If you are in B2B sales, you are probably following a sales framework like BANT, MEDDIC, Sandler, or Gap Selling. Maybe you follow it to the ‘t’ or more likely, you take a few pieces from here and there.
Seems like it’s working, right? Do you know for sure?
Here’s how you know to tell what impact your sales framework has on revenue.
Measure it.
- Measure adoption — Is anyone filling out these fields?
- Create accountability — Does anyone look at this information?
- Determine the impact — Do we win more deals?
Adoption
A good sales qualification framework helps reps determine if the prospect will become a successful customer. Are your reps following the framework?
Build a report in CRM to determine what percentage of the MEDDIC fields are complete. This may be a great time to rethink the fields in your layout, too. If it’s not used, just delete the field. Right then and there.
Just kidding! Everyone knows we never delete a field in CRM. Never, ever? Yes, never ever.
This report serves as a benchmark. I would imagine when you see these numbers, you want to improve the adoption rate. A great starting point to improve adoption is to … ask the reps! No one likes doing data entry, but you may find some interesting answers like:
- “I don’t know what this field means” – great feedback for sales enablement
- “I put that information someplace else” – maybe CRM admins can clean up the layout
- “No one reads that info anyway” – which is a perfect transition to…
Accountability
Adoption fails when there isn’t accountability. If it’s the sales rep’s job to update CRM, it’s a manager’s job to read what’s in CRM.
Everything has to be in the system. No updates in an external spreadsheet or email. There must be a single source of the truth.
When it’s in the CRM, manager’s need to review it. Assess it. Try assigning a grade to each MEDDIC field that lets the rep know if they hit the mark or still have work to do. Now updating these fields isn’t an arbitrary exercise, there’s real feedback.
With more accountability across reps and Managers, CRM updates are more meaningful. No longer just a “check-the-box” exercise.
Impact
Now you have everyone doing the work. There’s adoption. There’s accountability. So what’s the impact?
In the short-term, the grades roll up to create an opportunity score that highlights deals that are at risk. So it’s clear what reps need help and how managers should be spending their time.
In the medium-term, look at how these scores impact win rates, sales cycle durations, average sales price. The goal is to tie MEDDIC, or whatever framework you are following, to outcomes. Teams buy into processes that produce results.
Then iterate. You’ll be able to see what criteria are having the biggest impact on a deal. Prioritize that. Train teams on how to better uncover that information earlier in the sales cycle. Turn MEDDIC into a flywheel for success and learning.
Want to learn more?
If you would like to learn more about turning your BANT, MEDDIC, Gap Selling, or Sandler fields into a flywheel for success, we’d be happy to chat!
