In complex B2B sales, MEDDPICC has become the gold standard for opportunity inspection. It’s a powerful tool that helps sellers and sales managers assess deal health, identify gaps, and qualify opportunities. But here’s the thing, MEDDPICC is diagnostic, not developmental. It tells you what’s missing but it doesn’t show you how to advance the deal.
To build stronger, more strategic sales teams, you must go beyond qualification frameworks. You need a structured coaching approach that helps sellers develop deals, not just inspect them.
MEDDPICC: Essential, But Incomplete
Let’s be clear, MEDDPICC, or any qualification tool, is invaluable. It brings discipline and rigor to the sales process. It ensures you’re aligned with the customer’s metrics. It forces you to confirm you know the economic buyer, that you’ve uncovered the customer’s pain, mapped the decision criteria, and understood the paper process.
But here’s the critical question: Does checking these boxes actually help your seller progress the deal? Does it spark the kind of strategic thinking that helps them figure out how to win?
The Trap: When Deal Reviews Miss the Mark
Too often, deal reviews end up as little more than compliance exercises. You spent the meeting grilling the seller about gaps in MEDDPICC or incomplete CRM fields. The focus shifts from advancing the opportunity to inspecting the data. Sellers walk away feeling beat up and no closer to knowing what to do next.
What’s missing is forward-looking action: clear, tangible steps the seller can take to move the deal forward and engage the customer meaningfully.
What’s Missing? The “How” of Deal Development
This is where opportunity coaching comes in. It’s a simple, consultative framework that helps sellers stop thinking like box-checkers and start thinking like strategists. It shifts the conversation from internal processes to customer value. And most importantly, it helps sellers build actionable plans and not just reports.
Here’s a framework you can use to guide those conversations:
| Opportunity Question |
Coaching Tip |
|
What’s the customer’s business need?
|
Develop questions to deeply understand the business problem we’re solving.
|
|
What’s the unique value we provide?
|
Create and practice a compelling value proposition linked to that need.
|
|
Who are the decision-makers, and what is our relationship with them?
|
Plan how to engage and influence stakeholders beyond current contacts.
|
|
What is the next step you expect the customer to take?
|
Focus on tangible customer commitments that drive deal progression.
|
|
What is the customer’s urgency to implement this deal?
|
Link urgency to business impact to ensure we’re solving a priority problem.
|
|
How will the competition try to beat us?
|
Map strengths/weaknesses vs. competitors and adjust positioning.
|
|
Why will we win?
|
Identify 2-3 reasons our solution is clearly the best fit.
|
These aren’t just theoretical questions. They’re designed to help the seller think critically, sharpen their strategy, and take action that moves the deal forward.
Why This Approach Works?
What makes this approach so powerful is that it connects inspection to action. MEDDPICC helps us identify what’s missing but opportunity coaching helps the seller determine what to do about it.
It builds strategic thinking. Instead of filling out forms or updating CRM fields, sellers learn to analyze, plan, and position their deals more effectively. And it ensures that every deal review ends with a clear, documented action plan on what the seller will do, what the customer is expected to do, and by when.
Best of all, this approach supports any qualification tool. Whether you use MEDDPICC, BANT, or another framework, these coaching conversations help advance opportunities.
The Role of the Manager: From Inspector to Coach
The best managers don’t just inspect deals; they also help shape and advance them. They develop sellers. When you pair this kind of coaching framework with MEDDPICC, your deal reviews become more meaningful and effective. They produce stronger strategies and clear, time-bound next steps. And over time, they help your team win more and win faster.
Final Thoughts: The Art of Deal Coaching
Qualification frameworks like MEDDPICC are essential. But they aren’t enough on their own. To win complex deals, sellers need to think deeply, plan strategically, and act intentionally. As managers, it’s our job to help them do just that. Structured opportunity coaching is how we make it happen.
So next time you’re in a deal review, ask yourself: Are we just inspecting the deal, or are we truly advancing it?
Want to take the next steps?
Learn how to create a collaborative sales coaching environment that changes behaviors by developing the right sales coaching mindset.
Read more here
