Disqualify to Win. The Sales Discipline No One Talks About.

Here’s the problem,  too many tech sales teams have pipelines that are full, but not full of real opportunities. Full of “maybes,” “almosts,” and “should-be-good-fits.” Full of deals that look fine on a spreadsheet but die quietly somewhere between discovery and demo.

Qualification frameworks like MEDDIC and SPIN are stuck in slide decks. Reps go through the motions. Managers nod along in pipeline reviews. The deals stay stuck in stage 2 or 3. OK maybe i'm being a little hyperbolic, but the fact remains that the qualification problem is often masked by the issue of forecast accuracy. And it’s costing you time, morale, reputation, and revenue.

The Real Cost of Chasing the Wrong Deals

When qualification is treated as a checkbox instead of a decision, everything downstream suffers. Your revenue operations team builds forecasts based on fiction. SE’s demo to prospects who were never really a fit and your finance team hires based on numbers that won’t materialise.

And the sales team? They get frustrated. Blamed, and the attrition kicks in. 

This isn’t just about sales efficiency. It’s about organisational clarity. Because if you can't separate good deals from bad ones early, you're not really selling, you’re gambling.

Qualification acts as a filter that protects deals with real potential and eliminates the trash that erodes your win rate

The Truth About Qualification Frameworks

Let’s talk about MEDDIC for a second.

Is it useful? Absolutely. But most teams treat it like a checklist, not a gate. You can “tick the box” for Champion or Economic Buyer and still be completely wrong about whether a deal has a real shot.

Same goes for SPIN. It’s solid in theory, in fact, it’s one of my favourites, but try listening to a rep’s call where they tick off “Implication” questions without any understanding of what the buyer actually cares about.

These frameworks are like gym equipment. Useful, but only if used with consistency, form, and follow-through.

What the Best Teams Do Differently

High-performing sales teams don’t just qualify harder, they qualify smarter and faster.

They build what I call a Minimum Viable Deal, a tight definition of what a winnable opportunity looks like. Not just ICP firmographics, but real indicators: urgency, access, problem ownership, budget velocity.

And they operationalise it. That means:

• You can’t move a deal to the next stage unless specific criteria are met.

• Managers don’t “hope review” in forecast calls, they interrogate deal health.

• Reps are encouraged to disqualify fast and often, not punished for doing so.

They treat disqualification as a success, not a failure. Because when you cut low-probability deals early, you get to spend more time on the ones that actually have a shot.

Why Do We Ignore Exit Criteria?

This is where most companies miss the mark.

They have sales stages. They might even have stage definitions. But they don’t have exit criteria that are enforced, coachable, and grounded in buyer reality.

Exit criteria isn’t “Had a good call.” It is “Confirmed the decision-making process and validated timelines with Economic Buyer.”

If your CRM allows reps to drag deals forward without those criteria being met, you're asking for trouble.

Want a simple test? Randomly audit five deals in the mid to late stages of your sales cycle. The kind of deal that might make your forecast. Ask for proof of Champion alignment. Not the name. Not the job title. Proof. If you get silence or guesses, you have a process problem.

Why Forecasting Comes After Filtering

You can’t predict outcomes from noise. A bloated pipeline isn’t a sign of success, it’s a signal of missed qualification.

So filter first. Then forecast.

Start with discipline at the top of funnel. Ruthlessly disqualify. Force clarity.

Your pipeline might shrink at first. Good. That’s honesty. That’s the beginning of accuracy. And that’s when you can finally start to coach deals, not just report on them.

Qualification is Respect

One of the biggest myths in sales is that qualification is adversarial. That saying “no” to a prospect is somehow rude. That asking tough questions early will scare people off.

But the opposite is true.

Qualification is respect. Respect for your time. Respect for your team. Respect for your prospect’s time and priorities.

You’re not doing anyone favours by dragging them through a process they were never committed to.

So stop stuffing your pipeline. Start filtering it.

Because great sales doesn’t begin with belief, it begins with honesty.