Level 18 min
Interested
Kenji already likes what he has read about you. He answers directly and names the CFO the first time budget comes up.
- Answers directly
- Names who signs
Sales roleplay scenarioMEDDIC training role play: “Why should we keep talking to you?”
An IT director is comparing three vendors and gives you one call to earn a demo. Take your MEDDIC training into a live conversation: find the metrics, the economic buyer and the decision process with Kenji, an AI IT director who has heard every pitch.
KenjiAI IT director
Mood · AI character
We’re talking to three vendors. Why should we keep talking to you?
Fair question. Before I answer it, what made you start looking, and how would you know the new tool worked?
Peak season. Scanner tickets sat for nine hours last November. I want that under two.
Scored live
- Metrics
- Economic buyer
- Decision criteria
- Decision process
- Identify pain
- Champion
AI coachA target in his own numbers. Next, find out who approves the money to reach it.
The situation
Three vendors on his list. One call to stay on it.
Context
Kenji, IT director at a third-party logistics company with 14 warehouses, asked for a demo through your website and booked a 30-minute first call. The deal is yours: you sell IT service management software, with a service desk, asset tracking and automatic routing for device issues. Your sales team qualifies every new deal with MEDDIC before anyone builds a demo, and this call is where that starts.
What you know
- He is talking to two other vendors. One of them sells the upgrade of the service desk tool his team uses today.
- Their current service desk contract ends in four months.
- A new CFO joined the company this year.
- Warehouse staff work on handheld scanners, and IT supports them around the clock in peak season.
Your goal
- Earn the right to ask questions instead of answering the challenge with a pitch.
- Map all six MEDDIC elements: metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, pain and a possible champion.
- Book a demo built around his criteria, with a next step that brings in the person who signs.
The AI character
Meet Kenji. He has heard every pitch.
- His role
- IT director with a team of 22 across infrastructure and the service desk. He reports to the COO and owns the shortlist, but not the budget.
- His company
- Runs 14 warehouses for retail and e-commerce clients, with about 2,000 employees, most of them on the warehouse floor.
- What he cares about
- Scanner issues fixed before a shift loses hours
- A tool his service desk will actually use
- Not defending a second migration in three years
- What he won’t say first
- Ingrid, the new CFO, signs anything over $50,000 and has asked every department to cut software spend.
- His service desk manager prefers the incumbent’s upgrade because it means no migration.
- He owes the steering committee a recommendation in five weeks, after a security review.
- How he reacts
- A pitch before any questionsShort answers and “Everyone says that.”
- Questions about last peak seasonHe opens up and gives you numbers.
- “Are you the decision maker?”He bristles: “I run IT.” Then he shares less.
- Starting mood
Polite and impatient. Gives you about two minutes to show this is not another pitch.
What is scored
Six criteria. One for each letter of MEDDIC.
Six letters, six scores. For each MEDDIC element, the AI marks how much of it you brought out of Kenji and quotes the question that got it, or the moment you let it pass, with a timestamped comment. If your team qualifies with MEDDICC, MEDDPICC or its own checklist, those fields can be the criteria instead.
- 01
Metrics
What good looks likeGets a measurable outcome in his numbers: how long scanner tickets take today and the target he would commit to.
Common missAccepts “we need to be faster” and moves on.
- 02
Economic buyer
What good looks likeAsks who approves the spend and what that person cares about, then asks Kenji how to bring her in.
Common missAsks “Are you the decision maker?” or plans to go around him.
- 03
Decision criteria
What good looks likeFinds out what the three vendors will be compared on and which point weighs most, before showing anything.
Common missLists features and assumes they are the criteria.
- 04
Decision process
What good looks likeMaps the steps from today to a signed contract, such as security review, steering committee and CFO sign-off, with dates.
Common missLeaves with “We’ll decide this quarter.”
- 05
Identify pain
What good looks likeTies the search to a business problem and its cost, such as idle warehouse shifts in peak season, and asks why it has to be solved now.
Common missTakes “our contract is ending” as the whole reason.
- 06
Champion
What good looks likeTests whether Kenji will sell the case inside: offers him something to take to the CFO and asks him to do something specific with it.
Common missTakes a friendly call for a champion and never asks him to act.
How the conversation can go
From “why should we keep talking” to a demo on his terms.
Kenji · AI IT director
We’re talking to three vendors. Why should we keep talking to you?
You
Fair question, and I’d rather not answer it with a pitch. Can I ask a few things first, so I can tell you honestly whether we’re a fit? To start: your contract still has four months to run. What made you start looking now?
Kenji · AI IT director
Peak season. Last November, scanner tickets sat for nine hours on average. One warehouse lost most of a night shift.
AI coach · Identify painYou asked why now and got the business problem behind the search, not just the contract date.
You
A lost shift in November is expensive. A year from now, what number would tell you the new tool worked?
Kenji · AI IT director
Scanner tickets resolved in under two hours, even in peak season.
AI coach · MetricsA measurable target in his words. Bring it back in every later conversation, including the one with whoever signs.
You
When you bring a recommendation forward, what happens between now and a signed contract, and who signs it?
Kenji · AI IT director
Security review first, then the steering committee in five weeks. Ingrid, our CFO, signs anything over fifty thousand.
AI coach · Decision processSteps, a date and the economic buyer in one answer. Next, find out what the three vendors will be judged on.
You
And when the committee compares the three of us, what will matter most?
Kenji · AI IT director
Integration with our warehouse system. Then total cost. Ingrid wants software spend down.
You
Then let’s build the demo around your warehouse system and a one-page cost comparison Ingrid can read. Would you take that to her before the committee?
Kenji · AI IT director
If the integration holds up, yes. Book the demo for Tuesday.
AI coach · ChampionYou gave him something to carry to the CFO and asked him to act. Whether he does it tells you if he is a champion.
MEDDIC discovery call · 6 criteria79/ 100
Every letter came up, but Ingrid’s priorities came from Kenji, not from your questions, and the champion test came last. Ask what the CFO needs to see earlier.
Difficulty
Three versions of Kenji. The default is the toughest.
Level 210 min
Guarded
Kenji talks freely about the peak-season problem but keeps the budget, the committee and its date vague until you ask a second time.
- Vague on budget
- Hidden decision process
Level 312 min
Skeptical
The default version. He opens by asking why he should keep talking, meets a pitch with silence and mentions the incumbent’s upgrade only when you ask about the other vendors.
- Challenge in the first minute
- Hidden economic buyer
- Incumbent on the shortlist
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Discovery is where qualification starts, and every later stage of the deal depends on it. With AI buyers for sales practice, scored on your methodology, reps rehearse the rest of the deal too, from objections and pricing to negotiation.
Browse all sales, service and leadership scenariosFAQ
About this scenario.
What is MEDDIC in sales?
MEDDIC is a qualification framework for B2B deals. The letters stand for Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain and Champion. A rep who can fill in all six knows what the buyer wants to achieve, who signs, how the choice will be made and who will argue for it inside. Longer variants such as MEDDPICC add the paper process and the competition.
How does MEDDIC training work as a role play?
Reps run a discovery call with a buyer who holds information back, then see how much of each MEDDIC element they brought out and which questions did it. Running the same call at harder levels builds the habit of asking about metrics, the signer and the process before the demo, not after it.
Can we run this MEDDIC role play without AI?
Yes. Whoever plays Kenji works from his card and gives up each hidden fact only when the rep asks for it directly: no question about who signs, no Ingrid. An observer keeps a six-row sheet, one row per letter, with what the rep learned and the question that got it. The empty rows show what to practice next.
How does the AI decide what I uncovered?
It reads the transcript and checks, letter by letter, whether your questions brought out what Kenji knows, then quotes the exchange behind each score. It judges what was said, not your voice or emotions; the mood bar belongs to Kenji, the AI character.
Can reps rehearse a live deal on our own qualification fields?
Yes. Put a deal your reps are working into the scenario builder, with your product and the buyer roles they sell to, and the first call is rebuilt around that deal. Score it on your own MEDDIC fields or another qualification checklist.
Qualify the deal before the demo. Rehearse the first call.
In a short demo, run Kenji’s first call yourself, or bring a deal your team is trying to qualify right now.