Meeting prep

Meeting Prep

Overview

Win rates are decided before the call. This skill produces a one-page brief: account snapshot, attendee profiles, tailored question banks, and — for active deals — a MEDDICC gap analysis showing which dimensions still need evidence.

SPICED (Winning by Design) structures early discovery conversations. Gap Selling (Keenan) deepens problem diagnosis — current state, future state, quantified gap, root cause, happy-ears guardrails. MEDDICC (Andy Whyte) scores deal qualification with evidence. They do not contradict — SPICED uncovers; MEDDICC scores. Both map to the same CRM fields defined in pipeline-management.

When to Use

• "Prep me for a call with [company]"
• "Discovery questions for [prospect]"
• "MEDDICC score this deal" or "what's missing on MEDDICC?"
• "Champion test — is this contact a real champion?"
• "Brief me before my demo / exec meeting"
• "Pre-call research for [account]"

For full sales process design, load pipeline-management first.

Authoritative Foundations

• Winning by Design — SPICED. Situation, Pain, Impact, Critical Event, Decision — progressive discovery in Connect and Discovery stages. Critical Event is the urgency gate: no CE, no timeline.
• Keenan — Gap Selling. Problem Centric™ discovery: map Current State (situation, problem, impact, root cause, emotions) → Future State → Gap. Spend ~25% of cycle on diagnosis; build Problem Identification Chart before calls. Anti-pattern: happy ears — validate impact, don't assume yes. Full playbook → references/keenan-gap-selling.md.
• Andy Whyte — MEDDICC (MEDDICC.com). Seven dimensions scored 0/1/2 with evidence: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion, Competition. "Always Be Qualifying" — re-score after every interaction. Champion must pass four tests before Proposal.
• Force Management — MEDDICC Methodology. Source framework for enterprise qualification; Whyte's scorecard operationalizes it for deal inspection.
• Huthwaite — SPIN. Question flow for conversational discovery — complements SPICED, does not replace it.
• Challenger — Teach-Tailor-Take Control. Lead with insight, not interrogation.

SPICED + MEDDICC — how they work together

Call Type	Lead With	Score With
First discovery	SPICED + Gap Selling (current state)	Light MEDDICC (note gaps)
Second+ meeting	SPICED gaps + Gap (future state)	Full MEDDICC scorecard
Pre-proposal / exec	Economic buyer prep	MEDDICC must be ≥10/14
Deal review (internal)	—	MEDDICC evidence inspection

Step-by-Step Process

Phase 1: Account Research (5 min)

• Company size, industry, revenue, headquarters
• Recent news (funding, hires, launches) — potential Critical Events
• Tech stack and pain signals
• Competitive landscape and status quo risk

Phase 2: Attendee Research

Per attendee: role, tenure, priorities, LinkedIn activity, likely MEDDICC role (Champion? Economic Buyer? Technical Buyer? Blocker?).

Phase 3: SPICED Question Bank (Discovery Calls)

SPICED	Question Examples
Situation	"Walk me through how your team handles [process] today."
Pain	"What's the most frustrating part of that approach?"
Impact	"What does that cost you annually — rough order of magnitude?"
Critical Event	"Why is fixing this a priority now versus six months from now?"
Decision	"If we find a fit, what does your evaluation process look like?"

Phase 4: MEDDICC Question Bank (Qualification Calls)

Dimension	Question Examples	Confirmed When
Metrics	"How would you measure success 12 months after implementation?"	Baseline + target KPI documented
Economic Buyer	"Who ultimately approves budget for initiatives like this?"	EB named; meeting scheduled or completed
Decision Criteria	"What are the must-haves vs nice-to-haves in your evaluation?"	Criteria list documented
Decision Process	"Walk me through each step from today to signed contract."	Steps, owners, dates mapped
Identify Pain	"What happens if this problem isn't solved by [date]?"	Quantified cost of inaction
Champion	"Would you be comfortable presenting this internally without us?"	Four-part Champion test passed
Competition	"Who else are you evaluating — including doing nothing?"	Competitors + status quo named

Phase 5: Andy Whyte — Champion Test

Score the contact before calling them a Champion:

#	Criterion	Evidence Required
1	Power to influence the decision	Can access EB and decision committee
2	Personal win if deal closes	Career, team, or KPI benefit articulated
3	Articulates problem without you	Repeats pain accurately in their words
4	Commits to internal selling	Agrees to present or multi-thread on your behalf

All four required for Champion score = 2. Enthusiasm alone = 1 at best.

Phase 6: MEDDICC Gap Analysis (Active Deals)

If CRM data exists, score current state and list gaps to close on this call:

MEDDICC Score: __/14
Gaps to close this meeting:
- [ ] Metrics — need quantified baseline
- [ ] Economic Buyer — identified but not met
- ...

Load pipeline-management for stage gate minimums before advancing the deal.

Phase 7: Competitive Context

• Named competitors and status quo
• Decision criteria influence strategy (competitive-intel)
• Trap-setting questions for differentiators

Output Format

One-page meeting brief. Use templates/output-template.md for structure.

# Meeting Brief: [Company]
Date | Attendees | Deal stage | MEDDICC score: __/14

## Company Snapshot
## Attendee Profiles (+ MEDDICC role)
## SPICED Questions (discovery)
## MEDDICC Questions (gaps to close)
## Champion Test (if applicable)
## Competitive Context
## Desired Outcome + Fallback

Quality Check

• Account and attendee research current (last 30 days)
• Questions tailored to account — not generic templates
• SPICED questions included for discovery; MEDDICC for qualification deals
• Champion test applied if a champion is claimed
• MEDDICC gaps listed for active deals with target score for this meeting
• Brief readable in 60 seconds
• SPICED and MEDDICC map to same CRM fields — no conflicting data capture

Common Pitfalls

1. MEDDICC as a discovery script. Running all seven dimensions on a first call feels like an audit. Fix: SPICED first; MEDDICC scores build over calls.

2. Champion = friendly contact. Enthusiasm without power is score 1, not 2. Fix: apply Whyte's four-part Champion test.

3. Vendor-defined Metrics. "You'll save 30%" is not M=2. Fix: buyer must name the KPI and baseline.

4. Ignoring status quo as Competition. "No competitors" still has a competitor: do nothing. Fix: always assess status quo.

5. SPICED and MEDDICC in separate silos. Reps capture Impact in SPICED notes but leave Metrics blank. Fix: Impact field populates Metrics in CRM.

Execution Artifacts

• references/framework-notes.md — SPICED/MEDDICC map, Champion test, question banks
• templates/output-template.md — one-page brief structure
• scripts/check-output.py — validates brief sections
• references/keenan-gap-selling.md — Gap Selling discovery, PIC, happy ears, checklists

Related Skills

• pipeline-management — Stage gates, CRM fields, MEDDICC scorecard rules
• sales-coaching — Manager deal review using same scorecard
• competitive-intel — Battlecards for Competition dimension
• multi-thread-orchestration — When Champion cannot access EB alone
• roi-calculator — Metrics dimension business case
• demo-scripts — Post-discovery demo structure