# Decision Criteria: the standard you are actually scored against If you don't know the criteria, you're being measured on a scorecard you can't see. Updated 10 Oct 2026 ## What are decision criteria in MEDDPICC? Decision criteria are the standards the customer will actually score you against, which are rarely the ones in the RFP. A criterion you have heard named is not one you have positioned against, and a positioned one is not yet proven. A deal lost on a criterion the rep knew about and never tested is the most avoidable loss there is. ## Which criteria actually decide the deal? The ones that have killed a vendor here before, which are rarely the ones at the top of the RFP. Ask which ones, then ask how you score on each today; an unflattering answer is the useful one. ## Decision criteria vs decision process: what’s the difference? Decision criteria are what the buyer will judge you on: the standards on their evaluation list. The decision process is how they get from choosing to signing: the steps, who runs each one, and roughly when. A criterion is passed or failed; a step is done or still waiting on someone. Both are a D in MEDDPICC. Only one of them has a date on it. | Where they differ | Criteria | Process | | --- | --- | --- | | What it settles | Which option they choose. | How that choice gets signed. | | How it sounds | “It has to work with our SSO.” | “Finance approves it, then the COO signs.” | | What you write down | How you score on each one. | Each step, who runs it, and when. | | Who can tell you | Whoever wrote their evaluation list. | Whoever ran the last purchase. | | What missing it costs | The decision, to a rival. | The close date, in the last week. | ### The test: could you fail it, or does someone have to do it? Take anything the buyer tells you and ask whether you could fail it. If you could, it’s a criterion. If someone has to do it before anyone signs, it’s a step in the process. - “When you compare the options, what will you judge them on, and who wrote that list?” - “Once you’ve chosen, what has to happen before anyone signs, and who does each part?” - “Is there anything that could still stop this after you’ve picked us?” Some things belong on both lists. “It has to pass a pilot” is a criterion. “The pilot runs four weeks, then the steering group reviews it” is two steps in the process. Write it down as both, or the pilot passes and the deal waits on a meeting nobody booked. In SalesWolf they are two separate lists, each on its own ladder. A criterion reaches named, positioned or proven; a process step reaches listed, owned or dated. - The [MEDDPICC Scorecard](https://www.saleswolf.com/artifacts/meddpicc-scorecard) keeps them in two sections: “D — what they're comparing you against” and “D — how they'll get to a decision”. - The [Close Plan](https://www.saleswolf.com/artifacts/close-plan) lays the steps out in order and drafts a calendar back from the buyer’s deadline. It keeps no table of typical durations: the only timings it has are the ones you recorded. - The [Decision Process questions](https://www.saleswolf.com/meddpicc/decision-process) get a name and a date on each step, one rung at a time. ## How it actually gets missed The criteria get listed on the first call and then treated as settled. Nobody asks how each one is weighted, who owns it, or what happened the last time a vendor failed it — so the rep optimises for the criterion that is easiest to talk about rather than the one that decides. How deep, not how many ## Decision Criteria questions, from named to proven Decision Criteria has three rungs, and where a deal sits on them is the difference between a dimension you have answered and one you have qualified. These are the rungs SalesWolf marks on the deal, by the same names and in the same order. What is written under each is the standard to hold a deal to. The product can only mark what is on record, so check its rung against this bar before you rely on it. 1. ### named You know the criterion is on the list. You know it exists; you do not know how you score. 1. “When you compare options, what goes on the scorecard, and who wrote it?” Gets the criteria and their author together — and the author is usually who you position with. 2. “Of everything on that list, which one has actually killed a vendor here before?” Separates the criteria that are scored from the ones that are recited. 2. ### positioned You know how the customer rates you on it, and against whom. SalesWolf can place you here from your own company knowledge, but only their answer to an unflattering question makes it theirs. 1. “How would you rank us against the alternatives on that one today — honestly?” Turns a named criterion into a positioned one, and an unflattering answer is the useful one. 2. “If we lost this, where do you think we would have lost it?” Asks for the losing criterion directly, while it can still be worked on. 3. ### proven They have seen evidence — a reference, a security review passed, a test they ran themselves. Proof is something they did, not something you sent. 1. “What would you need to see to be confident on it, and who has to see it with you?” Names the proof and the audience for it, which are usually two different problems. 2. “Would you rather test that on your own data, or talk to someone who already has?” Offers two kinds of proof and lets them choose the one they will believe. Done when · You can name the criteria the customer will decide on and where you stand on each one. [The questions for every letter, on one page.](https://www.saleswolf.com/meddpicc/questions) This page in plain text, with nothing to sign in to. Open it on a phone on the way into the call. [www.saleswolf.com/meddpicc/decision-criteria.md](https://www.saleswolf.com/meddpicc/decision-criteria.md) Sample deal · Halden Freight · Decision Criteria ## On a deal, it has a position. On this one, it is confirmed at positioned. ## Qualification Confirmed: Decision Criteria 1 criterion · 1 verified Gaps aren't failures. They're the next things worth learning. The chip from the deal cockpit in SalesWolf, once three calls and an email thread are in. [Work a deal](https://app.saleswolf.com/login) [See it on a sample deal](https://www.saleswolf.com/sample-deal) 14 days free, no card, no call.