The method already exists; the key is putting it into your daily judgment checklist

Six stages of opportunity progression

For a deal from discovery to signing, where it's stuck and what to do next are judged by stage—and the judgment must use customer behavior, not sales gut feel.

• Discovery — Gate: role map, solvable pain points, impact, current process, and next steps for both sides
• Scope —— Gate: Champion confirms benefits/timing/budget in person, leaves a written record and introduces the EB
• Go/No-Go —— Gate: EB confirms the pain point, priority, benefits, process, budget and evaluation criteria, and agrees on a post-validation meeting
• Validate Solution —— Gate: the validation plan and criteria receive written confirmation from the Champion, with the process, results and commercial workflow documented
• Business Case —— Gate: finalize with Champion, report to EB, connect procurement and complete the negotiation plan
• Negotiate & Close —— Gate: Quote, order list, SOW/delivery confirmation and contract execution checks completed

Champion: Four-stage lifecycle

A Champion is not someone friendly to the solution, but someone who can push, refer and take on internal selling when you're not in the room; a Coach or Informant cannot automatically be equated with a Champion.

• Finding — Find people with influence, personal gain, and the will to drive change in the organization
• Building · Cultivating —— Around his personal value, trust and role, help him understand and relay the solution
• Testing —— Use verifiable actions to check whether he can provide internal intelligence, organize key people, reach the EB and drive validation
• Keeping —— Continuously update the relationship and Champion map through delivery success, ongoing value and regular interaction

Agent prepares, humans decide

The Agent can organize facts from CRM, meetings and public sources, flag evidence gaps, and prepare questions, reviews and candidate next steps; it does not confirm customer commitments, Champion/EB status, Go/No-Go, pricing, resources or strategy on anyone's behalf. Sales reps and managers must verify the evidence and make the decisions.

MEDDIC: The six elements for reviewing opportunity quality

Review a deal and ask these six questions one by one, recording them as "verified / partially verified / unverified"; then combine them with the two items of procurement process and competitive landscape for a complete check:

• Metrics —— Is the business value quantified and recognized by the customer?
• Economic Buyer decision maker —— Have you reached the person who ultimately approves the budget?
• Decision Criteria —— What criteria does the customer use to evaluate the solution?
• Decision Process —— Who decides, at what time, and in what way?
• Identify Pain — Is the pain real, urgent, and big enough to justify budget?
• Champion supporter —— Is there someone willing to push and refer for you?
• Additional: Paper Process —— Are the processes and timelines for procurement, contracts and legal clear?
• Supplement: Competition —— What do competitors and "do nothing" each mean?

Continuous review, not forgotten once passed

Use verifiable facts to judge whether to advance between stages: each stage has a key evidence checklist, and if evidence is insufficient, list the gaps. Starting price discussions does not mean you've entered closing.

After each customer interaction, update facts and next steps; individuals check their opportunities daily, managers verify Gates opportunity by opportunity, and the organization uses a cross-opportunity view to judge resources and common gaps. When customer priorities, Champion, EB, budget, process or validation criteria change, return to the relevant stage to add evidence rather than mechanically moving forward.

The system prepares reminders and items to check against the checklist; advancement, pauses, quotes and commitments are always made by sales and managers.