Sales qualification framework
MEDDIC
MEDDIC is a B2B sales qualification framework built on six checkpoints, Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, and Champion, used to assess whether a deal is real and worth pursuing.
In short
- MEDDIC is a B2B sales qualification framework built on six checkpoints, Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, and Champion, used to assess whether a deal is real and worth pursuing.
What MEDDIC means
MEDDIC is a qualification methodology popularized at PTC in the 1990s and now standard in enterprise and complex B2B selling. Rather than a sales process, it is a checklist that reps work against to gauge the health of an opportunity: the more boxes you can fill with real, validated information, the more qualified the deal.
The discipline of MEDDIC is that each letter is a piece of information you have to earn from the buyer, not assume. A deal where you can name the economic buyer and quantify the metrics is qualified; a deal where you cannot is at risk no matter how friendly the conversations feel.
The six MEDDIC components
| Letter | Stands for | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| M | Metrics | What quantified economic outcome does the buyer want, and by how much? |
| E | Economic buyer | Who controls the budget and can say yes to the spend? |
| D | Decision criteria | What technical and business standards must a solution meet to be chosen? |
| D | Decision process | What steps, approvals, and timeline lead to a signed contract? |
| I | Identify pain | What concrete problem is driving the buyer to act now? |
| C | Champion | Who inside the account sells on your behalf when you are not in the room? |
Letter
Stands for
- M
- Metrics
- E
- Economic buyer
- D
- Decision criteria
- D
- Decision process
- I
- Identify pain
- C
- Champion
Letter
Question it answers
- M
- What quantified economic outcome does the buyer want, and by how much?
- E
- Who controls the budget and can say yes to the spend?
- D
- What technical and business standards must a solution meet to be chosen?
- D
- What steps, approvals, and timeline lead to a signed contract?
- I
- What concrete problem is driving the buyer to act now?
- C
- Who inside the account sells on your behalf when you are not in the room?
How reps use it
Teams use MEDDIC to score pipeline, run deal reviews, and decide where to invest time. A common practice is to grade each letter red, yellow, or green and force the question: what would it take to turn this yellow into green? Gaps in the Economic buyer and Decision process are the most common reasons forecasted deals slip.
MEDDIC pairs naturally with discovery. Most of the letters are filled during a strong discovery call, which is why qualification frameworks and discovery technique are usually taught together.
Frequently asked
What does MEDDIC stand for?
- MEDDIC stands for Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, and Champion, the six pieces of information a rep validates to qualify a B2B opportunity.
Is MEDDIC a sales process or a qualification framework?
- MEDDIC is a qualification framework, not a step-by-step sales process. It tells you what to know about a deal, not what activity to do next, so teams layer it on top of their existing sales cycle.
What is the difference between MEDDIC and MEDDPICC?
- MEDDPICC adds two letters to MEDDIC, Paper process and Competition, to better fit longer enterprise deals with heavy procurement and competitive pressure.