MEDDIC vs. MEDDPIC: What’s the Real Difference?

If you’re in B2B sales—especially complex enterprise SaaS—there’s a good chance you’ve come across MEDDIC or its more recent cousin, MEDDPIC. Both are powerful qualification frameworks that help sales teams focus on the deals that are most likely to close, while identifying gaps early enough to course-correct.

But let’s clear something up: the debate between MEDDIC and MEDDPIC isn’t really about two different methodologies. It’s about how detailed you want to get in breaking out the sales process.

Let’s start with the basics.

MEDDIC: The Original Powerhouse

MEDDIC stands for:

• Metrics – The measurable business impact of your solution

• Economic Buyer – The person who controls the budget

• Decision Criteria – What the buyer will use to evaluate your solution

• Decision Process – How the decision will be made, and by whom

• Identify Pain – The critical business pain you’re solving

• Champion – Your internal advocate who will sell for you when you’re not in the room

It’s structured, it’s effective, and it’s been a game-changer for high-performing sales teams for decades.

Enter: MEDDPIC

MEDDPIC simply adds a P for Paper Process—meaning the legal, procurement, and administrative steps required to get the deal signed and delivered. Think redlines, MSA reviews, security assessments, vendor onboarding—you name it.

So now you’ve got:

• M

• E

• D

• D

• P – Paper Process

• I

• C

Here’s where I push back a little.

Why I Prefer MEDDpIC (Lowercase "p")

In my view, the Paper Process is—and always has been—a subcomponent of the Decision Process. It's not a separate motion; it's simply the final stage of how a decision gets executed.

When you truly unpack the Decision Process with a customer, you’re asking:

• Who has to sign off?

• What hoops do we jump through to get this done?

• Are there legal reviews? Security reviews?

• Does procurement get involved before or after approval?

These are all “Paper Process” questions—but they’re within the broader flow of the Decision Process. So while I understand the intent of adding a “P,” I argue it doesn’t warrant a separate pillar.

Hence, MEDDpIC. A lowercase “p” is used to show that it matters, but it lives under the umbrella of the decision process.

So, What Should You Use?

Here’s the truth: whether you use MEDDIC, MEDDPIC, or MEDDpIC, you're still covering the same core qualification framework. The goal is to understand your buyer, their pain, their process, and how your solution drives measurable outcomes.

Don't get caught up in semantics. Just make sure you're doing the work.