MEDDIC vs MEDDPICC vs BANT: differences, example and templates
How the BANT, MEDDIC and MEDDPICC sales qualification frameworks differ, which deals each one suits, and how the letters map onto each other, with free templates for all three.
What's the difference between MEDDIC, MEDDPICC and BANT?
All three are sales qualification frameworks: lists of what to find out before you put more time into a deal. They differ in how much they ask, and when.
BANT has four letters: Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline. It answers one question, usually on the first call: is this lead worth pursuing?
MEDDIC has six: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain and Champion. It maps who controls a complex deal and how they'll decide, and it usually takes several calls to fill in.
MEDDPICC is MEDDIC with two more letters. Paper process covers the legal and procurement steps between a yes and a signature. Competition covers every alternative the buyer is weighing, including doing nothing. MEDDICC, a seven-letter version, adds Competition only.
Where did BANT, MEDDIC and MEDDPICC come from?
BANT is usually credited to IBM. IBM's partner programme has used it, on forms that spell it out as Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe, but we found no IBM record that dates it or names who wrote it.
MEDDIC came out of PTC, the American software company, in the 1990s. Dick Dunkel is most often named as its creator, working with Jack Napoli under John McMahon, one of PTC's sales leaders. Other first-hand accounts describe a wider group of PTC sales managers working it out over several years. Our MEDDIC guide covers the history.
The longer versions came later, as teams added Competition and then Paper process. Nobody seems to have recorded who added either letter first.
How do the letters compare?
Every BANT letter has a home in MEDDPICC, usually split across more than one:
- Need becomes Identify pain, plus Metrics: what the problem costs, in numbers the buyer's finance team would recognise.
- Authority splits three ways: Economic buyer is the person who signs, Champion is the person inside the buyer's company who argues for you, and Decision process covers everyone else with a say.
- Timeline becomes Decision process and Paper process: the steps to a decision, then the steps from a decision to a signature.
- Budget has no letter of its own. Metrics shows what the purchase is worth to the buyer, and the economic buyer is the person who can find the money.
MEDDPICC also asks two things BANT never does: Decision criteria, the requirements the buyer will score suppliers against, and Competition.
Should you use BANT or MEDDIC?
Use BANT when one person can buy and the deal is small enough to close in a call or two. The main risk there is spending time on a lead that was never going to buy, and BANT finds that out fast. It's the usual choice for SDRs (sales development reps, who qualify new leads before an account executive takes them on), and for the first call on any deal.
Use MEDDIC when several people have to agree and the sale runs to months. The risk then is losing a deal you thought you had: the person who signs appears late with new demands, or your contact turns out not to decide anything.
A quick test is to count the people who must say yes. If it's one, BANT will do. If it's more, you need to know who signs and what they'll judge you on, which is MEDDIC's job.
New business
Pipeline review
Monday 16 November 2026
Should you use MEDDIC or MEDDPICC?
If the buyer has a procurement team or lawyers who read the contract, use MEDDPICC. If they're comparing named suppliers but buy without procurement, MEDDICC covers it. A complex deal with neither can run on MEDDIC.
The two extra letters cover the things that stall a big deal near the end:
- Paper process is the legal review, the security questionnaire and the purchase order. In a large organisation these come after the decision, and they can add weeks. Ask about them early, so the paperwork can start before the final meeting.
- Competition is the other suppliers, building it in-house, and doing nothing. Doing nothing wins more often than it sounds: in a study of more than 2.5 million recorded sales conversations, 40% to 60% of deals were lost to buyers who meant to buy and didn't act.
Can you use BANT and MEDDPICC together?
Yes, and many teams do: BANT on the first call to decide whether the lead goes forward, then MEDDPICC once it's a real opportunity. Detail tends to get lost at that handoff, so carry the BANT answers across in the buyer's own words. They become the first lines of the MEDDPICC notes.
Here is the third deal from the pipeline review above, a facilities group in Hammersmith, after the account executive's second call. The lines marked BANT came over from the SDR's first call.
Schedulers move about 300 engineer visits a week by hand. Target: half that by April, so engineers stop getting changes by phone. (BANT: need)
The chief operating officer signs. About £120,000 a year is in next year's plan. (BANT: authority, budget)
Works on the engineers' phones. Passes the IT security review. Schedulers trained in a day.
IT review in December, a four-week trial with the west London team, then the chief operating officer decides. (BANT: timeline, live by April)
Procurement runs a tender between the shortlisted suppliers, with a security questionnaire, then a contract review by the group's lawyers.
A missed visit costs a service credit under the client's contract, about £85 a time. (BANT: need)
The scheduling manager, who asked for the trial and booked the IT review.
One rival on the shortlist; the buyer hasn't said which. The schedulers' own spreadsheet is the other option.
Four of the eight boxes started on the first call. The rest took the second one, and Competition still needs a name.
BANT, MEDDIC and MEDDPICC templates
All three are free, with no sign-up:
- BANT: a Word file with a section for each letter and a box for which of the four you've confirmed. Download the BANT template, or see it in our BANT guide.
- MEDDIC: a template to copy as text into your own document, in our MEDDIC guide.
- MEDDPICC: a Word file with the questions under each letter. Download the MEDDPICC template, or see it in our MEDDPICC guide.
Sorinai can fill any of them, or your own, from the call itself. It answers each field as the conversation reaches it and keeps a checklist of what the call hasn't covered yet: see how template filling works. It records the call on your computer, so tell the buyer at the start that it's being recorded.
MEDDIC vs MEDDPICC vs BANT FAQ
Is it MEDDIC or MEDDPICC?
Both are in use. MEDDIC is the six-letter original from PTC. MEDDPICC is the eight-letter version, with Paper process and Competition added for deals that go through procurement. If your team says one, check which letters it actually tracks.
Is MEDDICC the same as MEDDPICC?
No. MEDDICC adds Competition to MEDDIC's six letters. MEDDPICC adds Paper process as well. Some teams that use MEDDICC track procurement under Decision process instead.
Should SDRs use BANT or MEDDIC?
Usually BANT. An SDR's job is to decide which leads deserve an account executive's time, and four questions fit a first call. MEDDIC takes several calls, and some of its answers come from people the SDR rarely speaks to, such as the economic buyer. It belongs to whoever runs the deal after the handoff.
Is BANT outdated?
Not for the sale it was built for: a short one with one buyer. On bigger deals it misses too much: it treats authority as one person, and it never asks how the buyer will decide. Our BANT guide covers the criticisms.
Where do SPIN selling and SPICED fit in?
SPIN selling is a way of asking questions, in four types: Situation, Problem, Implication and Need-payoff. It isn't a checklist, so it works alongside any of the three. SPICED, from Winning by Design, stands for Situation, Pain, Impact, Critical event and Decision, and follows the order a discovery call usually takes. Our discovery call guide compares it with BANT and MEDDPICC.
What about CHAMP, ANUM and GPCT?
All three rework BANT. CHAMP (Challenges, Authority, Money, Prioritisation) and ANUM (Authority, Need, Urgency, Money) move money down the list. GPCT (Goals, Plans, Challenges, Timeline) is HubSpot's version, which starts from what the buyer is trying to achieve.
