What Customers Are Telling Us
About the Future of SPICED
Market signal report. Q4 2025 + Q1 2026. Source: Grain call recordings, customer debriefs, HubSpot CRM.
Dataset: 34 strategic deals ($8.36M) closed lost or delayed, Oct 2025 to Mar 2026. 40+ Grain call recordings analyzed. Insights ranked by evidence quality:
Grain Recording Customer/prospect said it on a recorded call.
Verified Debrief Post-loss customer conversation.
HubSpot Data Deal amounts, dates, owners (factual).
CRM Note Rep-entered loss reason (self-reported, unverified).
01
Customers want SPICED in their tools, not their training calendar.
Across every Grain recording where customers describe what they need, the pattern is the same: embed methodology in Salesforce, Gong, and Gainsight. Training events don't change behavior. A former WbD customer spent $750K and it didn't stick. CData built their own SPICED dashboard using Claude AI, without buying consulting.
6 Grain recordings
02
The market is learning to DIY methodology with AI.
CData built SPICED analytics in Claude. Check Point went in-house ($295K). Agilisium's champion thinks ChatGPT can do it ($85K). Affirm is replicating WbD's approach for 1/15th the cost. Darktrace's enablement leader already cut her MEDDPIC vendor and built training internally. The $30K/yr license competes against free.
4 Grain recordings
3 HubSpot deals
03
MEDDIC isn't the enemy. It's the distribution channel.
Every prospect with existing MEDDIC wants SPICED to complement it, not replace it. Darktrace: "I need y'all to be friends with Med." Jamf, JumpCloud, Vimeo, People.ai, Akamai all show the same pattern. $1.22M in deals turned on this one tension. MEDDIC Powered by SPICED is how SPICED gets into enterprise.
7 Grain recordings
5 HubSpot deals
Evidence: SPICED in Tools, Not Training
What customers and prospects said, in their own words, on recorded calls.
"That was my $50,000 way to do what we spent $750,000 at Calendly to do with Winning by Design. What we did at Calendly didn't stick. We built our Salesforce environment to model the bowtie workflow, exit entrance criteria. But people didn't do SPICED on a call. That never stopped."
Grain Amy McClain, Affirm. Discovery call with Matt Kaminski, Mar 31 2026
"Is there any guidance on making sure this sticks? We've taken our Salesforce statuses and tied them to the methodology. But is there anything beyond signing up for multiple sessions?"
Grain Jim Grass, Singlewire. Follow-up with Betsy Peters, Mar 3 2026
"We're using SPICED for onboarding where we're going to leverage SPICED methodology embedded in Salesforce by the AE to auto-populate in Gainsight so that our CSM and AM team are actually using that when doing a handoff."
Grain Helen, Level Access (existing customer). Advisory with David Ellin, Feb 11 2026
"We've changed our sales process. New stages, new percentages, and within that we also introduced SPICED exit criteria. Stage three, one of the exit criteria is you got to engage professional services. We feel like we can certainly do better and mature."
Grain Marco Cantamessi, IR (existing customer). Advisory with David Ellin, Mar 4 2026
The CData signal: Adam DeMichele at CData built a full SPICED adoption dashboard connected to Salesforce using Claude AI. Daily automated reports on pipeline ACV, adoption by rep, win/loss delta by SPICED component. The highest variation between won and lost deals is in Impact and Decision. When those fields are empty, loss rates spike. He didn't buy consulting to build this. Grain
Evidence: The Market Is Learning to DIY
"I cut it. I built my own MEDDPIC training. They used to pay like half a million dollars a year when I started, and I was like, you are being robbed."
Grain Michelle Afshar, Darktrace. Evaluation call, Feb 18 2026. Darktrace is a $500K delayed deal.
"They've got methodology fatigue where they tried Challenger for a year, replaced it with MEDDIC. I don't think any of it was operationalized. I say the word methodology and they all just get the shakes."
Grain Amy McClain, Affirm. Describing prospect buyer psychology, Mar 31 2026
DIY signals from the pipeline:
• Check Point ($295K) decided to build SKO content in-house rather than engage WbD. CRM
• Agilisium ($85K) champion "believes he can build it himself in ChatGPT." CRM
• Affirm is replicating WbD's approach using the content library for ~$50K vs. the $750K Calendly engagement. Grain
• CData built SPICED analytics in Claude without buying consulting. Grain
Evidence: MEDDIC as Distribution Channel
"I need y'all to be friends with Med. We have MEDDPIC, so I need that. I need there to be alignment."
Grain Michelle Afshar, Darktrace. Evaluation call, Feb 18 2026
"He was familiar with Winning by Design and SPICED when I brought it up. But I also know that he comes from a more like MEDDIC MEDDPIC type background. And so I am already trying to sow the seeds."
Grain Tonya Barnes, Jamf. Internal champion describing new CRO, Mar 2026
"I want a sales methodology. I contributed to the Challenger Sale. I don't consider Challenger to be a sales methodology. People say MEDDIC is a methodology. It's a deal qualification. I need to guide my people through the sales process based on a proven methodology."
Grain Bryan Miller, ASCM. Discovery call with Betsy Peters, Feb 18 2026
"We have regional managers requesting a methodology. I don't think they know why, but they see MEDDIC in Salesforce. Adoption is super low, and that's why it failed in the past."
Grain Leanne Sutherland, Akamai. Discovery call with Betsy Peters, Feb 18 2026
"MEDPIC was the what, and then SPICED was how we teach reps to uncover value. These are soft skills that at DocuSign our reps didn't have. So that could be a different way of looking at it."
Grain Kim Ventura-Perkins, Darktrace (formerly DocuSign). Evaluation call, Mar 3 2026
| Company | MEDDIC Pattern | Amount | Evidence |
|---|
| Darktrace | Wants SPICED to coexist with MEDDPIC. "Be friends with Med." | $500K (delayed) | Grain |
| JFrog | "Preferred MEDDIC more central to training than SPICED." | $400K | CRM |
| Maxar | "MEDDIC is requirement." CTO/CEO hard requirement. | $250K | CRM |
| Rakuten | "MEDDIC. The CEO wanted a quick win." | $120K | CRM |
| Cerby | 1mind took deal solo as "MEDDIC shop." | $100K | CRM |
| Jamf | New CRO from MEDDIC background. Champion trying to bridge. | Active pipeline | Grain |
| JumpCloud | New CRO (day 3) is "full tilt MEDDIC." | Active pipeline | Grain |
| Vimeo | Leadership change deciding between MEDDPIC and SPICED. | Active pipeline | Grain |
| People.ai | Asked WbD to NOT call SPICED a methodology. Present as "framework" only. | Active pipeline | Grain |
| Akamai | MEDDIC in Salesforce but "adoption is super low." | Active pipeline | Grain |
The pattern is consistent across 10 companies: Every prospect with existing MEDDIC wants SPICED to complement it. Nobody is asking WbD to rip out MEDDIC. The ones we lost ($1.22M) were the ones where we positioned SPICED as the methodology instead of the operating layer that makes MEDDIC work. The ones still in pipeline (Jamf, JumpCloud, Vimeo) are actively navigating this same tension.
Buyer Psychology: The Shift from FOMO to Indecision
This pattern appears in WbD's own customers' pipelines, not just our deals. It's a market-wide dynamic.
"The majority of the deals we lose, we lose because people go dark. To me, that means there was no critical event discovered."
Grain Julie Engel, TrackStreet (WbD customer). Impact review, Mar 2 2026
"We used to deal with fear of missing out and now it's more fear of messing up and indecision."
Grain Rachael Smith, WbD. TrackStreet advisory, Mar 2 2026
"Indecision and doing nothing or ghosting is probably our highest [loss reason]. Direct to competitors, probably 15-20%."
Grain Josh Tenby, Thinkific. Discovery call, Mar 10 2026
"Unfortunately that's our biggest competitor. Indecision is people doing absolutely nothing."
Grain Lindsey Bye, CData. SPICED workshop, Feb 5 2026
This is both a customer problem and our problem. "Went dark" is the #1 loss reason in our own pipeline ($1.46M, 5 deals per HubSpot). The root cause our customers identify from Grain analysis: no critical event established, no impact quantified. CData's data confirms it. When Impact and Decision fields in SPICED are empty, loss rates spike.
What We Don't Know
We don't have call recordings for 80%+ of our top lost deals.
Of the 17 companies representing $6M+ in lost pipeline, only Darktrace has Grain call recordings from actual prospect conversations. First Advantage, JFrog, Contentful, Postman, Okta, Maxar, WP Engine, Digital Realty, Check Point, Obsidian Security, Cognism, Factorial, Lambda Labs, McKesson, FrontApp, and Metronome have zero recorded prospect calls in Grain.
This means we're relying on one-line CRM notes from reps to understand why $6M+ in deals chose someone else. Loss reasons like "requirements changed," "went dark," and "not a priority" are rep interpretations, not verified customer feedback.
This gap is itself a finding. If we can't hear why deals die, we can't learn from losses or hold anyone accountable for improving. A structured loss debrief process, recorded and analyzed, would turn this gap into the highest-ROI data source we have.
The Language Gap
What customers say vs. what we say. From Grain recordings across 20+ calls.
What Customers Say Grain
• "We need a sales methodology"
• "We need training and enablement"
• "Help us shorten our sales cycle"
• "Train our managers to coach"
• "Make our CRM reflect the methodology"
• "Not looking for soup to nuts"
What WbD Proposes
• "Revenue Architecture"
• "Growth Governance"
• "Diagnostic + Design + Deploy"
• "Full GTM methodology"
• "Bow tie operating system"
• "Monte Carlo growth thesis"
"For now we're not looking for like full bow tie, SPICED soup to nuts. The way in would be this enablement piece."
Grain George Thomas, Causeway/Rothschild. Discovery call, Mar 2026
Supporting Data: Pipeline Numbers
HubSpot deal data. Dollar amounts and dates are factual. Loss reason categories are based on CRM notes (self-reported) unless tagged with Grain evidence above.
* ICP ($50M-$2B) based on HubSpot enrichment estimates, not verified ARR. Some values appear inflated.
Loss Reasons (CRM-reported) CRM
ICP Fit (HubSpot enrichment) HubSpot
Pipeline by Owner HubSpot
* Rachael Smith is inactive in HubSpot. 5 deals ($1.34M) are orphaned with no active owner.
What This Means for SPICED AI
The evidence points in one direction. Customers want SPICED embedded in their daily workflow. Not as a training event. Not as a $30K annual license. As infrastructure.
01
MEDDIC Powered by SPICED as the enterprise entry point
10 companies across lost and active pipeline show the same pattern: MEDDIC is already there, SPICED needs to work with it. Position SPICED as the operating layer that makes MEDDIC effective across the full customer lifecycle. This is how SPICED gets into enterprise without replacing what's already there.
02
SPICED in the CRM, not the classroom
Affirm, Singlewire, Level Access, IR, CData, Darktrace all describe the same need: methodology that lives in Salesforce fields, Gong trackers, and Gainsight playbooks. CData proved it can be built with AI. The question is whether WbD owns that integration layer or someone else does.
03
Build the loss debrief system
We have zero Grain call evidence for 80%+ of top lost deals. Every loss over $100K should have a recorded debrief with the prospect (not the rep). This is the single highest-ROI process change. We can't improve what we can't see.
04
Meet customers in their language first
Prospects say "training," "enablement," and "methodology." The most successful engagements (Darktrace, ASCM) start in the buyer's words and elevate from there. People.ai asked us to not call SPICED a methodology. Causeway said "not soup to nuts." Listen first, label later.
Deal Forensics: What They Came For vs. What They Needed
Top 10 deals analyzed using SPICED fields (auto-populated by Grain), stage progression timestamps, champion data, and activity logs from HubSpot. HubSpot Grain SPICED
Three patterns emerge from deal-level forensics:
• Diagnosed but didn't pivot. JFrog, Darktrace: SPICED fields were detailed, pain was correctly identified, but we didn't flex the offering to meet the buyer where they were (MEDDIC coexistence).
• Low activity = lost before we started. WP Engine (6 days), Digital Realty (13 activities in 95 days), Postman (16 activities on $375K). Compare to First Advantage: 107 activities.
• AI is already sending us leads. Postman's champion came via chatgpt.com. JFrog via an AI agent meeting link. The inbound channel is shifting.
170 days in pipeline
107 activities
Source: winningbydesign.com
Lost to: Value Selling / Sandler
Came for
Sales & CS Training for 551 GTM reps post-acquisition of Sterling.
Real problem
Post-M&A integration. $750K-$900K training costs. Communication breakdowns and silos between inherited teams. Morale issues. Consolidating Salesforce instances.
Champion
Andy Morris (Sales Trainer), Andy Perez (Dir Sales Enablement), Erin Osman. Multiple enablement contacts, no single executive sponsor identified in SPICED Decision field.
SPICED Diagnosis
Rich. Situation, Pain, Decision all populated. Pain correctly identified: silos, morale, training cost burden. Decision field noted: Joy Henry, Dan Smith, LiengAnh involved. Procurement would require "back-and-forth."
Stage progression
Sep 16 → Stage 1. Feb 4 → Stage 3 (Define) + Stage 4 (SOW Sent). Mar 4 → Stage 5 then Closed Lost. 5 months to SOW, lost same day it went final.
Verdict: Lost to an AI product we don't have.
Verified Debrief Dan debriefed with Ann post-loss. The real story:
• Sandler was eliminated as "super outdated." It was WbD vs. Value Selling.
• First Advantage liked WbD's lightboard delivery style. It was a hard decision.
• The deciding factor was Val, Value Selling's AI agent. Val could certify their entire GTM org on new product launches at scale. WbD had no equivalent.
• Pricing was similar across all three vendors. Price was not a factor.
• Timeline: implementing Q3, launching at next year's SKO.
What the CRM note said vs. what actually happened: CRM said "Sandler or Value Selling, incumbent from Sterling." Reality: Sandler was rejected, it was Value Selling's AI agent that won. The CRM note was incomplete and misleading.
Implication: If SPICED AI exists by Q3, First Advantage is potentially recoverable. Value Selling has the AI product. WbD doesn't. Yet.
33 days in pipeline
64 activities
Source: Sales Outbound
Status: Delayed, executing mid-year
Came for
SKO methodology for July 2026 Las Vegas. SPICED rollout to ~900 sellers.
Real problem
IPO prep. New Salesforce rollout with data quality issues. Forecast accuracy problems. Managers can't coach consistently. MEDDPIC already embedded. Need methodology and CRM alignment before October system launch.
Champion
Michelle Afshar (Global Head of Enablement). In HubSpot since July 2024. Has history of cutting vendors and building training internally. Strong operator.
SPICED Diagnosis
Excellent. All fields populated with detail. Grain auto-captured situation (1,700 GTM, IPO, Salesforce migration), pain (forecast accuracy, manager coaching gaps), decision (needs Salesforce integration, board approval by April). Last updated Mar 9.
Key Grain Quote
"I need y'all to be friends with Med. We have MEDDPIC, so I need that. I need there to be alignment." Also: Kim Ventura-Perkins (DocuSign): "MEDDPIC was the what, SPICED was how we teach reps to uncover value."
Verdict: Diagnosis correct. Deal delayed, not lost. Highest engagement rate in the dataset (64 activities in 33 days). MEDDPIC coexistence was addressed directly in calls. Dan and Matt proposed "we can call it MEDDPIC and have SPICED data model work in the background." This is the template for how to handle the MEDDIC tension. Executing mid-year with Salesforce partnership angle.
18 days in pipeline
53 activities
Source: Google search
Lost to: Sandler
Came for
CKO & Quarterly Training Rollout. Evaluated 8 vendors.
Real problem
$8-9M churn in two quarters. 15% pricing discount issue. PLG to enterprise transition. EMEA call recording inconsistency affecting team morale.
Champion
Chris Masino (DM). CRO controls budget. Found via Google. Rachael Smith owned deal (now inactive).
SPICED Diagnosis
Pain diagnosed: churn, PLG shift, EMEA issues. Decision field captured: cost management, flexibility, CRO involvement. But the CRO's Sandler relationship wasn't identified as a blocker in SPICED fields.
Verdict: Diagnosis missed the real decision dynamic. The SPICED Decision field captured procurement process but not the CRO's pre-existing Sandler relationship that "largely shaped the brief." WbD was runner-up of 8 vendors and feedback was "ran the best sales cycle." We won the evaluation and lost the politics. Question: could we have identified this earlier and either multi-threaded above the CRO or walked away?
76 days in pipeline
40 activities
Source: AI agent meeting link
Lost to: MEDDPICC preference
Came for
Enterprise Training. Needed consistent framework for 160 people across Strategic, Enterprise, Mid-Market, SEs, XDRs.
Real problem
$500M+ ARR. PLG to enterprise shift. Forecasts wildly inaccurate. Reps improvising. MEDDPICC being piloted in Gong. No structure or repeatability. Mid-market reps lack formal enterprise training.
Champion
Ron Frenkel (Global Head of Sales Enablement). Came in via an AI agent meeting link (Jack). Has deep enablement background.
SPICED Diagnosis
Very detailed. Pain: "Forecasts consistently inaccurate, high standard deviation. Deals sandbagged. Reps use inconsistent qualification. Managers lack consistent way to coach." Situation: "MEDDPICC being piloted in Gong."
Verdict: Perfect diagnosis, failed to pivot. We knew they were already piloting MEDDPICC in Gong. The SPICED fields literally documented this. But we proposed SPICED-central training instead of MEDDPICC Powered by SPICED. The real product they needed: framework that makes their existing MEDDPICC investment work better. We offered a replacement. They chose what was already in their system.
49 days in pipeline
16 activities
Source: chatgpt.com referral
Lost to: Went dark / requirements changed
Came for
Methodology transformation. 700 GTM professionals, $200M+ ARR, targeting $1B in 4 years.
Real problem
9-month system implementation delay. Missed revenue opportunities. Need unified sales process across enterprise and junior sellers. Evaluating 5 vendors, narrowing to 2 for CRO (who was on paternity leave).
Champion
Doug Lavanchy (Head of Revenue Enablement). Ben Quinn (GTM Onboarding PM) came in via chatgpt.com. Budget: ~$1,500/rep. Target: impact by February.
SPICED Diagnosis
Captured but thin. CRO on paternity leave was noted. Decision: "narrowing to 2 recommendations for CRO." But we only had 16 activities on a $375K deal evaluating 5 vendors.
Verdict: Under-invested in a high-value deal. 16 activities over 49 days on a $375K opportunity evaluating 5 vendors. CRO absence created a timing gap we didn't bridge. Ben Quinn literally found us via ChatGPT. The lead quality was there. The engagement wasn't. No Grain call recordings exist for this deal.
11 days in pipeline
40 activities
Source: Sales Outbound
Lost to: DIY / In-house
Came for
SKO support across Americas, Vienna, APAC. Four-day event, 5 personas, 17 roles.
Real problem
10 training sessions totaling 68 hours with zero observable performance change. Behavioral application of skills not translating. Role clarity and collaboration challenges.
SPICED Diagnosis
Pain captured: "10 training sessions, 68 hours, no performance changes." Decision: needs "tailored LMS with effective training measurement." But they decided to build in-house.
Verdict: Their pain was "training doesn't work" and we offered more training. 68 hours with no results. They needed proof that training creates measurable change, not another training vendor. Going in-house was a bet that their own people understand the context better. This is the DIY signal. A SPICED AI tool that proves impact through data (like CData's dashboard) would have been a different conversation.
6 days in pipeline
23 activities
Source: Sales Outbound
Lost to: Price (3x)
Came for
Sales Training, specifically SPICED. They asked for it by name.
Real problem
175,000 customers but only 500 with dedicated CS. Frontline leaders need structured training. Status quo is the barrier. Exploring AI integration. Need "psychologically safe environment for coaching."
Champion
Katie Van Hoomissen (Sr Mgr GTM Enablement). Filled Contact Us form on winningbydesign.com. Inbound.
Verdict: They wanted SPICED by name and we priced ourselves out in 6 days. Inbound lead who specifically asked for SPICED. Price was 3x competitor. 175K customers with 500 CS reps. They needed a scaled, affordable entry point. This is the exact buyer that SPICED AI serves: high volume, low touch, tool-embedded methodology at a price point that works.
80 days in pipeline
46 activities
Source: Organic search, resource download
Lost to: Acquired by Stripe
Came for
Revenue Architecture. Tyler Petersen (Head of GTM) found WbD via organic search and downloaded a resource first.
Real problem
$50M ARR targeting growth. Data silos. Complex enterprise + AI-native market motions. COO (Andrew) was economic buyer.
Verdict: Uncontrollable. Good engagement (46 activities), correct diagnosis, right champion. Stripe acquisition killed it. Content marketing (resource download) created the lead. This is the inbound motion working.
95 days in pipeline
13 activities
Source: winningbydesign.com
Lost to: Went dark
Came for
Methodology Rollout. Krista Chance (Revenue Ops & Enablement Leader) filled Contact Us form.
Real problem
Growth by acquisition for 10+ years. Past methodology rollouts stalled (timing, fragmentation, lack of integration). MEDDPICC for qualification but no customer-facing methodology. Sellers default to transactional mindset. No consistency across regions.
Champion
Krista Chance. Inbound. But deal owned by Rachael Smith (now inactive). Above ICP ($10B+ revenue).
Verdict: Inbound lead, rich diagnosis, abandoned. 13 activities in 95 days on a $400K inbound deal. Pain perfectly documented: past rollouts stalled, need customer-facing methodology alongside MEDDPICC. This deal starved from neglect. Owner went inactive. No reassignment. The diagnosis was there. The execution wasn't. No Grain recordings exist.
479 days in pipeline
125 activities
Source: Inbound form fill (Jan 2024)
Status: Rescoping
Came for
Coaching / Guided Pathways. SOW 4 of 5 total deals with Lambda.
Real problem
$1M ARR but 400 employees. Pivoting to cloud. Targeting $1B ARR. CFO from Goldman (IPO trajectory). Massive GTM restructuring. Outdated training. New bowtie models needed for new products. "Accelerated growth with decreased resources."
Champion
Kyle Van Dyke (Sales Enablement Mgr). In system since Jan 2024. 5 associated deals. Filled Contact Us form on winningbydesign.com/services/sales/. Deeply engaged.
Verdict: Below ICP, deep relationship, constant rescoping. 5 deals, 125 activities, 479 days. The relationship is real but Lambda is $1M ARR. They constantly rescope as they grow. This is a bet on a future enterprise customer, not a current ICP fit. The question: is WbD investing advisory time in a company that can't pay at scale yet? And does that investment pay off when Lambda hits $100M+?
Verified Loss Debrief: First Advantage ($500K)
Verified Debrief Source: Dan Smith, post-loss conversation with Ann at First Advantage.
What Ann said
It was a hard decision between WbD and Value Selling. They liked WbD's lightboard presentation style. Sandler was "super outdated" and eliminated early. Pricing was similar across all three vendors.
Why Value Selling won
Val, Value Selling's AI agent, could certify their entire GTM org on new product launches. That capability was a big importance to First Advantage. WbD had no equivalent AI product to offer.
Timeline
Not implementing until Q3 2026. Probably won't launch until next year's SKO. Window still open.
CRM vs. Reality
CRM note: "Sandler or Value Selling, incumbent from acquired company Sterling."
Reality: Sandler rejected. Value Selling won on AI product capability (Val), not methodology or relationships. Price was equal.
What this means for SPICED AI
Value Selling already has an AI agent (Val) that closes $500K deals against WbD. The competitive gap is not methodology. It's product. First Advantage chose a tool that scales certification across 551 reps over a consulting engagement that trains them. If SPICED AI can do what Val does, plus embed in Salesforce/Gong/Gainsight (which Val doesn't), the Q3 implementation window is still open.
This debrief is the evidence standard. One verified customer conversation revealed that the CRM loss reason was wrong. The real competitive threat (AI product) was invisible in our data. How many of the other 27 lost deals have a story this different from their CRM note? We won't know until we debrief them. Recommendation: structured loss debrief for every deal over $100K, recorded and analyzed.