Sales Methodology Glossary

Every acronym and framework name you're likely to hit while researching sales methodology, defined in plain English. Organized roughly from qualification frameworks → sales-process/message frameworks → strategic-account frameworks → quick-hit terms.

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Qualification frameworks

MEDDIC — Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion. The original enterprise-B2B qualification checklist, built at PTC in the 1990s. Forces a rep to quantify pain (Metrics), confirm they're talking to someone who can actually sign (Economic Buyer), understand how the deal will be judged and by whom (Decision Criteria / Decision Process), and secure an internal advocate (Champion). Best for complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales.

MEDDPICC — MEDDIC plus Paper Process (legal/procurement/security review steps that can silently stall a "closed-won" deal) and Competition (who else is in the deal, and why you win). The most common variant in modern enterprise SaaS.

MEDDICC — A middle variant: MEDDIC plus Competition, without a separate Paper Process letter. Functionally close to MEDDPICC; teams pick whichever spelling their CRM fields already use.

BANT — Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline. IBM's late-1960s qualification checklist — the oldest framework still in active use. Simple and fast, but leads with budget before pain is established, which can end a conversation before value is proven. Best for transactional or SMB motions with short cycles.

ANUM — Authority, Need, Urgency, Money. A BANT variant that leads with Authority instead of Budget, on the logic that talking to the wrong person makes every other qualifier irrelevant.

SPICED — Situation, Pain, Impact, Critical event, Decision. Developed by Winning by Design for product-led and modern SaaS motions. Leans on "Critical event" (why the buyer must act now) more than a named single decision-maker, which suits flatter, more consensus-driven buying committees.

CHAMP — Challenges, Authority, Money, Prioritization. Reorders BANT to lead with the buyer's challenges instead of budget, and adds "Prioritization" — is this problem even in their top 3 right now?

FAINT — Funds, Authority, Interest, Need, Timing. A top-of-funnel/inbound variant for situations where "Need" isn't obvious yet — "Interest" stands in as an earlier, softer signal than confirmed need.

PACT — Pain, Authority, Consequence, Target profile. A newer framework that emphasizes the consequence of inaction as a qualifier in its own right, not just an implied part of pain.

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Sales-process / questioning frameworks

SPIN Selling — Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff questions, in that order. Neil Rackham's 1988 research-backed questioning sequence: establish facts (Situation), surface a problem, make the buyer feel its cost (Implication), then get them to state the value of solving it (Need-payoff) — so the buyer, not the rep, articulates the case for buying.

GAP Selling — Built by Keenan: sells the gap between the buyer's current state and their desired future state. Problem-centric rather than solution-centric — reps are trained to fully diagnose the current-state pain before ever describing the product.

Challenger Sale — Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson's research (2011) identifying the "Challenger" rep profile as the highest performer: Teach (bring a non-obvious insight), Tailor (to the stakeholder), Take control (of the conversation, including on price). Built around commercial insight rather than relationship-building.

Sandler Selling System — A "no-pressure" philosophy built on the pain funnel (progressively deeper pain questions), up-front contracts (agreeing what happens at the end of every interaction before it starts), and deliberately reversing pressure back onto the buyer ("Why are you telling me this?").

Solution Selling — Michael Bosworth's framework: sell to a diagnosed pain, position the rep as the architect of a "vision" of the solution before ever pitching product specifics.

Value Selling Framework — Quantifies business value/ROI at every stage of the deal, not just at the proposal — the business case is built and refined continuously, not bolted on at the end.

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Message and process frameworks (Force Management)

Command of the Message — Builds the narrative: customer problem, differentiated value, and proof — so every rep tells a consistent, compelling story regardless of who's in the room.

Command of the Sale — The process-side counterpart: opportunity management and qualification rigor, commonly paired with MEDDPICC as the qualification engine underneath the message.

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Strategic-account frameworks

Target Account Selling (TAS) — A structured approach to mapping and prioritizing accounts and buying influences within a named list of target accounts, historically paired with a formal account plan.

Miller Heiman Strategic Selling — Built around the "Blue Sheet" and four buying influences: Economic (controls the money), User (will use the product), Technical (can say no but not yes — compliance/security/IT), and Coach (internal ally). Useful for mapping who actually needs to say yes on a complex deal.

Conceptual Selling (Miller Heiman) — A companion framework focused on understanding the buyer's own mental "concept" of the solution before presenting anything, so the pitch matches how they've already framed the problem in their own head.

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Bonus quick-hit terms

• Economic Buyer — the person with the authority and budget to say yes and make it happen; not necessarily the most senior person in the room.
• Champion — an internal advocate with influence who wants you to win and will sell on your behalf when you're not in the room.
• Power Sponsor — a champion one level up: someone senior enough to unblock the deal, not just support it.
• Compelling Event — a specific, dated reason the buyer must act now (contract renewal, regulatory deadline, budget cycle) rather than "sometime."
• Mutual Action Plan (MAP) — a shared, dated document co-owned by buyer and seller listing every step needed to close, used to keep both sides honest about timeline.
• Multithreading — building relationships with multiple stakeholders in an account, not just one contact — so the deal survives a single champion leaving or going quiet.