Mar 13
Is a MEDDPICC® Compelling Event a Must-Have or Just Nice to Have?
There is no shortage of sales content online. There is also no shortage of people “teaching” frameworks they only half understand. One of the ideas I still hear from time to time is this: MEDDIC says if there is no Compelling Event, there is no deal.
That sounds neat. It sounds disciplined. It sounds like “serious qualification.”
It is also just wrong.
A Compelling Event is one of the most powerful accelerators in a deal. But treating it as an absolute go or no-go rule is a mistake. In real enterprise sales, plenty of good opportunities begin without an obvious deadline. What matters is whether urgency exists, or can be built credibly, not whether the seller can check a box early, based on a response to a basic question.
That distinction matters because sellers lose real deals when they confuse incomplete discovery with bad qualification.
What is a Compelling Event in MEDDPICC®?
A Compelling Event is a time-bound business trigger that forces a decision.
It comes from the customer side, or from the outside world. It does not come from the seller’s quarter-end, forecast pressure, or wishful thinking.
A Compelling Event is something that makes delay dangerous, expensive, or impossible.
Examples are easy to recognize:
an expiring maintenance contract, a regulatory deadline, a security audit, a board meeting, a product launch, a plant go-live, the end of a budget cycle, or a customer commitment that cannot be missed (customer’s customer).
The key point is not just that a date exists. The key point is that the date carries consequences.
That is why a Compelling Event matters. It is not a calendar item. It is business pressure.
Why does a MEDDIC Compelling Event make a deal move faster?
Because it compresses the Decision Process.
When there is a real external or customer-driven reason to act, people show up faster. Meetings happen faster. Approvals move faster. Internal debates become more focused. Your champion has a stronger reason to rally support and push the opportunity through the system.
Without that pressure, deals often become polite theater.
Everyone sounds interested. Everyone is positive. Another call gets scheduled. Another email gets sent. Nothing truly advances.
A real Compelling Event changes the energy of the deal because it makes “do nothing” a costly choice.
That is why it is so valuable. It does not just help you forecast. It helps the customer make a decision.
Does no Compelling Event mean no deal?
No.
That is the lazy conclusion.
Not every serious opportunity begins with an obvious deadline. Some buyers have pain but have not connected it yet to urgency. Some companies are slow. Some problems are expensive but normalized. Some executives are living with avoidable inefficiency simply because no one has made the cost visible enough.
This is where real selling begins.
A strong seller does not just “find urgency.” A strong seller helps the customer understand why waiting is expensive.
So no, the absence of a Compelling Event does not automatically kill the deal. It means you need to do better work.
Is Timing a qualification criterion in MEDDPICC®?
No. There is no “T” in MEDDPICC®.
That point is worth repeating because a lot of sellers smuggle “timing” into qualification as if it were a formal pillar of the framework.
It is not.
Read the full article here :
meddic.academy/meddpicc-comp…
#alwaysbequalifying
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Mar 13
What makes MEDDPICC® and MEDDIC customer-centric?
In this fireside chat, @DaLahout Founder of MEDDIC Academy speaks with @KaiKrickel , Founder of TEDIC, about the origins of MEDDIC and why it was never meant to be just another sales process.
They were both leading PTC in Europe in the early days of the company, one in the French-speaking and the other in the German-speaking regions. In this conversation, Kai shares a powerful perspective on how MEDDIC was built around the customer’s decision process, not the seller’s pipeline.
This is one of the most important distinctions in enterprise sales.
Too many sales teams still think in terms of pushing opportunities through a sales process. But MEDDIC changed that perspective. It put the focus on the people inside the customer account who must make decisions under pressure, align stakeholders, justify investment, and move the business forward.
That is why one of the Ds in MEDDIC stands for Decision Process.
Not sales process.
Decision Process.
In this clip, Kai explains why standardization was necessary for growth, how MEDDIC emerged from that thinking, and why a truly effective sales methodology must be centered on the customer, their stakeholders, their business case, and their path to decision.
Darius also shares his own view from years of teaching MEDDIC and MEDDPICC® in workshops around the world:
salespeople should not be chasing prospects, begging for meetings, or following up repeatedly without value. The role of the salesperson is to help customers evaluate a source of productivity, revenue growth, cost reduction, and business improvement.
That is why he often contrasts Always Be Closing with Always Be Qualifying™.
Always Be Closing is vendor-driven.
Always Be Qualifying™ is customer-centric.
The purpose is to understand the customer’s needs deeply, qualify whether there is a real fit, and either help solve a meaningful business problem or recognize early that the opportunity is not the right one.
That is better for the seller.
And better for the customer.
In this clip, they discuss:
- the early thinking behind MEDDIC
- why sales standardization matters
- the meaning of customer-centric selling
- why the customer’s decision process matters more than the seller’s process
- the role of champions, stakeholders, and economic buyers
- why enterprise sales should focus on value, not pressure
- the difference between Always Be Closing and Always Be Qualifying™.
This short excerpt is especially relevant for:
- sales leaders
- enterprise account executives
- sales managers
- revenue leaders
- founders building B2B sales teams
- anyone using or learning MEDDIC or MEDDPICC®
If you care about enterprise sales, sales qualification, customer-centric selling, and the real philosophy behind MEDDIC & MEDDPICC®, this conversation is for you.
Guest: Kai Krickel
Founder & Chairman, BIIKE Management Camp
Managing Director, TEDIC GmbH
Host: Darius Lahoutifard
Founder, MEDDIC Academy
Author of Always Be Qualifying
#MEDDIC #MEDDPICC #SalesMethodology #EnterpriseSales #SalesLeadership #SalesTraining #CustomerCentric #B2BSales #DecisionProcess #SalesQualification #AlwaysBeQualifying #KaiKrickel #DariusLahoutifard
meddic.academy
meddpicc.net
alwaysbequalifying.com
meddic.academy/always-be-qua…
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30 Jan 2025
In Enterprise B2B Sales, Should You Ask About Budget?
The short answer is No, and here’s why.
meddpicc.co/meddpicc-a-playe…
#MEDDIC #MEDDPICC #BANT #ALWAYSBEQUALIFYING #SALES #BUDGET
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31 Oct 2023
The bigger the quantified pain you can relieve, the larger the size of the deal.
#alwaysbequalifying #meddic #meddpicc
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7 Jan 2023
This Account Executive has not been trained at MEDDIC Academy .
She's trying hard to keep up with the rest of the sales team.
youtu.be/Pb28-QZeL8w
#humor #weekendvibes #salestraining #sales #meddic #meddpicc #alwaysbequalifying
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102
20 May 2022
Flash Giveaway Alert: Today only (5/20/22).
Personalized & Signed PDF copy of my book, Always Be Qualifying, for any of my followers who wants to read it or to own a signed personalized copy.
1st giveaway ever. 5th Anniversary Perk.
#alwaysbequalifying
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5 Jan 2022
Your Sales Manager's reaction when you keep committing to close that same deal month after month, and you don't?
Don't do that.
Learn MEDDPICC and know when you will close your deals.
#sales #meddpicc #meddic #salestraining #salesenablement #forecasting #alwaysbequalifying
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25 Jul 2020
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25 Jul 2020
Always Be Qualifying #ABQ #AlwaysBeQualifying #MEDDIC #MEDDPICC #Sales #salesenablement @GoranMalmberg
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25 Jul 2020
Always Be Qualifying #ABQ #AlwaysBeQualifying #MEDDIC #MEDDPICC #Sales #salesenablement
meddic.academy/always-be-qua…
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25 Jun 2020
Always Be Qualifying : Coming soon.
#AlwaysBeQualifying #MEDDIC #MEDDPICC #salesenablement #salestraining #sales
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10 Jun 2020
ALWAYS BE QUALIFYING: MEDDIC The Book, is coming soon.
Sign up to get notified when we start shipping.
meddic.academy/meddic-the-bo…
#MEDDPICC #Sales #salesenablement #salesqualification #alwaysbequalifying
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22 Dec 2016
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