Whose Responsibility?

We here at MEDDIC Mondays are often asked, “Whose responsibility is it to collect MEDDIC?” Our natural, albeit cryptic, response is “EVERYONE!” Unfortunately, that doesn’t address the question behind the question. Who owns MEDDIC?

To arrive at an answer to this question, let’s first understand two things:

1. Why is the question being asked?

2. What should “own” mean?

Why are we even asking this question?

Often, revenue organizations view MEDDIC as a checklist, a task, like a form to be completed. Thus, they think someone needs to be responsible for filling in the form. The account executive, of course? But this simple response, sadly, ignores MEDDIC’s true value and dismisses the deeper challenges signaled by this question.

See our previous post, MEDDIC is Not a Checklist! The true value lies in the information, what it tells you about the customer, who they are, what they require, how they need to do things, and what they care most about. There’s a need to recognize that MEDDIC directly informs the customer’s next economic decision. It must be continuously collected and updated as if it were crucial intelligence. Doing so makes MEDDIC valuable during a sales cycle for new business revenue and during post-sale adoption for recurring revenue.

As for those deeper challenges, organizations can easily start to overcomplicate MEDDIC. For those with complex solutions, it is easy to assign components of MEDDIC to a presales technical expert. You build out an entire RACI matrix of whose job it is to collect what. We normally counsel sales organizations against this idea. It creates unnecessary rigidity and can often communicate to some that MEDDIC is not their concern. It is why we say MEDDIC is EVERYONE’s responsibility. Anyone interfacing directly with the customer/prospect, for whatever reason, has a responsibility to collect and update MEDDIC. MEDDIC should be standard curriculum in all revenue enablement.

Ownership

To own MEDDIC means you are responsible for the correct representation and timely documentation of MEDDIC, as it relates to a specific deal or customer. You are the arbitrator of what gets recorded and how it is interpreted. If someone has a question about it, you should know the answer. If you don’t know the answer, you should know who does and ensure MEDDIC reflects that new information. It is perfectly reasonable that you may delegate to others the collection of certain MEDDIC components. But, you must not abdicate that responsibility. They are collecting on your behalf and on behalf of a shared objective. Nothing more. Ultimately, you, as owner, will be held accountable for MEDDIC accuracy and completeness.

So, who owns MEDDIC?

Well, it depends. (Should have seen that one coming. 😉) You need to look at the current revenue objective for this customer or prospect. The individual who owns that objective, accountable for it, incentivized to achieve it, directly paid to accomplish it, that’s who owns the MEDDIC. MEDDIC is best owned by that individual with the most to lose and, more importantly, the most to gain.

Therefore, ownership will depend on organizational structure and whom you make responsible for each stage of the customer lifecycle. If MEDDIC is being collected for the first time to inform the sales cycle of a new prospect and logo, the account executive responsible for that deal is the owner. If MEDDIC is informing further solution adoption and expansion, contributing to annual or net recurring revenue, then the customer success manager would own MEDDIC.

Elevate MEDDIC beyond the task. Recognize the informative impact it has on revenue objectives. Enable everyone in your revenue organization. Teach them to be informed, invested, and leveraging MEDDIC. Show how MEDDIC is everyone’s responsibility. But for your MEDDIC owners, make sure they recognize the impact MEDDIC has on their own success. And, make sure your owners know the special responsibility ownership carries. Take these steps and your MEDDIC will live and tell the story of your customer.

🎬 Take Action

• Go beyond the task. Enable your entire revenue organization on MEDDIC.

• Broadcast loud that MEDDIC is everyone's responsibility.

• Have a conversation with your owners today. Remove the burden. Make sure they understand the special responsibility.
  

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MEDDIC offers a structured approach to identifying and addressing technical and business pain points. Understanding the difference and connecting these pains empowers presales professionals to offer compelling solutions and drive successful sales engagements.

Get in touch. Let us show you how to implement MEDDIC more effectively and ensure the greatest value beyond simple qualification.