The MEDDPICC fields are not the point

We have lost count of how many sales leaders tell us they have 'rolled out MEDDPICC'. What that usually means is that someone added eight required fields to the opportunity object in Salesforce and the sellers complain about it on every Friday all-hands.

The fields are not the point. The discipline is the point. The fields are evidence — testable, auditable, third-party-verifiable evidence — that the discipline is being run on the deal.

The first audit we run on any new retainer is a field-fill audit. We pull the last 30 closed-won and closed-lost deals and look at when each MEDDPICC field was filled, by whom, and what evidence was attached. If the economic-buyer field was filled the week before close, with no notes, the field is performance. The discipline did not happen.

When we redesign a playbook we tie each MEDDPICC field to a stage gate. The field cannot be filled by typing. It must be filled by attaching the document, the email thread, or the call recording that constitutes the evidence. Manager approval is required to advance the stage.