Field notes
Insights for Deal Management.
Practical perspectives on sales strategy, deal management and winning complex deals, by David Weiss, author of Deal Management.
What Is an Economic Buyer? Economic Buyer vs Technical Buyer vs Champion
What an economic buyer is, how it differs from the executive sponsor and technical buyer, and why champion is a behavior any of them can show, not a role.
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Is MEDDPICC Still Relevant in 2026? AI, Bigger Buying Committees and Self-Directed Buyers
AI note-takers, 13-person buying groups, buyers who research alone. Why the MEDDPICC letters matter more than ever, and what changed about getting the evidence.
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MEDDIC for SMB and Startups: When Fewer Letters Win
Full MEDDPICC is often overkill for fast SMB deals. Which MEDDIC letters matter most, how founders should start, and when to add Competition and Paper Process.
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MEDDPICC Examples: Weak vs Strong for Every Letter (Plus a Full Deal Walkthrough)
MEDDPICC examples for all 8 letters: what weak and strong sound like, plus an illustrative deal scored red, yellow and green at three stages with next moves.
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MEDDPICC Ruled a Generic Term: What the 2026 Court Decision Means for Sales Teams
In April 2026 a US federal court ruled MEDDPICC a generic term. What generic means, what changed, and what it means for sales teams and trainers.
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How Long Does It Take to Implement MEDDPICC? A 90-Day Rollout Plan
A 90-day MEDDPICC rollout plan in three phases: build definitions and plays, launch with leaders first, then reinforce every week. Plus what to measure.
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MEDDPICC Mistakes: The Trap in Every Letter, and 14 Fixes That Unstick Deals
The 14 MEDDPICC mistakes that stall deals: the trap hiding in each of the eight letters, six program-level mistakes, and the concrete fix for every one.
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MEDDPICC vs Challenger: Deal Framework vs Selling Methodology (Why You Need Both)
MEDDPICC vs Challenger: they answer different questions. Challenger shapes how you create the need. MEDDPICC shows where the deal has gaps. Here's how they fit.
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MEDDPICC vs SPICED: Which Framework Fits Your Deals (and Can You Use Both?)
MEDDPICC vs SPICED, letter by letter: what each framework covers, where they overlap, what SPICED doesn't name, and how teams use both in complex deals.
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Who Created MEDDIC? The History of MEDDIC, MEDDICC and MEDDPICC
Who created MEDDIC, the problem it was built to solve, how it grew into MEDDICC and MEDDPICC, what the 2026 court ruling means, and the myths to ignore.
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Deal Slippage: What It Is and How to Recover a Stalled Deal in Four Steps
What deal slippage is, how to measure your slippage rate, and a four-step system to recover a stalled deal before the quarter is gone.
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Go / No Go Decision in Sales: How to Design the Decision Before the Meeting
How to win the go/no go decision in B2B sales: design the executive decision in advance, make the case portable and make delay cost more than action.
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What Is an Executive Sponsor in Sales? How to Earn One Before Your Deal Dies in the Middle
What an executive sponsor is, how it differs from the economic buyer and champion, and four plays to earn one before your deal dies in the middle.
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How to Run a Pipeline Review Meeting (Agenda and Template)
How to run a pipeline review meeting that finds risk instead of interrogating reps: pipeline definitions, a keep-or-kill scrub, an agenda and a template.
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How to Run a Forecast Call: The 60-Minute Sales Forecast Call Agenda
How to run a sales forecast call that ends with a number you can stand behind: a 60-minute agenda, a seller update format, and what to put on screen.
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How to Run a Sales QBR for Your Team (90-Minute Agenda and Pre-Work Template)
How to run an internal sales team QBR: what it should include, a 90-minute agenda per seller, a 48-hour pre-work template, and the four outputs.
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How to Run a MEDDPICC Deal Review (Free Template)
How to run a MEDDPICC deal review that changes the outcome: color code every letter, a 60-minute agenda, who to invite, and a free prep template.
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MEDDPICC vs BANT (Plus SPIN and SPICED): Which One Do You Need?
MEDDPICC vs BANT, SPIN and SPICED compared: what each framework covers, where each falls short, when to use which, and how they fit together.
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Sales Forecast Categories: What Commit, Upside and Pipeline Must Prove
Sales forecast categories explained: what qualified pipeline, upside (best case) and commit must prove with evidence, when to downgrade, and how to call them.
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Sales Methodology vs Sales Process: What's the Difference?
Sales methodology vs sales process explained: what each one does, why bolting a methodology onto stages fails, and the missing layer that connects them.
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The 45-Minute Sales 1:1: A Seller-Led Agenda and One-on-One Template
A sales one-on-one template for managers: a 45-minute, seller-led 1:1 agenda with deal inspection, coaching and agreements, plus a free template.
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The Sales-to-Customer Success Handoff: Transfer the Value, Not Just the Account (Free Checklist)
How to run a sales to customer success handoff that transfers value, not just the account, plus a copy-paste handoff checklist for Sales and CS.
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Stakeholder Mapping in B2B Sales: Stop Multi-Threading, Start Unlocking Gates (Free Template)
Why "multi-thread more" is lazy advice, how to map buying committee roles as gates and behaviors, and a free stakeholder map template for B2B sales.
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What to Do When Your Champion Leaves the Company: A 5-Step Playbook (With Email Template)
Your champion left the company or got reassigned. A 5-step playbook to save the deal: move in one day, remap, send the right email, and re-run discovery.
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What Is a Mutual Action Plan in Sales? (Free Template)
What a mutual action plan is in B2B sales, what goes in one, how to build it with your buyer by working backwards, and a free MAP template to copy.
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AI Sales Forecasting: Why You Miss The Number After You Implement The Tools
Why AI forecasting tools miss the number when CRM data holds assumptions, and how evidence grading, plays and operating rhythms fix forecast accuracy.
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How to Implement MEDDPICC So It Actually Works
Why MEDDPICC rollouts become checklists, and the three layers that make it work: evidence-based grading, plays tied to gaps, and operating rhythms.
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Deal Management vs Sales Training
Sales training builds selling skills while deal management shows sellers what they missed. Learn why you need both and how to spot which is missing.
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How to Improve Your Sales Win Rate
Why winning more of your existing pipeline beats generating more, and how evidence grading, quality pipeline and buyer process alignment lift win rate.
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When to Disqualify a Deal (And When Walking Away Wins It Back)
Four deal realities that tell you when to disqualify, the scripts to use, and why an honest pullback often brings serious buyers back to the table.
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The Leadership Problem Behind Every Struggling MEDDPICC Rollout
Why MEDDPICC rollouts stall on leadership, not training, and how trust, consistent standards and coaching turn the framework into an operating rhythm.
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The Two Sales Process Stages Nobody Builds
Solution Alignment and Business Alignment are the missing stages between demo and proposal. Learn what each one does and why their order matters.
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The Deal Qualification Framework Nobody Taught You
Six deal criteria graded red, yellow or green on evidence, plus four upgrades that turn MEDDPICC and other frameworks into a working operating layer.
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What Every MEDDPICC Rollout Gets Wrong
Three structural problems that turn MEDDPICC into pipeline theater: checklist fields, data that never reaches the buyer, and a dated stakeholder model.
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The Sales Competition You Didn’t Account For
Every deal passes four competitive gates: status quo, named vendors, build vs. buy and competing priorities. Learn how to prepare for and win each one.
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Sales Forecast Accuracy: Why You Keep Missing the Number
Three reasons sales forecasts miss and how to fix them: teach forecast levels, inspect six deal criteria against evidence, and run cleaner forecast calls.
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Why Your Demo Isn’t Closing Deals
Why feature-heavy demos stall deals, and how contrast, circular demos and confirmed outcomes turn a demo into a decision tool buyers can defend.
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How to Build a Business Case
A step-by-step method for building a B2B business case that answers Why Change, Why Now and Why You and turns soft costs into hard dollars.
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Sales Champion vs Coach
The difference between a sales champion and a coach, how to test for real advocacy, and why to build champion behavior across multiple levels.
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Why Deals Stall
Five structural reasons B2B deals stall, the warning signs to watch for, and an evidence-based system for catching stalls before they happen.
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Is Your North Star Training or Behavior Change?
Why sales training events rarely change behavior, and the five layers a behavior-first enablement program needs to improve execution in real deals.
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How Do I Fix My Sales Process?
Why most sales processes measure motion instead of readiness, and how buyer-aligned stages, color coding and operating rhythm help fix them.
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Top Sales Methodologies Compared
A practical comparison of MEDDPICC, Challenger, Miller Heiman and video-course training: what each solves, where it breaks, and how to build a stack.
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Build a Business Case for Change Using MEDDICC + Deal Management
How to turn MEDDICC discovery data into a portable, executive-ready business case covering Current State, Cost of Delay and financial justification.
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PRFAQ in Sales: What It Is, Plus a Free Template
How to use a PRFAQ in B2B sales to build executive alignment: when to use one, how to write the press release and FAQ, and mistakes to avoid.
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What Is a Champion in Sales? It's a Behavior, Not a Title
Why champion is a behavior rather than a job title, the three traits every real champion has, and four tests with scripts to prove it.
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75 MEDDPICC Discovery Questions (MEDDIC and MEDDICC Too)
75 MEDDPICC discovery questions for every element, from Metrics to Competition, to gather real deal evidence on live calls. Works for MEDDIC and MEDDICC too.