Decision criteria

What is meant by decision criteria?

Decision criteria are the standards the buyer will use to choose between options. They may be formal, like a scored RFP, or informal, like a facility manager's trust in a vendor's response times. In MEDDIC, the qualification method that came out of PTC's sales organization in the 1990s, they are the first of two Ds, described as the formal requirements used to evaluate a solution.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

A seller who does not know the criteria is guessing what to prove. A seller who helped shape them starts ahead before the bids are opened. Gartner names requirements building as one of the jobs buyers work through, and buyers often revisit it as they learn, so criteria can change mid-deal. For a revenue leader, unknown criteria on a late-stage deal is a forecast risk. In commercial services, criteria often include safety record, licensing, coverage area and response time alongside price.

A fire protection company bids an inspection contract for a hospital network and assumes price will decide. The evaluation instead weights documented code compliance, after-hours response and a single reporting portal across sites. A competitor with a higher price wins on the portal. The seller learns the criteria from the debrief, after the decision.