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.
Today’s buying decisions are:
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.
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.
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:
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?
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?”
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:
And that means upgrading how we measure deal health — from CRM stage to decision maturity.
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.