A MEDDIC template that exposes what a deal still needs

MEDDIC stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, and Champion. Some teams use related versions that add competition or a paper process. The name matters less than the discipline: separate what the buyer confirmed from what the seller assumes, then decide which unknown could stop the deal.

A filled field is not automatically a qualified field. "Save time" is not a metric. A friendly contact is not automatically a champion. A planned close date is not a decision process. Each entry should include the source, the confidence level, and the next action needed to verify it.

Update the record after meaningful conversations, not only before a forecast meeting. Qualification changes as stakeholders enter, scope develops, security review begins, and priorities move. The template is a working record of the buying path.

Metrics describe the measurable effect of solving the problem. Revenue, cost, time, risk, capacity, conversion, and error rate are common categories, but the useful measure depends on the account. Capture the current state, desired state, time period, population, and source when those facts are available.

If the buyer says a task is slow but has not measured it, record that honestly. The next question might be how many people perform it, how often it occurs, or what is delayed. A rough buyer-owned estimate can guide a business case, but it should not be presented as audited fact.

Template fields: current measure; target measure; affected volume; financial or operational consequence; measurement owner; evidence source; confidence; next validation step. Do not let a generic calculator replace a conversation about what the organization values.

The economic buyer can approve the investment and accept the business tradeoff. That person may not be the most senior title in the account, and the day-to-day contact may not know who holds final authority. Record the name only when it is known. Otherwise record the likely role and the evidence behind that view.

Access matters. A rep may know the economic buyer's name but have no way to understand their criteria. Ask how similar purchases are approved, who owns the budget, what outcome matters to that owner, and how the team prefers to involve them.

Template fields: name or role; budget ownership; priorities; approval threshold; current access; last interaction; route to access; internal person responsible for the introduction. The next step should be specific enough to act on.

Decision criteria describe how options will be judged. They can include capabilities, implementation effort, security, support, commercial terms, and expected outcomes. Weighting is often more important than the list. A requirement that appears in a document may not be the issue that decides the purchase.

Decision process describes the sequence of people, meetings, approvals, and dates that turns an evaluation into a decision. Capture who evaluates, who recommends, who approves, what can veto the project, and which event sets the timing. A target signature date without those steps is only a hope.

Template fields for criteria: requirement, importance, owner, current fit, proof needed, and gap. Template fields for process: stage, participant, output, target date, dependency, and status. Review both with the buyer instead of building them entirely from seller notes.

Pain is the business problem and its consequence, not a generic inconvenience. Record what happens today, who is affected, why the current approach persists, what the problem costs, and what changes if nothing is done. Keep the buyer's wording where possible.

There may be several pains with different owners. Operations may care about rework, finance about predictability, and leadership about growth capacity. Do not collapse those perspectives into one dramatic statement. Link each consequence to the person who confirmed it.

Template fields: problem statement; affected workflow; affected people; consequence; urgency trigger; previous attempts; source quote or note; confidence; unresolved question. An honest unknown is a stronger starting point than invented urgency.

A champion has influence, benefits from the change, and is willing to sell internally when the rep is absent. Positive feedback is not enough. Evidence might include sharing internal context, arranging access, correcting the business case, coaching the seller, or completing an agreed action.

A contact can be helpful without having influence. Another can have influence but little personal reason to advocate. Record the person's motivation, credibility, access, actions, and risk. If the deal depends on one individual, note that concentration and build broader relationships.

Template fields: name and role; personal win; organizational influence; access to decision makers; actions taken; information shared; next mutual action; relationship risk. Reassess the field when actions do not match verbal support.

Before a call, scan the record for the unknown with the highest deal risk. Choose two or three questions that can clarify it naturally in the conversation. Do not conduct a qualification interrogation. Connect the question to the buyer's process and explain why the answer helps.

After the call, separate facts, direct buyer statements, seller interpretation, and next actions. The AI CRM Note Generator can structure rough notes into MEDDIC fields and mark missing information as unknown. Review the output against the source notes before it enters the CRM.

A deal review should end with decisions. Which fields are sufficiently supported? Which assumption is dangerous? What action will produce evidence? Who owns it, and by when? If the team cannot name a credible next action, the forecast should reflect that uncertainty.