MEDDPICC · questions
MEDDPICC questions, filed by how deep the deal already is
The right MEDDPICC question is the one for the rung above where that letter already sits, not the next one on a list. Every question below is filed under the dimension it qualifies and the rung a good answer moves the deal to, with what the answer tells you. They are the same questions each dimension page carries, gathered in one place.
How do I use a list of MEDDPICC questions without interrogating the buyer?
Find where each letter stands first, then ask one or two questions from the rung above it. A letter that is already at its top rung needs no question on this call. The ladder check on the MEDDPICC page asks you to pick, for each letter, the highest rung you could back with something the buyer said.
M · Metrics questions
named
“When this is working a year from now, what number does your team report differently?”
Gets the measure in their words and their reporting cadence, not yours.
“Which report would you open to see whether this worked?”
Finds the measure by finding where it already lives.
quantified
“What is that number today, roughly, and where does the figure come from?”
Gets a baseline and its source in one answer. An estimate is fine here, as long as you know whose it is.
“Who owns that number today — is it yours, or does it live with finance?”
Separates a figure your champion estimated from one the business already stands behind.
tied to value
“If you took that figure to your CFO tomorrow, what is the first thing they would push back on?”
Surfaces the weakness in the business case while there is still time to fix it.
“If that number moved the way you expect, what would you stop spending on, or start doing?”
Connects the figure to money the business would actually move, which is the chain finance checks.
E · Economic Buyer questions
named
“When something this size gets approved here, whose signature is the last one on it?”
Asks for the approver by the approval rather than by title, so you do not name the evaluator by mistake.
“When your team approved something this size last time, what did the approver actually see — a business case, a one-pager, someone in a room?”
Tells you the artifact this deal has to produce, and whether you are writing it this week.
motivated
“What is [name] on the hook for this year — the number they get asked about?”
Gets the buyer’s personal measure, which is rarely the champion’s.
“What is the thing they are most likely to say no to?”
Names the objection before it is raised somewhere you cannot answer it.
engaged
“Would it help if I put the numbers in front of them directly, or would you rather take it?”
Tests access without asking for it — and a refusal is itself information about your champion.
“Before this reaches [name] for signature, would they want fifteen minutes to check it against their priorities for the year?”
Gives your champion a reason to bring you in that serves the buyer, not you.
D · Decision Criteria questions
named
“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.
“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.
positioned
“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.
“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.
proven
“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.
“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.
D · Decision Process questions
listed
“Walk me through what happens after you decide you want this — who sees it, and in what order?”
Gets the sequence in their words, including the steps that never appear in an RFP.
“Has anything about that path changed this year?”
Catches a reorg or a moved budget line before it invalidates your close date.
owned
“Who carries each of those steps — a name, not a team?”
A step with no named owner is a step nobody is doing.
“If one of those people needed material from us to make the case, who would it be?”
Finds the owner you can actually help, which is the one step a rep can speed up.
dated
“Working back from when you want this live, when does each of those steps need to start?”
Turns the sequence into dates the customer set, which is what a close date can stand on.
“Which of those steps has surprised you before?”
Finds the step that stalls deals here, which is rarely the one that looks hardest.
P · Paper Process questions
listed
“Which reviews does a purchase like this go through here — legal, security, procurement, anything else?”
Gets the full list in one question, before any of it is urgent.
“Is there anything that has to happen before procurement will even open a file?”
Finds the prerequisite step — a vendor form, a supplier registration — that quietly adds two weeks.
owned
“Who runs security review here, and what do they need from us to start?”
Turns the review most likely to stall the deal into a task with an owner and a start date.
“Who in procurement will pick this up, and how full is their queue right now?”
Procurement is a team with a queue, and the queue is part of the duration.
dated
“Once the decision is made — how long did the paperwork take the last time you bought something this size?”
Gets a real duration from a real precedent, rather than an optimistic guess about this one.
“Does legal start from our contract or yours, and how long did the last redline take?”
Whose paper it is decides most of legal’s duration, and a precedent gets you a number rather than a hope.
I · Identify Pain questions
stated
“What made you take this call now, rather than six months ago?”
Gets the problem in their words, with a hint of what changed.
“If you could fix one thing about how this works today, what would it be?”
Asks for the pain without steering them towards yours.
contextualized
“Who feels that day to day, and what do they do instead right now?”
Moves a stated problem into context by finding the workaround, which is where the cost lives.
“How often does that actually happen — weekly, monthly, every close?”
Gets frequency, without which no figure can be built.
quantified
“How many hours a week does the workaround take, and whose hours are they?”
Builds the number from the workaround you already found, in units they can check.
“If nothing changed for another year, what does that cost you?”
Asks the customer to do the arithmetic, so the number is theirs rather than yours.
C · Champion questions
candidate
“Who on your side is closest to this problem, and would want a hand in fixing it?”
Finds the candidate by the problem, not by who was friendliest on the call.
“Would you want to be involved in how this gets decided, or would you rather hand it on?”
Lets your contact choose; a candidate says yes and means it.
motivated
“What does a win here look like for you personally?”
Finds the motivation, or finds that there isn’t one — both are worth knowing in month two.
“If this goes well, what changes for you at your next review?”
Ties the win to something they are measured on, which is what survives an inconvenient week.
influential
“If you were putting this in front of your leadership without me, what is the version that lands — and what is the bit they push back on?”
Tests whether they have rehearsed the internal case, which is the first evidence of a real champion.
“Tell me about the last time you got something approved here that others were unsure about — how did you do it?”
A story is a lead, not the rung. Influential means you have watched them move someone — ask, then watch for it.
tested
“Who else needs to be comfortable with this, and would you be willing to bring them in?”
A small, safe test of whether they will actually spend standing on this deal.
“Could you send our summary to [name] this week, with your own note on top?”
A small ask with a date on it — what arrives, and when, is the test.
C · Competition questions
named
“What happens if you do nothing for another two quarters?”
Puts the real competitor — the status quo — on the table where it can be argued with.
“Who else are you looking at — including sorting it out internally?”
Names the vendors and the do-it-yourself option in one question, without making it sound like a threat.
positioned
“What do you like about the way they do it?”
Gets an honest read on the rival’s strength, which a defensive question never will.
“Where do you see us ahead today, and where are they?”
Asks for the scorecard as they hold it now, both columns.
trap set
“When you look at them next, would you ask how they handle [the step you do best]?”
Sets a trap: a question that keeps working in a meeting you are not in.
“Would it be fair to ask every vendor to prove it on your own data before you choose?”
Makes proof on their data the standard every rival has to meet — worth proposing only when it is a test you pass.
Two things MEDDPICC has no letter for
SalesWolf tracks two dimensions the eight letters leave out: the compelling event, the dated reason to decide now, and required capabilities, what the product has to do for the buyer to say yes. Neither is part of MEDDPICC, and each page says so.
Compelling Event questions
stated
“What is driving the timing on this — why this quarter rather than next?”
Finds whether a real event exists, or whether the date is your forecast wearing a disguise.
“Is anything ending, starting or being audited in the next six months that this touches?”
Names the usual kinds of event so the customer can recognise theirs.
dated
“Is there a date on that — and whose date is it?”
A date the customer holds survives; a date you proposed moves.
“If your current contract renews automatically, how many days’ notice does it need?”
Finds the real deadline — the notice date, often months before the renewal itself.
consequenced
“What happens on your side if that date passes?”
Tests whether the event has a consequence, which is what separates a deadline from a wish.
“Who else is affected if it slips?”
Finds the people whose deadline this also is — often the fastest route to an economic buyer.
Required Capabilities questions
named
“What does it have to do for this to count as fixed — in jobs, not features?”
Gets the list in the customer’s language, which is the language they will score you in.
“Is there a list already, and who wrote it?”
Finds the document and its author before the demo is built around a guess.
tied to value
“Of everything on that list, which one, if we got it wrong, would make the whole thing not worth doing?”
Sorts a flat feature list into the one capability the decision actually turns on.
“What breaks today because you do not have that?”
Ties a capability to a real consequence, which is what makes it worth leading a demo with.
evidenced
“What would you want to try yourself before you believed it?”
Names the evidence they would accept, so the proof step is designed rather than guessed.
“Could we run that on a sample of your own data before the next meeting?”
Proposes evidence on their terms, with a date attached.
Every question on this page as a spreadsheet: CSV. One row per question: letter, dimension, rung, question, what the answer tells you.
This page in plain text, with nothing to sign in to. Open it on a phone on the way into the call.
This is the definition. On a deal it has a position, and the position is the argument.
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