MEDDPICC

Economic buyer and Champion: who decides, and who sells for you

The two letters most often confused, and the test that tells them apart.

Lesson 3 of 6

These two are different people doing different jobs, and treating a friendly contact as both is the most reliable way to be surprised in week eight.

The economic buyer

The person who can approve the spend without asking anyone. Not the person who owns the problem, not the person who runs the evaluation, and usually not the person you have been talking to.

The question that finds them is not "who signs?" — which produces a name and a title and no information. It is:

• "Who has this in their budget, and what else is competing for that budget this year?"
• "Last time you bought something like this, who ultimately said yes?"
• "If we agreed everything today, what would need to happen for money to move?"

Those questions surface the process as well as the person, which is why they are worth more than the direct version.

The champion

Someone with influence who sells internally when you are not there. Three properties, all required: they have influence, they have a personal stake in this being solved, and they are actively selling on your behalf.

Warmth is not one of them. The friendliest person on the call is frequently not a champion; they are pleasant, and they will remain pleasant while the deal dies.

The test

A champion will get you a meeting with the economic buyer.

That is the whole test, and it is worth running early. Ask directly: "It would help to get ten minutes with whoever owns the budget for this — could you make that introduction?"

• They do it: champion confirmed.
• They cannot: they have less influence than you thought. Useful, and better known now.
• They will not: they are not selling for you. Also useful, and the more dangerous of the two

because it is easy to mistake for a scheduling problem.

Someone who fails the test is a coach: helpful, informative, worth keeping, and not able to carry the deal.

Why deals die here

A rep with a coach they believe is a champion has a deal with no internal advocate and does not know it. Everything looks healthy right up to the point where the deal needs someone to argue for it in a room the rep is not in, and nobody does.

Check yourself

Answers are shown as soon as you open each one. The explanation is the point, not the score.

1. What is the practical test of a champion?

• They will get you a meeting with the economic buyer
• They have the word "director" in their title
• They respond quickly and are friendly on calls

A champion sells for you when you are not in the room. Introducing you to the person who controls the money is the cheapest observable proof of that.

2. Which question is most likely to surface the economic buyer usefully?

• "Who signs the contract?"
• "Who has this in their budget, and what else is competing for it?"
• "Are you the decision maker?"

It surfaces the person and the competing priorities in one answer. The direct versions produce a name and no context, and often an inaccurate name.

3. A helpful contact gives you great information but will not introduce you upward. What are they?

• A coach: useful, worth keeping, and not able to carry the deal
• The economic buyer
• A champion who is busy

The distinction matters because a deal with a coach mistaken for a champion looks healthy until it needs someone to argue for it internally.

All lessons

1. 1What MEDDPICC is for, and what it is not
2. 2Metrics: the number the whole deal rests on
3. 3Economic buyer and Champion: who decides, and who sells for you
4. 4Decision criteria and process: the two letters that set your close date
5. 5Identified pain and Competition: why they would move, and what stops them
6. 6Paper process: the least interesting letter, and the one that moves your close date