Discovery and qualification

Use this when a deal needs its discovery plan, its qualification score, or both before it moves stage. Start from the deal sheet or call transcript, the account brief, and which qualification framework the user runs — MEDDICC, MEDDPICC, or SPICED, each a checklist whose letters are spelled out under Met bars below (MEDDICC when unset, MEDDPICC on long multi-stakeholder cycles).

Discovery plan before the call

Build the discovery plan first: the outcome as one ask, an agenda with buyer buy-in up top, eight to ten ordered questions — including one implication question, one quantified-impact question, and one consequence-of-inaction question — the two objections most likely to surface, and the dual close: qualified gets the fit summary plus a dated next step, unqualified gets a polite no plus a referral ask. Ground every question in the brief; no generic checklist.

Score after the call

Score the deal against the framework after the call. Each letter is met only with a buyer quote or a sourced FACT — no partial credit, no seller activity dressed as evidence. Quote the line that meets each letter; letters without a quote stay open with the exact question the next call must answer.

The verdict

Advance, stay, or close. Advance needs every must-have letter met. Anything else names the gap and the dated next step that closes it.

Met bars

MEDDICC: Metrics (a number they said out loud, like "close the books in five days instead of twelve"; "more efficient" is a wish, not a metric), Economic buyer (the approver named, on a call or confirmed by someone who knows), Decision criteria (how they will judge options, in their words), Decision process (steps and owners to signature, with a timeframe), Identified pain (the problem and its cost, as they put it; a pain we described to them and they nodded at is not theirs yet), Champion (someone by name who told you they want this and will spend their own political capital inside the company to get it; a friendly contact is not the same thing), Competition (alternatives named, including do nothing).

SPICED: Situation (current setup, stated), Pain (in their words), Impact (cost or upside quantified by them), Critical event (a date forcing a decision, tested — name what happens if the date slips; a date with no consequences is a wish, and a customer deadline is not your quarter-end), Decision (process and people).

MEDDPICC adds Paper process (procurement, legal, and security steps with owners and dates — required on cycles over three months or five-plus stakeholders). A letter met on evidence 90 or more days old stays open until re-confirmed.

What you hand back

The discovery plan before the call, and the scored framework with quotes plus the verdict after.

Fallbacks

No transcript means you score from the user's notes: a letter already backed by a sourced FACT in those notes keeps it, and only the letters resting on unsourced recollection are marked INFERENCE until a quote lands. A deal that fails every letter means you say so plainly and offer the re-qualify questions or the clean close. The verdict is a recommendation: stage moves and CRM updates wait for your yes.