How The P Got Into MEDDICC

MEDDPICC: How The “P” Got Into MEDDICC

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“So… Do you support MEDDPICC as well?”

This is a question we often come across while working on operationalizing MEDDIC on Salesforce.

Well the short answer is yes, because in fact it’s almost the same. 

Since MEDDIC was invented by PTC it was used and refined by many organizations  and like an Open Source Sales Qualification Methodology developed over time.

First MEDDIC got the second C to evolve to MEDDICC. This one stands for Competition.
It made people aware of the need to raise the importance to qualify who you compete with and how to position yourself with your unique offering and neutralize your competition.

Now what about that P in MEDDPICC?

The growing complexity for clients to get into a contractual agreement with their partners and suppliers evolved. This is many times underestimated by sales people, causing major delays at the end of the sales cycle.

The Paper Process, as we call it, was always included in MEDDIC. It was residing in the Decision Process amongst the technical and business decision processes. However the increased complexity creating contractual paperwork and the delays its causing, raised to the No.1 issue for deals slipping out of the quarter. 

Therefore sales teams promoted the letter P, Paper Process, to the top level of MEDDIC abbreviations. This is how the P received its own space. It shaped MEDDPICC right in between the Decision process and Identify pain.

And it most definitely deserves to be there, as especially nowadays in larger deals the sales team feels like starting a new sales process when the Economic Buyer has allocated budget and agreed on buying your solution.

Don’t forget to check out our PDF version of a Paper Process Checklist. You will find it at the end of the blog.

Understanding the Paper Process in MEDDPICC

P in PAPERPROCESS

After you make the technical win and the business agrees to get into a contract, especially larger purchases undergo several control mechanisms to protect your customers interest, such as solution fit check by Enterprise Architecture boards, Security checks by Data Protections & Cloud Security departments. The financial fit and ROI are driven by financial or project and portfolio boards, Sourcing & Procurement check your offering for needs and best price.

Last but not the least the legal process of building and agreeing on the legal structure, terms and conditions that allow to produce the final paperwork which can then be signed by the relevant parties and stakeholders.

The approval for your deal might be undergoing several or all of the above mentioned steps, sometimes even confusing for your counterparts at your prospect as well.

There are not many people at your clients’ organization that know the entire process. If and how the steps in the paper process must be accomplished and by who, when and in which order

All of these departments have limited resources and are usually heavily under pressure, especially at the end of the quarter causing roadblocks and delays for your deals to close in time.

Some of our clients demand their sales executives to find and develop  a “paper process” champion for their opportunity which absolutely accelerates the paper process. The best sales people that I have met created a detailed close-plan with their “MEDDPICC paper process Champion”. This included clear steps, timelines, responsibilities and plan Bs to reduce the risk of delays and to optimize the time to close their deals.

A strong relationship with the Economic Buyer, a compelling reason driven by a strong Champion and clear understanding of the Paper Process will keep you in control of the timeline.

Conclusion

So, now, if you ask me: Does the P deserve to shine in the light together with EB, Champion, Pain & Co. in MEDDPICC?

Oh yes, let’s MEDDPICC the heck out of the complex deals we want to close in time and shine with the best performing reps on stage like P does in MEDDPICC.

Don’t forget to add it to your reversed engineered closing plan you put together with your champion!!!

Reverse Engineered Timeline of Milestones

Don’t forget to download our PDF of a Paper Process Checklist to help you close deals faster in the future! Click HERE.

135 replies
  1. Ben Hyman
    Ben Hyman says:

    I think it depends on the size of the deal. In smaller opportunities, the Paperwork side of the evaluation is far less complicated and rarely comes up. It may be an issue as you start approaching 100K annual booking value. Having said that, many SAAS companies have no real footprint in the organization and if they used approved data centers, their security and encryption methods are already validated. There may be some reviews around Network Service Agreements or Business Associate documents that are invoked, but those discussions often happen during what we call the Evaluating Stage where they are going through a formal evaluation process of our solution. I’m not sure that adding the “P” offers much value

  2. Rizan
    Rizan says:

    Hi Ben,

    Thanks for your comment. You are absolutely right, it really depends on the size & type of your deal as well as your prospect.
    We see the majority of our customers running on MEDDIC, MEDDICC however many sales teams, that suffer from slipped deals due to delayed Paper Process which add the P to ensure it’s been taking care of.

  3. Ben Hyman
    Ben Hyman says:

    There’s value to both viewpoints on this. In our organization, we see more slippage due to NDI or “No Decision Incorporated” because we didn’t build enough value to make staying with “status quo” a non option. Paperwork is always a critical component and it’s brought up usually at the Evaluating stage. We use MEDDICC religiously in larger (>=50K) deals and I’m not sure if for us, adding the “P” as a separate criteria makes sense.

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