Why I don't start with BANT or MEDDIC

I've used both, and plenty of versions of both. They're useful when you're working a deal. The trouble is the moment before that.

I just don't start there.

BANT gets you close, but its need is usually something the seller diagnosed, and its timeline is a date in the CRM rather than a reason anything happens. It also skips the biggest federal question: how does a purchase order actually appear? Contract vehicle, contracting office, acquisition lead time. That's the timeline.

MEDDIC, or MEDDPICC depending on who taught it to you, is more sophisticated, which is part of the problem. I've watched sellers spend forty-five minutes deciding whether somebody counts as an economic buyer. The five questions are blunter, and they're meant to come before that debate.

I'd save MEDDIC for after the five questions say there's a real deal.

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