MEDDPICC scorecard: how to score a deal, with a free template

What is a MEDDPICC scorecard?

A MEDDPICC scorecard turns the eight letters of MEDDPICC into numbers: one row per letter, each with a score and the evidence behind it. Some teams call it an opportunity scorecard or a deal qualification scorecard.

Reps use it to decide where to spend their time and what to ask on the next call. Sales managers use it in deal reviews and forecasts, because a row of scores is quicker to read than a page of notes, and it makes two deals easy to compare.

A scorecard measures how much you know about a deal, not how likely it is to close. A deal can score 16 out of 16 and still be lost on price. What a low score tells you is where you're guessing.

How do you score a deal with MEDDPICC?

The most common scale gives each letter 0, 1 or 2:

• 0: We don't know. Nobody has asked, or nobody has answered.
• 1: We've heard it, but not from the right person, or not in a form we could check. "Our contact thinks the CFO signs" is a 1.
• 2: The buyer has confirmed it, and we could show the evidence: a figure they gave, a meeting that happened, a document they sent.

Add the eight scores for a total out of 16. Some teams mark each letter red, amber or green instead, which is the same scale in colours.

Every score needs a line of evidence beside it: what was said, who said it and when. If you can't write that line, the score is a 1 at most. Without the rule, scores drift up with the rep's hopes, and the total stops meaning anything.

As a starting point, a total under 8 usually means a deal is early or shaky, 8 to 12 means it's real but has gaps, and 13 or more means it's well qualified. Set your own bands once you've scored a few deals that closed and a few that didn't.

What does each MEDDPICC score look like?

A 0 always means nothing is known. Here's what a 1 and a 2 look like for each letter.

• Metrics. A 1 is a problem described in words, such as "the rotas take ages". A 2 is a figure the buyer would measure success by, such as "locum spend down 20% in a year".
• Economic buyer. A 1 is a name someone else has given you. A 2 means you've met the person who signs, and they've said what they need to see.
• Decision criteria. A 1 is a sense of what matters. A 2 is the criteria in writing, or ranked by the buyer.
• Decision process. A 1 is the steps to a decision. A 2 is the steps with the people involved in each, and dates.
• Paper process. A 1 means you know there's a legal, security or procurement step. A 2 means you know who runs each step and how long it takes.
• Identify pain. A 1 is a problem in general terms. A 2 is a problem with a cost and an owner, in the buyer's own words.
• Champion. A 1 is a contact who likes you. A 2 is someone with influence who has already done something for the deal, such as getting you in front of the economic buyer.
• Competition. A 1 means you know there are alternatives. A 2 means you know what they are, including doing nothing, and how the buyer sees you against them.

Which MEDDPICC letters matter most?

The framework has no official weighting. Most teams treat three letters as the ones a deal can't do without: Economic buyer, Identify pain and Champion. A deal with no pain has no reason to happen, and a deal with no economic buyer or champion has nobody to make it happen, however well the other letters score.

There are two simple ways to build that in:

• Double the three. Score Economic buyer, Identify pain and Champion out of 4 instead of 2, so the total is out of 22.
• Use them as gates. Keep every letter out of 2, but don't let a deal move to the proposal stage with a 0 on any of the three.

Gates are easier to keep consistent across a team, because there's nothing to argue about.

Paper process matters most late in a deal. A 0 there a month before the expected close date is a forecast risk, because legal and procurement steps can take weeks after a verbal yes.

MEDDPICC scorecard example

A rep's scorecard after a second call with the head of clinical operations at a veterinary group with 38 practices across the South West. The rep sells rota software, and the deal is worth about £46,000 a year.

Nine out of 16 says the deal is real but early. The two 2s are the problem and the figure, which is where most good deals start. The 0 is the cheapest score to raise: one question on the next call.

How do you run a deal review with a MEDDPICC scorecard?

In a deal review, the scorecard turns the conversation to evidence:

• Start with the lowest scores, not the total. A 0 is a question nobody has asked yet.
• Ask for the evidence behind every 2. A 2 the rep can't back up with something the buyer said or did becomes a 1.
• Argue about the evidence, not the number. Once you agree what's known, the score follows.
• End with a next step for each gap, with an owner and a date, aimed at raising one score. A new close date isn't a next step.
• Compare with the last review. A deal whose score hasn't moved in a month is stuck, whatever stage the CRM says it's at.

In the example, the rep had scored the deal 11. The manager brought Economic buyer down to 1, because the CFO has only been named, and Champion down to 1, because the head of clinical operations hasn't yet done the thing that would prove it: getting the rep in front of the CFO. The review ends with that as the next step.

MEDDPICC scorecard template

One Word file, free, with no sign-up: a row for each letter with the questions that decide its score, then the total and the next step. Or copy it as text into your own document.

Sorinai can fill this template, or your own, while the call runs. It writes what the buyer says into each letter's row, so the evidence for every score is already there when the deal comes up for review: see how template filling works. For notes on all eight letters without scores, the MEDDPICC template has more room for each.

MEDDPICC scorecard FAQ

What is a good MEDDPICC score?

There's no standard figure, because it depends on the stage. A deal after one call might score 5 and be perfectly healthy. A deal at the proposal stage should usually have a 2 for Metrics, Identify pain and Economic buyer. Compare each deal with what you'd expect at its stage, and with its own score at the last review.

Should a MEDDPICC scorecard be in Excel or the CRM?

Wherever your team will keep it up to date. A spreadsheet is quick to set up and adds up the total for you. A CRM keeps the scores next to the deal and lets a manager see every deal at once, and most CRMs let you add custom fields for each letter. A Word scorecard suits a rep's own notes from the call, before the scores go into the system.

What's the difference between a champion and a coach in MEDDPICC?

A coach is friendly and gives you information. A champion has influence inside the buyer's business and uses it for you, such as arguing your case when you're not in the room. The test is to ask them to do something, like getting you a meeting with the economic buyer. Until they've done it, score them as a coach: a 1 at most.

Can you use the same scorecard for MEDDIC?

Yes. MEDDIC has six letters, so leave out Paper process and Competition and score out of 12. Our comparison of MEDDIC, MEDDPICC and BANT shows which framework suits which kind of deal.

How often should you update a MEDDPICC scorecard?

After every call with the buyer, and before every deal review. Put the date next to each change, so the next review shows what has moved and what hasn't.