Questioning & inspection overview

The tutorial material is a guide to asking questions that get answers to MEDDIC as sellers proceed through the stages of the sales process. It is organized into prospect-facing questions for each MEDDIC element, following a general-to-specific flow and corresponding to the checklist items in each MEDDIC qualifier. There are also corresponding inspection questions that sales leaders can ask sellers to confirm the status of each MEDDIC element and to gain agreement with the seller that the checklist status is accurate. Sellers are encouraged to review the inspection questions themselves to prepare for a MEDDIC-based opportunity review. The goal is to use the common language of MEDDIC to know where the opportunity really stands, what the next best activity is and which forecast category the opportunity should be placed in.

The grey, yellow and green status indicators are also defined here. The status indicators result from the checklist items the seller selects in each MEDDIC qualifier. The default is three checklist items per MEDDIC element.

Our coaching is designed to be simple, lightweight and mobile, to help you advance your partnership with the prospect. In today’s hypercompetitive, complex buying and selling environments, how we sell can differentiate you as much as what you are selling. You gain the coveted status of trusted advisor by focusing on the customer and earning the right to advance the sale.

General descriptions of the status indicators

Status: Grey: you are just getting started

Guiding light principle: your approach is subtle and designed to build rapport. These activities are low cost, high activity and sales initiated. An initial discovery call is an example of a rapport-building, sales-initiated activity.

Status: Yellow: they seem to be listening and buying in, and they are taking action

Guiding light principle: Tangible. Evidence is emerging, and you are building confidence.

Activities are sales led but require more collaboration with the client, and other sales team members are engaged as well. An example of this type of activity is the prospect (its stakeholders) documenting the decision criteria, with their weighting and with capabilities connected to business outcomes.

Status: Green: they buy in and they are acting on our guidance

Guiding light principle: Overt. The prospect demonstrates ownership.

Actions are customer-centric, collaborative and coordinated, to publicize the potential impact on business outcomes. For example, the Champion owns the ROI created from the business outcomes uncovered in Metrics and will defend it in a meeting with the Economic Buyer.

The anatomy of good discovery questions

To help you think about questioning, here is a guide to the anatomy of good discovery questions. Good discovery questions have three main components.

Open-ended

• Allow the customer to expand and give details
• Have no right or wrong answer
• Help the salesperson analyze the customer’s situation better

Two-sided

• You learn by asking
• The customer learns by answering

T-E-D

• “Tell me about…”
• “Explain for me…”
• “Describe for me…”