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

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)

Phase 4: MEDDICC Question Bank (Qualification Calls)

Phase 5: Andy Whyte — Champion Test

Score the contact before calling them a Champion:

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