MEDDIC and channel partners

“We do 80% of our business via the channel, how do we get the best results from MEDDIC (or any of its variants—MEDDPICC, MEDDPICC, and so on)?”

Think back to the key benefits we discussed in the MEDDIC training*:

• Common language.
• Repeatable machine.
• Increased revenues.

We talked about the benefits of a common language within your own organisation. When you work with the channel, you need to think of your partners as extensions of your own team.  

Having close alignment and shared understanding makes such a difference and we have seen great success with vendors and resellers attending the same MEDDIC courses. 

Communication failure = forecast inaccuracy

One of the biggest challenges with vendor-channel communication resides in understanding who is doing what, within every sales cycle.

We know how hard it can be to communicate within our own organisations. Adding another company to the mix can foster miscommunication and result in a Chinese whisper of forecast details and, ultimately, forecast inaccuracies.

A common language for how we describe the elements of deals—our qualification activities, risks and actions required—helps to breed smooth communication practices, reduce misunderstanding and increase forecast accuracy.

Trust and credibility are built in the understanding of risks and needs of the organisations too, which is imperative for a successful channel engagement. 

Use MEDDIC to drive joint success

So, having a common understanding of MEDDIC between the vendor and channel partner helps you to drive joint success. It will improve your qualification and reduce time wasted pursuing unsuitable opportunities. Just think of it as an extension of your team, paying extra attention to the areas where you might overlap:

• Use Identified pain and Metrics to focus on winnable deals.  
• Build your Champion plan together. 
• Be open and transparent about who is leading and who is supporting in all the different customer interactions (don’t let ego get in the way of success).  
• Agree on your communication plan—the 3 WHYs make a great executive summary. 
• Build your plan together—don’t make assumptions. 

The Importance of shared understanding

The issue with the points we just made comes when you are using the same words, but you have a different understanding of what they really mean or how they should be used.  

This can be apparent in many of the letters, but most common in two: Champion and Decision process. 

What is the misunderstanding about Champion? Surely everyone knows what a Champion is—they are the internal sponsor for the deal, positioning the deal in the meetings when you are not in the room. From a MEDDIC perspective however, a Champion is someone with four specific markers, miss any one of them and they are not a Champion. Does your channel partner have the same understanding?

These are some questions that will help you and your partners have a shared understanding of a Champion:

• Describe how you have identified them as a Champion? 
• What have you done to build this Champion? 
• How have you tested your Champion?
• Who is leading the relationship with the Champion, the vendor or the reseller? 

With extra teams in the paper process, partner involvement often increases the complexity of the Decision process, necessitating more careful communication and planning. Some things to consider:

• Can you describe the steps to agree on the bill of materials and implementation?
• Which teams and owners are involved in this decision?
• How can you ensure fast communication and clarity in the scoping and paper process?

Success or failure all depends on shared communication, collaboration and effectiveness. Each party having its own separate plan is a recipe for missed actions and deal slippage.  

In our training we discuss the benefits of a Mutual Success Plan (MSP). The MSP needs to be one plan that includes all of the actions for all of the parties: vendor, reseller and customer.  

Key pointers for success are:

• Share your understanding about the customer Decision process. 
• Agree who has responsibility for the different areas (technical, business, legal, finance, procurement, and so on).
• Build a joint MSP. It takes a bit more effort to set up, but reaps rewards, especially as you move closer to final negotiations, paperwork and handover to delivery.
• Schedule regular slots to check the status of the shared plan.

Apply MEDDIC together

Applying MEDDIC to a sale with a channel partner can deliver huge benefits to everyone involved in the deal—you, your partner, and your customer. 

However, it is essential that you and your partner have a shared understanding of what each of the MEDDIC letters means. Miscommunication or misunderstanding can lead to confusion and delays that can derail your deal.

Taking some time at the start of your relationship with your channel partner so qualification and clarity will save you time and lead to greater success in the end.

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