From Insights to Impact: Empowering Sales Success with the X-Ray Vision of Pain, Problem, and Initiative in the MEDIPICC Framework

Welcome to this week's edition of “Mastering the Art of Consultative Selling" newsletter series. Continuing from our previous newsletter series, where we introduced latest sales framework - MEDIPICC and differentiated against conventional framework - BANT, and promised to dive deeper into the power of MEDIPICC and share some of the best practices for effective implementation.

I therefore, have chartered MEDIPICC discussion in an exciting few-week journey where we will delve deep into the world of sales frameworks and explore how the MEDIPICC framework can revolutionize your approach to sales. In this series, we will take you on a transformational path, unlocking the power of MEDIPICC for achieving remarkable sales results. Using MEDIPICC, you will be equipped with the knowledge and strategies to implement MEDIPICC effectively, positioning yourself as a consultative sales professional and driving remarkable results. So, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for an immersive journey that will transform your sales approach!

Let's embark on this exciting adventure and unlock the power of MEDIPICC together! I have described the MEDIPICC chronological stages of sales process in last week's newsletter. As follows:

In this weeks' article, we shall cover "Identify the Pain, Problems or Initiatives".

Please remember - Getting above the noise to solve a major business pain, problem and/or initiative becomes the compelling reasons for purchasing the solution. I would like you to focus on three-WHYs and ensure you inculcate in your sales discovery process:

1. Why this customer have to buy?
2. Why this customer have to buy from us?
3. Why this customer have to buy now?

WHY THIS CUSTOMER HAVE TO BUY? covers two main element.

The first element is "The customer. The buyer. The user. The one who is most impacted by the pain". Without focussing on the energy (person) having the pain shall waste your salesmanship in entirety. We discussed in the previous weeks' article - "no rush to push" in Effective Communication section. The secret to successful selling is not in the products you offer, but in the value you bring to your customer's life.

1. Who "owns" the pain?
2. Whose job KRA/KPI gets affected the most?
3. What's his position in the company?

And the second element is "The pain. The problem. The core reason of the initiative which compel the customer" to buy. The problem can be technically or commercially influenced.

1. What is the level of pain and the way described?
2. What are the specific pain points?
3. What element drive the use cases?
4. Is the pain above the noise?

WHY DO CUSTOMER HAVE TO BUY FROM US? is a very interesting stage and in fact is the beginning of formulation of the decision criteria. Here majority of sellers make a common mistake. They forget the customer, the pain and start positioning their company, their products & services, their credentials and unknowingly start inviting competition. This formulation of decision criteria begins to mess up the overall charter, seller carried. We start taking competition head-on. This strictly needs to be avoided or controlled. Keep focussing on "customer" and his "pain". Is the customer buying what we are selling? Does the solution offered solve the significant pain points in the customer's use cases?

Ensure you do not not get trapped in -

1. Just another indistinguishable product & services.
2. Just another indistinguishable sales representative.

WHY DO CUSTOMER HAVE TO BUY NOW? Before I explain the importance of this WHY, I would like you to remember following statements through your manager in every weekly sales review -

• Is the deal in commit? the blood commit !
• Would the deal land this week or this month?
• If this deal doesn't then do you have the replacement?
• What does your forecast for this quarter? Are you on your target and not missing numbers?

Isn't we lack judgement majority of times? Precisely! We do lack judgement since we have not worked on this this element of this WHY. We don't generally assess this why majority of times. Sales reps have to understand implication on the customer not solving the pain in a given time frame. Sales Rep have to understand the customer's priorities and drive the customer urgency.

1. What happens if customer does nothing?
2. What shall be impact on customer's measurements and company's business outcomes?
3. Is there any likely event which forces customer solve the pain urgently?

Please remember - If customer don't buy now, the consequences of not purchasing the solution is substantial.

Don't misjudge!

Don't Commit!

You are still in the discovery stage if all three-WHYs can't be effectively explained and documented.

That's a wrap for this week. See you next week to understand next step of MEDIPICC - Metrics: The quantification of pain and solution.

Thank you for reading our newsletters. I hope that you found these tips and tricks helpful. Would love to hear about your experience and how it helped you and your customer? Also leave your feedback or questions so that I try to help you and make it even more useful.

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