Sales Playbook Section 3
The Axiom Sales Methodology, Funnel, and Pipelines
Methodology: MEDDPICC
What is a sales methodology?
A sales methodology is a set of rules for selling a product to a customer. It provides guidance on how to qualify and move customers through the sales funnel.
Sales methodologies are intertwined with customer psychology, and help salespeople get in the customer mindset to better understand and match company products with customer needs.
This differs from a sales process, which is the steps taken to move the customer through the funnel with the methodology in mind to guide activities.
What is a sales funnel?
The sales funnel is created by actionable steps the sales team should take to move a lead from an interested party to a paying customer.
Each stage moves the lead closer to contract close and contains actionable steps to remove blockers.
While each stage will differ slightly by each customer, the goal is that the pipeline stages are established within to make the customer journey as frictionless as possible.
Each stage should naturally build off each other as the lead moves through the pipeline.
TOFU – Top of Funnel
- Leads may not know about the brand or have any awareness of products offerings and solutions.
- During this stage you take a consultative approach to provide information and build trust.
MOFU – Middle of Funnel
- Blockers and pain points should be clearly defined. They’re aware we have solutions and are interested in continuing conversations.
- During this stage you will provide as much information as possible to help the prospect decide without overselling. They should feel empowered and secure that what we’re providing is solving their pain points.
BOFU – Bottom of Funnel
- The lead has been fully vetted and qualified. Provide proof of ROI (Return on Investment), provide assurances, any extra incentives, and urgency.
- It’s most appropriate to press for the hard sell at this stage while still be consultative. We should have a tailored mission offering specific to them to agree to.
Let's take a deeper dive into MEDDPICC and we'll then pull the methodoloy and funnel together.
What is MEDDPICC?
This methodology is popular in B2B enterprise sales with complex sales cycles. MEDDPICC is useful for qualifying leads and identifying where salespeople should spend most of their time.
MEDDPICC stands for:
- Metrics
- Economic buyer
- Decision criteria
- Decision process
- Paper process
- Implication of pain
- Champion
- Competition
These acronyms are described in more detail below. It's important to note that these acronyms don't necessarily need to be done in order.
Metrics
- How are we quantifying the economic benefit; how is this meeting the customer’s business goals?
- This stage should highly consider WIIFM, a “What’s in It for Me” mentality for the customer, and tailor the communication to this customer benefit.
Economic Buyer
- Does the prospect have funding to support the project?
- Who is the final decision maker, and how early can you get them involved in the process?
- Once you have buy-in, establish what it will take to ultimately close the sale.
Decision Criteria
- What is the prospects ultimate list of wants?
- What does the perfect mission look like to them?
- What are the criteria for choosing to spend their budget with Axiom?
- How are you calculating ROI (Return on Investment) to justify this investment vs. the customer allocating budget elsewhere?
Decision Process
- How do you get to that final, yes?
- What is the customer’s process for making this decision both technically and financially?
- What are the steps to getting to the final decision?
- What is the timeline and priority of this decision?
Paper Process
- Use the AS9100 Deal process to create the proposal and, ultimately, the contract.
- Involve as many internal, Axiom stakeholders as possible to ensure we’re not over promising and all contractual obligations can be delivered.
- What is the legal review process on the customer end? How long does it usually take, and who are the main stakeholders?
- What is our level of priority with the customer’s legal team?
Implication of Pain
- Cost/benefit analysis
- What challenges is the customer facing and what are those implications?
- What happens if you don’t do this?
Champion
- How do you get them to pitch the solution internally on Axiom’s behalf?
- This person should be the decision maker or have significant influence on the decision makers.
- They should be informed enough to answer tougher questions and explain benefits.
Competition
- What other projects are competing for this budget?
- We should have an answer for why the ROI (Return on Investment) would be better spent on an Axiom mission vs. their other budgetary requests.
How do you use MEDDPICC to qualify leads?
- Metrics: The process begins with customer motivations. You’ll need to dive into metrics to understand the goals buyers want to achieve, which should be measurable.
- Economic buyer: When pursuing a lead, a sales rep must identify who’s in charge of making and authorizing financial decisions. This person is also known as the economic buyer. It’s likely your economic buyer will be further up the corporate food chain than your current point of contact. This person can make or break the transaction.
- Decision criteria: Understand how your prospect’s company makes decisions about purchases similar to your solution.
- Decision process: Understand the steps involved in the decision-making process and the timeline for each step.
- Identify pain: Identify the pain points of the prospect and how your solution can help alleviate them.
- Champion: Identify a champion within the prospect’s organization who can help you navigate the decision-making process.
Now that you know what MEDDPICC is and what questions to ask your customer, let's pull it together with our funnel and identify HubSpot stages.
The below reviews the customer state, value exchanges and KPI's (key performance indicators).
KPI: A quantifiable measurement use to gauge long-term performance.
Step 1: Awareness & Interest; HubSpot Stage – Initial Outreach
- Customer state: This is the first time the customer is learning about Axiom.
- Value exchange: Axiom provides information on the opportunity. Customer provides attention.
- MEDPICC: Decision Criteria, Implication of Pain, Competition
- HubSpot Report / KPIs: Contacts Created, Activities by Country, Completed Activities, Team Activities by Activity Date
Step 2: Interest & Initial Outreach; HubSpot Stage – Meeting Scheduled, in Active Conversation
- Customer state: The customer has engaged with Axiom materials and wants to learn more.
- Value exchange: Axiom provides credibility in the follow up. Customer provides information.
- MEDPICC: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Process
- HubSpot Report / KPIs: Completed Activities
Step 3: Consideration; HubSpot Stage – Proposal Sent
- Customer state: The customer is preliminarily qualified and has expressed significant interest.
- Value exchange: Axiom provides realization of a dream. Customer provides commitment to it.
- MEDPICC: Champion, Paper Process
- HubSpot Report / KPIs: Deals Created
Step 4: Intent & Evaluation; HubSpot Stage – Contract Negotiation
- Customer state: The customer has shifted from interested to obsessed.
- Value exchange: Axiom provides the offer. Customer provides the legal promise.
- MEDPICC: Champion, Paper Process, Metrics
- HubSpot Report / KPI: Deals in Contract Stages
Step 5: Decision; HubSpot Stage – Closed – Won/Payment Received
- Customer state: The customer has signed the offer letter.
- Value exchange: Axiom provides the seat. Customer provides the deposit.
- MEDPICC: N/A
- HubSpot Report / KPI: Deals in “Closed – Won/Payment Received” stage.
Step 6: Decision; HubSpot Stage – Closed – Won/Payment Received
- Customer state: The customer is personalizing their pre/during/post experience.
- Value exchange: Axiom provides the platform. Customer provides their networks.
- MEDPICC: N/A
HubSpot Pipeline Stages
What are the pipelines and how do you move deals through each?
INSERT HUBSPOT VIDEO
Pipeline stages, descriptions, and criteria for moving to the next stage:
- Initial Outreach
- At least one customer response to outreach activities has been received.
- There may be some initial back-and-forth prior to a meeting being scheduled, but the goal should be to push for a formal conversation.
- Move to the next stage when the first meeting is scheduled.
- Meeting Scheduled
Virtual or in-person
- Discovery questions are asked to ascertain customer goals and blockers.
- Refer to MEDDPICC categories and apply as needed to each unique customer situation.
- Move to active conversation if a second meeting is scheduled and additional stakeholders are included in the process.
- Active Conversation
- This stage will likely be longer than previous stages.
- All activities in this stage should move closer to the customer asking for a proposal.
- Customer blockers should be resolved as best as possible.
- Refer to MEDDPICC categories and apply as needed to each unique customer situation.
- Move to Proposal sent stage when customer has asked for proposal.
- Proposal Sent
When a deal is moved to this stage, sales will have to manually update which stage the proposal is in on the left-hand side of the deal record using the “Proposal Stages” property. The drop-down will allow Sales and/or Rev Ops to choose proposal kickoff, proposal release, or proposal approval stages.
- Proposal stages:
- ROM (if applicable)
- RFP (if applicable)
- Proposal Kickoff
- Proposal writing has begun internally.
- Proposal Release
- Proposal has been sent to a customer.
- Proposal Approval
- The proposal has been approved by the customer.
- Move to Contract Negotiation when customer has asked for a formal contract.
- Contract Negotiation
The deal process is now owned by Revenue Operations and should adhere to the AS9100 process.
Rev Ops will assume responsibility when we move to contract drafting and negotiations.
When a deal is moved to this stage, sales will have to manually update which stage the contract is in on the left-hand side of the deal record using the “Contract Negotiation Stage” property. The drop-down will allow Sales and/or Rev Ops to choose the below bulleted list.
- Customer Acceptance
- Draft Contract Send
- Negotiation Started
- Agreement Achieved
- Contract Signed
Move to the next stage if contract is signed, specify payment received or not received.
- Closed – Won / Payment Received
- Closed – Won / Pending Full Payment
- This stage is used when a contract is not paid in full upfront and has scheduled payment milestones.
- Closed – Lost
Move to closed / lost if the deal is lost at any point in the pipeline. Deal is lost if the customer backs out with verbal or written confirmation or if there's no communication in 6+ months.