that the solution they purchased should be delivering. As a CSM, you want to work with them to validate that these metrics are being attained. This will be critical for negotiating renewals when the time comes. If they do not realize the return, they may cancel; if they exceed the goals, you may be able to increase the pricing.
Economic Buyer - The Economic Buyer is the one who can have ultimate authority to cancel the subscription or renew when the time comes. It is important to continue to validate that the Economic Buyer continues to hold that power. Economic Buyers can change and often do; in the life cycle of a customer, it is your responsibility to make sure you keep track and continue to validate if that is the budget owner or if that has changed.
Decisions Criteria - The Decision Criteria is the list that the CSM wants to ensure the solution is still delivering on. These are both functional and non-functional areas of the solution. If the solution doesn't deliver on the capabilities that were promised, you risk the chance of losing the customer. As a CSM, you must understand the criteria used to choose your company to deliver the solution and validate that your company meets those requirements.
Decision Process - This is the process used for procurement. The process used to purchase your solution for the first time will most likely differ from the process used to renew your solution. As a CSM, this should be explored and documented well before the renewal (around six months prior). This will prevent you from missing the renewal date and having very difficult decisions about cutting the customer off or working to negotiate through a renewal contract.
Identified Pain - Understanding the pain that led the customer to purchase your solution is important to validate that your solution did indeed solve that challenge. Sometimes, however, some decisions have unintended consequences, so as a CSM, you should continually dig into any pain the customer may be experiencing. They may experience pain and attribute that to your solution, which can jeaporize your renewal. New pain can expose new opportunities, whether upselling, cross-selling, or even training opportunities within your solution.
Champion - People come and go daily in every organization, which is no different from the Champion in your account. Remember, you can have more than one Champion. The more Champions you can build, the high probability of a successful deployment and renewal of your solution. It should be your goal as a CSM to continue to build Champions. You can even build Champions in other departments involved in the Decision Process, such as procurement, finance, and IT.
Keep pushing on MEDDIC; it is a never-ending journey that will continue to reap rewards in your accounts.
Comments