Most organizations I have worked with do not have the luxury and capacity to manage their team and provide coaching. Most Sales managers are lucky just figure out what's going to close for this quarter and maybe guide the sales staff on the top deals. Since the Sales Manager is responsible for the teams' numbers, the default management perspective is that your sales representative report weekly on their numbers. There might be some dialog on their activities to close it. However, it seems that they manage activities and numbers an not results. It is no wonder that sellers need help when their own managers are already spread thin and not asking important questions to help drive MEDDIC.
While we are on the numbers, how real are those numbers that the managers are getting to report to exeutive leadership? Suppose the sales people are basing the likelihood of their opportunities to close on where they “think” they are in the sales process with no real understanding of where the buyer is in their process and what actions buyers are taking that indicate alignment to the sales process. Isn't their forecast really based on just "gut" feelings?
Hence, we should look at MEDDIC in the context of coaching and forecasting. The MEDDIC qualification methodology flushes out where the buyer is in the sales procces with evidence. For example, do they have written decision criteria? Is there a tested Champion? Is there true pain driving them buying a solution?
I have seen many opportunity notes that sales reps have written down assuming these are things that will close the deal. Even though it is true of what the prospect is telling them, it is far from what will move the needle to close. When properly implemented and embraced by upper management, MEDDIC becomes part of operationalizing coaching, and it will flush out the next BEST ACTIVITY based on what you are missing.
MEDDIC helps our salespeople see what is ahead of them. It helps you identify what you don’t know and what should be done. In the sales, what you don’t know can and most likely will be what ends up unraveling your opportunity. With MEDDIC as your guide, Sales manager and sellers can learn about the factors preventing them from winning the business. MEDDIC is helping sellers uncover all the red flags, competitive strategies, and normal due diligence functions that must happen before a customer can make an objective and informed decision.
While forecast accuracy is undoubtedly increased by implementing MEDDIC, the real value is in driving sales performance by increasing your win rate. Sales performance is significantly increased when sales leaders act as coaches to drive the right activities with the right resources at the right time. To do that, sales enablement and operations need to formalize coaching so new sales leaders are provided a sales consumable framework that supports coaching versus just managing the numbers. Coaching is something you do with your people, not to them!
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