MEDDIC in the Field Part 4 - The Sales Leader's Scorecard: What to Ask in Every 1:1
During a Friday forecast call, a sales leader asked one of her reps to walk through his largest deal of the quarter. He was confident. He described the prospect's enthusiasm, the strong relationship with his main contact, and the verbal commitment to move forward. She asked a simple follow-up question: Who signs the contract?
He did not know.
She asked a second question: what does the prospect's evaluation criteria look like? He described the features the prospect had asked about, not a documented set of criteria. By the end of the call, a deal that had been sitting in “commit” for three weeks had moved to “best case,” and the rep left the meeting with a clear list of gaps to close before it could move back.
This is the value a sales leader provides that a CRM stage cannot: the ability to distinguish between a deal that sounds good and one that is actually qualified.
Why Pipeline Reviews Miss the Real Problems
Most pipeline reviews focus on stage, close date, and deal size, all of which are self-reported by the rep and easy to inflate, whether intentionally or through simple optimism. A deal can sit in the correct CRM stage and still be missing an Economic Buyer, a mapped Decision Process, or a tested Champion. The stage indicates where the rep thinks the deal stands. MEDDIC tells you whether it is actually there.
A Scorecard for Every 1:1
Instead of asking “where does this deal stand,” ask each of the following for every deal a rep brings to a 1:1 or forecast call:
Metric. “What is the dollar value this solution delivers, and how did the prospect arrive at that number?” If the rep cannot answer with a specific figure and timeframe, the Metric is not real yet.
Economic Buyer. “Who signs this contract, and have you spoken to them directly?” If the answer is “I believe it's...” rather than a confirmed name, treat this as an open risk, not a settled fact.
Decision Criteria. “What does their evaluation scorecard look like, and how is it weighted?” If the rep describes features instead of a defined set of criteria, the deal has not been properly qualified.
Decision Process. “Walk me through every step from here to signature, including legal and procurement.” A vague answer here is one of the strongest predictors of slipped close dates.
Identified Pain. “What happens to this prospect if they do nothing?” If the rep cannot articulate a specific cost of inaction, the deal is driven by the rep's enthusiasm rather than customer need.
Champion. “Have you tested this person, and what did they do when you asked them to advocate internally on your behalf?” A contact who has never been tested is a coach, not a Champion, no matter how friendly they are.
Here is one you can download today:
Coaching, Not Auditing
The goal of this scorecard is not to catch reps in gaps for the sake of catching them. It is to give every rep a clear, repeatable list of what to go find out before the next conversation. A rep who leaves a 1:1 knowing exactly which MEDDIC letter is weak and what to do about it is far more valuable than a rep who leaves simply having reported a stage and a date.
Take Action
Replace “where does this deal stand” with the six MEDDIC questions in your next pipeline review.
For any deal missing a confirmed Economic Buyer, make identifying that person the rep's top priority for the week.
Require reps to describe Decision Criteria as a weighted list, not a set of features.
Ask every rep to describe the cost of inaction for their top three deals, in dollar terms.
Build your own MEDDIC scorecard template your team can fill out before every forecast call.
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