Most sales leaders would agree: B2B buying has changed dramatically.
But the way we qualify deals hasn’t kept pace.
MEDPICCS remains a go-to framework for structuring enterprise sales qualification. It’s familiar. It’s rigorous. It gives teams a shared language for pipeline hygiene and forecast inspection.
MEDDIC — the original version of this framework — was developed at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) in 1996, during one of the most disciplined sales runs in software history. It worked. And it shaped a generation of go-to-market leaders.
But here’s the reality in 2025:
The buying environment that made MEDDIC effective no longer exists.
⚠️ The Problem: Legacy Qualification in a Modern Market
Today’s buying decisions are:
- Distributed across functions and regions
- Non-linear, with unpredictable stalls and surges
- Political, with unclear consensus and misaligned incentives
- Exhausted, with buyers overwhelmed by internal decision friction
Meanwhile, MEDPICCS maps the seller’s internal logic:
Which rep actions are complete? Which contact has been reached? What paperwork is moving?
That’s not how buyers buy.
It’s how reps wish they did.
And that disconnect is costly.
⏸️ Motion ≠ Progress
Deals don’t stall because reps miss steps.
They stall because buyers haven’t made the progress they need — and no one sees it clearly.
Sales qualification today tells us if the seller is doing their job.
What we really need is a way to see if the buyer is able to do theirs.
That’s why we need to rethink qualification as a mutual audit of buyer progress — not a sales checklist.
✅ Introducing AUDIT: A Modern Framework for Buyer Facilitation
Through structured Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) Switch Interviews, we’ve analysed how real buying decisions happen. What emerges is not a pipeline — but a pattern of internal progress:
Moments of alignment, clarity, exploration, commitment, and momentum.
These moments don’t follow a stage.
They follow a shift in decision maturity.
We’ve codified them into a simple, auditable model for deal clarity:
🧩 AUDIT — Five Signals of Decision Readiness
Step
Signal
What It Validates
A = Align around the problem: Has the team named the real issue — and agreed it’s worth solving?
U = Understand the alternatives: Have they evaluated viable paths (including status quo)?
D = Define success: Are evaluation criteria, risks, and trade-offs clearly stated?
I = Internal coordination: Are key stakeholders aligned on taking action — or still circling?
T = Timeline commitment: Is there urgency — and a defined decision window?
🔁 Enable Exit, Not Just Progress
One of the most powerful uses of AUDIT is early exit.
Too many deals stay open not because they’re real — but because the seller can’t see where the buyer is stuck.
AUDIT creates a mutual checkpoint:
→ If alignment, commitment, or urgency don’t exist — you disqualify.
→ If they do — you accelerate with clarity.
It’s no longer about “Is this deal in stage 3?”
It’s: “Has this team made the progress required to decide?”
🔄 From Seller-First to Buyer-Ready
This isn’t just a new acronym. It’s a new stance.
A move from seller-enforced process to buyer-enabled progress.
If we want to improve forecast accuracy, shorten cycles, and increase win rates, we need to:
- Replace legacy sales frameworks with decision-readiness models
- Train teams to see and support buyer-side clarity
- Build exit criteria that protect time, trust, and pipeline quality
And that means upgrading how we measure deal health — from CRM stage to decision maturity.
🤝 Let’s Build This Together
If you’re a CRO, enablement leader, RevOps builder, or founder who’s already rethinking qualification — let’s connect.
Have you developed or tested a buyer-coordinated decision audit that helps your team support — or exit — deals more effectively?
We’re shaping a working model now.
If there’s energy in the market, we’ll turn this into a shared standard — not a product.
One that finally matches how buyers buy.
DM me or drop a comment to share your frameworks, challenges, and what you’d want in an open standard for buyer facilitation.
Let’s stop managing backwards.
Let’s build something that moves real decisions forward.