75 MEDDPICC Discovery Questions (MEDDIC and MEDDICC Too)

Most sellers don’t lose because they forgot what MEDDIC means.
They lose because they never built enough verified evidence to earn a decision.

So the deal feels good.
The demo goes well.
The forecast becomes a vibe.

Then it stalls.

This page is the MEDDIC / MEDDICC / MEDDPICC Discovery Guide, a curated set of discovery questions organized by each element. Use it to gather real deal evidence without interrogating your buyer or turning MEDDICC into checklist theater.

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MEDDIC vs MEDDICC vs MEDDPICC, which one is this guide for?

This guide works for all three frameworks.

MEDDIC covers the core evidence (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion).
MEDDICC adds Competition as a required proof point.
MEDDPICC adds the P for Paper Process, because “we decided” and “we can sign” are different.

How to use this list the right way

This is not a script. It’s a forcing function.

Use it to pressure test what’s validated vs what’s assumed.
Use it to color code truth in your deal, red means I don’t know, yellow means I think I know or there is misalignment, green means I know and can defend it with facts.

And remember, discovery isn’t a stage. It’s an operating rhythm. Every time a new stakeholder appears, requirements change, or urgency wobbles, you come back to the right questions and tighten the story.

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Table of Contents

1. Metrics
2. Economic Buyer
3. Decision Criteria
4. Decision Process
5. Paper Process
6. Implicate Pain
7. Champion
8. Competition

Metrics

Metrics are how you turn “this is a problem” into “this is worth funding.”

In Deal Management terms, this is how you move from narrative to evidence. Metrics create the baseline that makes ROI real, makes the cost of delay explicit, and gives your champion and sponsor a story they can defend internally.

The point of (M) is to understand the levers you will pull to build a financial business case. The best way to do this is to understand the outcomes your solution drives, and by how much. This allows you to ask questions around what would happen if they deployed your solution. In the below situation (M) is the major metric your solution impacts. The metric that would be most if they implement your solution.

1. Do you know your current baseline for (M)
2. If we could improve (M) by (INSERT AVERAGE OUTCOME) would that be meaningful to you? And what would that allow you to do?
3. Does improving (M) tie to a business priority? Which one? What is the current goal?
4. If we could improve (M) by (X%) what would be the financial impact of that?
5. Who owns the business outcomes of improving (M)?
6. What current initiatives or solutions are being deployed to improve (M)
7. Why is improving (M) a business priority now?
8. How have you tried to improve (M) in the past, what worked, what didn’t?
9. What is the business goal target related to (M) and how far off have you typically been, what happens if you don’t reach that goal
10. When are you looking to get (M) improved by? What happens if you miss that timeframe?

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Economic Buyer

The Economic Buyer is where most “winnable” deals go to die, not because the solution is wrong, but because the decision never becomes safe.

Your job is not to identify a name. Your job is to understand budget reality and the threshold where approval changes hands. If it’s budgeted and fits, EB is often the functional owner. If it’s unbudgeted or exceeds the plan, EB usually shifts upward, and the deal becomes a business case sale.

The Economic Buyer (EB) is the person who can create new budget for good ideas, or can deploy the budget given. That is why it is important to know if you are selling to a budgeted or unbudgeted expense. If budget exists, and your solution doesn’t exceed it, the EB is often the head of the function your solution would impact. If budget doesn’t exist, or your solution exceeds the current budget, new budget must be created through a business case, and EB is likely CFO / CEO.

1. Do you know if budget has been allocated for this project?
2. Who owns the budget for this project?
3. When do they normally get involved in projects?
4. What outcomes are they typically looking for related to (PROBLEM) or key priorities we can attach this project to? Why are these important now?
5. What is the process your company goes through to create new budget?
6. What would the EB need to see from a solution to feel good about sponsoring the project?
7. Who does the EB typically turn to when they vet new ideas?
8. Where do you think this ranks on EBs priority list?
9. What information does EB normally need to see before they sponsor a project?
10. What are some examples of projects that have been sponsored in the past, and others that haven’t, what was the difference?
11. What would be the best way to engage with EB and when?

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Decision Criteria

Decision criteria is where deals quietly drift.

Buyers think they know what they want, until they see options. Then the criteria changes. New stakeholders bring new must haves. Procurement introduces new rules. Security adds constraints. Suddenly the “shortlist” expands, or the deal stalls while they “align internally.”

Your job is to surface criteria early, separate must have from nice to have, then shape criteria toward what you do uniquely well, so “Why you” becomes defensible.

Decision Criteria is essentially the alignment between your solution and the client’s wish list. In an inbound motion it is all about quick and tight alignment. In an outbound motion it is all about co-creation, nice to have v. must have alignment, and maturity curve growth together.

1. What are the most important things you are looking for in a solution? (nice to have v. need to have)
2. When companies evaluate solutions like ours they are typically looking for ABCD, which of those are the biggest priorities and why?
3. What is causing you to look for a new solution now?
4. Why are those pieces of feature functionality so important, what are you going to do with them, and what outcome are you looking to drive?
5. Can you stack rank your solution priorities right now, and is there a future vision to expand with this solution that we need to think about, what might be important then?
6. Who would use, or benefit from the outcomes of each piece of this solution?
7. How are you comparing solutions to ensure you can see the differences between solutions?
8. What are you using to rank the priorities and feedback on solutions with all the different stakeholders?
9. When you think about the solutions your business buys, what do they have in common? certain integrations, best of breed, service priority, what criteria always seem to hold across different solutions?
10. Outside of feature functionality, is there anything else that is important to you in a provider?

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Decision Process

A close date is not a plan.

Decision process is how the business actually reaches “yes,” the people involved, the internal meetings you will never be invited to, the sequence of approvals, and what has to be true at each step.

If you don’t map this, deals don’t die from objections, they die from drift. The team keeps saying “we’re aligned,” while the calendar slides and nobody can explain why.

The decision process is all about understanding the business process to make a decision. Who is involved, how they will make the decision, and the timeframe for making that decision. In a low complexity, low legal environment, a business process is enough for forecast accuracy. In an environment that requires a longer legal process, you would add the (P) to MEDDIC to account for the legal process to have higher forecast accuracy. The best way to manage the decision process is with a Mutual Action Plan.

1. If you were to implement a solution like ours, when would you want it to be live?
2. What are the steps your business would need to go through to make that happen? (work backward and document)
3. What is driving your go-live timeframe, is it simply a priority to solve or is there some event or timeline that you must hit for some reason?
4. Who are the key stakeholders that would need to sign off on this decision?
5. When your business has bought solutions in the past, have you seen any common issues arise? How do we get ahead of or past those?
6. How is the team going to compare different solution options and come to the conclusion on which would be best?
7. How could get in the way or derail the decision process?
8. Will (FUNCTION HEAD) be making the final decision, or will they need to go through a budget creation process?
9. Does your business have any special requirements that must be met by the vendor you decide on?

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Paper Process

Paper process is why “we’re going with you” is not the same as “we signed.” A mutual action plan is how you track it.

Deals get forecasted as won, then they disappear into legal, procurement, infosec, vendor onboarding, and redlines. If you wait until after the decision to learn how paper works, you are choosing to be surprised.

Paper process questions are how you protect timeline integrity and forecast accuracy.

The paper process was added to MEDDICC to account for more complex legal processes. Sometimes the legal process itself can take weeks or months. In those situations, the business has decided to work with a vendor, but the legal process adds to the timeline. If your solution falls into this category you want to adopt MEDDPICC and use Paper Process questions to improve forecast accuracy.

1. How long does your legal process normally take?
2. Are there any vendor forms or infosec documentation we need to get ahead of?
3. Are you using inside or outside counsel? Where does this sit on their priority list? When can we expect first-pass redlines back?
4. At what point do both teams get on a call to iron out details?
5. Are there normally any legal terms or contract issues that hold up the process we need to get ahead of?
6. Once we agree on legal and business terms, what is the process from there?
7. Are there specific systems or people involved? Are those people aware of this project and ready on their end?
8. Have all needed stakeholders for the decision signed off already pending legal approval, or are we waiting on anything for that?

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Implicate Pain

This is where urgency becomes real.

A buyer can agree they have a problem and still do nothing. Implicate pain is how you move from “this is annoying” to “this has consequences.” It’s the difference between interest and priority.

In Deal Management terms, this is the work that makes “Why Change” and “Why Now” portable, it has to survive internal scrutiny when you are not in the room.

The implication of pain is all about understanding what is behind the problem. Think of it as the “so what”. As an example, a common New Year’s goal is to lose weight. Most fail, because it stops at, I want to lose weight. That is an example of understanding a problem. Implicating a problem goes deeper. “Why do you want to lose weight?” What happens if you don’t? You need to take the problem, and make it much bigger, what would happen if the problem could be tied to the fact that if they don’t lose weight they may not live as long, and a long life is a top priority for them. Now the problem isn’t weight, it is life itself. That is implicating pain.

1. What are the biggest challenges you are running into related to (INSERT PROBLEM YOU SOLVE)
2. Who is impacted by those challenges?
3. What are you currently doing to solve those challenges?
4. What have you tried in the past, what has worked and not worked?
5. Is there a reason this would be a priority to solve for now?
6. What would it mean to the business to solve this problem?
7. What would happen if you don’t solve this problem?
8. What do you think solving this problem is worth financially to the business?
9. Who owns the function that would be most impacted by this problem?
10. Do you know what goals in place they have around this? How far are they looking to move the needle?
11. Does solving this connect to a top 3-5 business priority?
12. Let’s discuss all the ripple effects of this problem, which users, departments, and teams are impacted and how?
13. How do you think different stakeholders view this problem, and what parts of the solution would each be most interested in?
14. It sounds like we agree on ABC issues, and if we could move the need by X% on A, B, and C, it could be worth Z to the business, and have a positive impact on 123. Does this sound correct?

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Champion

Champion is not a title. It’s behavior.

A real champion does three things: they have access to power, they have conviction, and they stay engaged long enough to carry the narrative through the messy middle of the deal.

In Deal Management terms, champions and executive sponsors are how your story travels upward, and how you earn the right to a real decision moment.

“Champion” is the most misused word in all of sales. To be a champion, someone needs three things.

1. Access to power, they must be in the room when the decision is made, influencing it in your direction. They need credibility with the decision maker, and the ability to get you and your message a real seat at the table.
2. Willingness to fight for your solution, they have genuine conviction. They care about the problem, they believe your approach is the right one, and they are willing to spend political capital to see it implemented.
3. Continuously validate, champion is not a label you assign once. It’s a relationship you keep testing to confirm nothing has changed, priorities, politics, budget, or influence.

Your goal in this part of MEDD+ is to identify who could become a champion, what would need to be true for them to earn that role, and what you need to do to win them over.

Most true champions are on some level below the Economic Buyer. The path usually looks like this: start with an org chart mapping exercise, use strategic questioning with current stakeholders to understand influence and trust lines, request their involvement in key moments of the process, then earn direct 1:1 time to deepen the relationship and build enough conviction that they will actively champion for you.

1. Who does (INSERT NAME OF EB) turn to as a trusted resource when making decisions?
2. Which people and teams would be most impacted by a solution like ours, and who are the most senior members of those teams?
3. When would you need to see to feel comfortable fighting for a solution like ours?
4. When solutions have been bought in the past, who had the loudest voices and were part of making that change happen?
5. Who has been charged with solving these problems for the business? Or has specific goals around the issues we are speaking about?

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Competition

Most sellers think competition is other vendors.

In reality, your first competitor is the status quo. Your second competitor is timing. Your third competitor is the buyer’s fear of getting the decision wrong.

Competition questions help you name the real alternatives, surface what they are optimizing for, and sharpen “Why you” into something defensible.

57% of all deals are lost to the status quo. The status quo is all about budget, priority, timing, available resources, and the financial outcome of the change. The goal of every sales process needs to start with an agreement to displace the status quo. This is the “why change” and “why now” win. This is your first competitor. If you don’t beat this competitor change can’t happen. Once you have reached agreement on making a change, “why you” becomes your next competitor. This is where your differentiators come into play.

1. What solutions currently exist for the problem we are discussing?
2. What would the business need to see to be willing to make a change?
3. If we could make those things happen, would this be a priority?
4. What other projects are going on that may impact working on this, or taking similar resources?
5. What (Ms) would need to be impacted and by how much for the business to elevate this to a priority to focus on now?
6. Who else are you looking at for a solution?
7. What other angles are you potentially looking at to solve this?
8. What have you tried in the past, and what worked and didn’t? Why?
9. Related to your decision criteria and our solution, how good of a fit are we compared to those solutions? When you rank your top criteria, how well do we fit that criteria vs. others?
10. How are they doing things that we are not, or do they have things you like that we don’t?
11. Are there specific ways we are solving the problem or approaching the solution that set us apart?
12. Related to other vendors you have spoken with, are they doing anything we aren’t, or do they have things you like that we don’t?

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Final note

MEDDIC isn’t a script. It’s a forcing function to tell the truth about what you know, what you don’t, and what you’re assuming.

I show how to turn that discovery into a system your whole team can run in my book, Deal Management: The Hidden Reasons Sales Stall and the Evidence-Based System to Win More.

If you want the organized, printable, call-ready version of everything on this page, grab the guide here:

Download the MEDDIC / MEDDICC / MEDDPICC Discovery Guide (Free PDF) →