# Sales Qualification

> Scout research skill — Discovery Calls, Deal Qualification (MEDDPICC), and Sales Frameworks for evaluating sales-heavy products and supporting UberKiwi/OUTBOUND sales motion.

- Skill: `nickgallick/sales-qualification` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add nickgallick/sales-qualification`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nickgallick/sales-qualification/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- Author: nickgallick (https://skillmd.com/u/nickgallick)
- Updated: 2026-09-08
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nickgallick/sales-qualification

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# Skill: Sales Qualification & Discovery

Combined sales methodology skill covering discovery calls, deal qualification, objection handling, and competitive positioning. Use when: (1) evaluating whether an idea requires enterprise sales (red flag for Perlantir), (2) designing UberKiwi's sales call structure, (3) building sales-enablement features into OUTBOUND or Agent Arena.

Source: agency-agents/sales-discovery-coach.md + agency-agents/sales-deal-strategist.md

## Discovery Call Frameworks

### SPIN Selling (Question Sequence)
The key insight most people miss: **Implication questions do the heavy lifting** because they activate loss aversion.

**Situation** (2-3 max — every one you ask that you could have Googled signals laziness)
- "Walk me through how your team currently handles [process]."
- "What tools are you using for [function] today?"

**Problem** (open the door — but don't stop here)
- "Where does that process break down?"
- "What's the most frustrating part of how this works today?"

**Implication** (THIS is where deals are made — expand the pain)
- "When that breaks down, what's the downstream impact on [related metric]?"
- "If that continues for another 6-12 months, what does that cost you?"
- "Who else in the organization feels the effects of this?"

**Need-Payoff** (let the buyer sell themselves)
- "If you could solve that, what would that unlock for your team?"
- "What would it mean if [problem] was no longer a factor?"

### Gap Selling (Current State → Future State)

```
CURRENT STATE (where they are)
├── Environment: tools, processes, team structure
├── Problems: what is broken, slow, painful, missing
├── Impact: measurable business cost
│   ├── Revenue (lost deals, slower growth, churn)
│   ├── Cost (wasted time, redundant tools, manual work)
│   ├── Risk (compliance, security, competitive exposure)
│   └── People (turnover, burnout, missed targets)
└── Root Cause: WHY do these problems exist?

FUTURE STATE (where they want to be)
├── What does "solved" look like in specific, measurable terms?
├── What metrics change, and by how much?
└── What is the timeline for needing this solved?

THE GAP = the sale
├── How large is the distance?
├── What is the cost of staying in current state?
├── Can the buyer close this gap without you? (If yes, no deal.)
```

*Root cause is the most important question and most often skipped. "Our tool is slow" doesn't create urgency. "We're on legacy architecture that can't scale, and we're onboarding 3 enterprise clients this quarter" does.*

### Sandler Pain Funnel (3 Levels Deep)
- **Level 1 — Surface**: "Tell me more. Can you give me an example?"
- **Level 2 — Business Impact**: "What has that cost the business? What have you tried?"
- **Level 3 — Personal Stakes**: "How does this affect you day-to-day? What's at stake for you personally?"

*Level 3 is where most sellers never go. "We need better reporting" vs. "I'm presenting to the board in Q3 and I don't trust my numbers." The second drives urgency.*

### UberKiwi Discovery Application
For UberKiwi sales calls with SMB owners:
- **Situation**: "How do customers find you right now? Do you have a website?"
- **Problem**: "When's the last time someone said they couldn't find you online?"
- **Implication**: "How many customers do you think you lose per month because they Google you and find nothing — or find a competitor instead?"
- **Need-Payoff**: "If you were the first result when someone searched '[service] near me', what would that mean for your business?"

## Discovery Call Structure (30 minutes)

### Opening (2 min): Upfront Contract
Set expectations, get time agreement, normalize a "no" outcome:
> "I'll ask some questions to understand your situation. You should ask me anything. At the end: we'll either see a fit and schedule next steps, realize it's not right and I'll tell you honestly, or need more info. Any of those is fine."

### Discovery (18 min): 60-70% on Current State & Pain
Spend the majority here. Not ready to pitch until you can articulate their situation back to them better than they described it.

Map these 6 things:
1. **What is broken?** (in their words)
2. **Why is it broken?** (root cause, not symptom)
3. **What does it cost?** (dollars, time, risk, people)
4. **Who else cares?** (stakeholder map)
5. **Why now?** (what changed — the trigger)
6. **What if they do nothing?** (cost of inaction)

### Tailored Pitch (6 min): Only What's Relevant
Map your solution directly to their stated problems. 2-3 capabilities max. Relevance beats comprehensiveness.

### Next Steps (4 min): Be Explicit
Define who does what by when. Set next meeting before ending this one.

## MEDDPICC Deal Qualification (Scoring X/40)

For evaluating whether an idea requires complex sales (red flag) or for qualifying UberKiwi/OUTBOUND deals:

| Element | Score 1-5 | What to Assess |
|---------|-----------|---------------|
| **Metrics** | | Quantifiable business outcome the buyer needs ("reduce churn from 18% to 9%") — not a feature request |
| **Economic Buyer** | | Person who controls budget and can say yes when everyone says no. Can they reallocate budget? |
| **Decision Criteria** | | Explicit technical/business/commercial criteria. If you're guessing, the competitor who helped write them is winning. |
| **Decision Process** | | Actual steps from eval to signed contract. Every unmapped step = place the deal dies silently. |
| **Paper Process** | | Legal, procurement, security, vendor risk. A 6-week procurement cycle discovered in week 11 kills the quarter. |
| **Identify Pain** | | Specific, quantified problem. Not "we need a better tool" — "We lost 3 deals last quarter because implementation was 90 days." |
| **Champion** | | Internal advocate with power + access + personal motivation. Test: ask them to do something hard. |
| **Competition** | | Direct competitors, adjacent products, internal build, or "do nothing." Map winning/battling/losing zones. |

### Scoring Thresholds
- **28-40/40**: Strong deal — high win probability
- **20-27/40**: Battling — winnable if gaps close in 14 days
- **Below 20/40**: At risk — needs major intervention or qualification out

### Scout Application: Sales Complexity Filter
When evaluating a startup idea, use MEDDPICC as a **complexity detector**:
- If the product requires scoring on all 8 elements to close a deal → enterprise sales motion → **RED FLAG for Perlantir** (long cycles, need sales team)
- If the product only needs Metrics + Pain + maybe Champion → self-serve or founder-led sales → **GREEN LIGHT**
- If Paper Process is heavy (compliance, legal, security) → adds 2-6 weeks per deal → factor into revenue timeline

## Objection Handling: AECR Framework

**Acknowledge** → "That's a fair concern."
**Empathize** → "If I'd been burned by [similar], I'd be skeptical too."
**Clarify** → "When you say timing isn't right — budget cycle, bandwidth, or something else?"
**Reframe** → "Here's how other teams in your situation thought about that..."

### Common Objection Distribution
| Category | Frequency | What It Really Means |
|----------|-----------|---------------------|
| Budget/Value | 48% | "I'm not convinced the ROI justifies cost" |
| Timing | 32% | "This isn't a priority right now" or "I'm overwhelmed" |
| Competition | 20% | "I need to justify why not [alternative]" |

*Budget objections are almost never about budget — they're about whether the buyer believes value exceeds cost.*

## Competitive Battlecard Template

For each competitor in a deal or market:

### Winning / Battling / Losing Zones
- **Winning**: Criteria where your differentiation is clear AND buyer values it → amplify, make these weigh heavier
- **Battling**: Both vendors credible → shift to adjacent factors (implementation speed, TCO, ecosystem)
- **Losing**: Competitor genuinely stronger → don't attack. Reposition: "They're excellent at X. Our customers find Y matters more at scale because..."

### Landmine Questions
Questions that surface requirements where you're strongest:
- *OUTBOUND example*: "How do your reps currently know which accounts to prioritize this week?" (exposes lack of signal-based prioritization)
- *Agent Arena example*: "When your agents fail, how do you know which one underperformed and why?" (exposes lack of competitive benchmarking)

## Challenger Teaching Sequence

For products that need to educate the buyer (not just solve a stated problem):

1. **Warmer**: Demonstrate understanding of their world (pattern recognition, not flattery)
2. **Reframe**: Challenge current assumptions with data
3. **Rational Drowning**: Stack evidence until status quo feels untenable
4. **Emotional Impact**: Make it personal — who on their team feels this daily?
5. **A New Way**: Present the methodology that solves it differently (not your product yet)
6. **Your Solution**: Connect product as the inevitable conclusion

*Agent Arena application: "Most companies test AI agents in isolation. Here's what happens when you put them in competition..." → leads naturally to Agent Arena's value prop.*

## Changelog
- 2026-03-22: Created from agency-agents/sales-discovery-coach.md + sales-deal-strategist.md — combined into single skill with Scout/UberKiwi/OUTBOUND examples