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Start on Monday.

The whole idea in one breath

A deal is not “good” or “bad.” It has evidence, or it doesn't. MIQL scores the evidence on five pillars, adds them up to a number out of 10, and the number tells you exactly what to call the deal. No debate, no vibes.

Step 1 · score each pillar 0, 1, or 2

Every deal carries five pillars: Outcome, Maps, Insight, Quantify, Leadership. You move each slider to the level the buyer's behavior proves:

Step 2 · add them up (max 10)

Five pillars times two points each equals a maximum of 10. The score is a read of evidence, not a feeling. If you can't point at the buyer behavior, the pillar isn't a 2.

Step 3 · the score becomes a category

The 10-point score maps straight to a forecast category. No ambiguity, no negotiation:

Why this is the argument that wins the CFO

Every other benefit is a forecast. This one is arithmetic. A score-led review takes under 10 minutes instead of 45, and the saved hours compound across the whole leadership cohort.

The default math · a 20-rep team, 8 deals each

• Before MIQL: 45 minutes per deal review · about 120 hours/week of leader time.
• After MIQL: under 10 minutes per deal review · about 27 hours/week of leader time.
• Time recovered: 93 hours/week, conservatively, across the leadership cohort · roughly 4,400 hours a year.

How to run your own number

1. Count the reviews. Reps multiplied by deals reviewed per rep, per week.
2. Time them today. Be honest · most enterprise reviews run 30 to 60 minutes.
3. Set the after number. Score-led reviews land at 8 to 10 minutes once the habit sticks.
4. Subtract. Before-hours minus after-hours is the weekly time back. Multiply by ~48 working weeks for the annual figure.

Print this page, or keep it open in your first three sessions. Every word here means exactly one thing on purpose.

MIQL

The five-pillar evidence score · Outcome, Maps, Insight, Quantify, Leadership · that turns a forecast from a feeling into a fact.

The Five Movements

The five pillars, in the order you work them: O, M, I, Q, L. Each one is a question the deal has to answer with evidence.

Evidence Slider

Each pillar is a slider with three stops (0 / 1 / 2). You move the slider to the level of evidence the buyer's behavior proves. You move the slider, you don't “set a score.”

The Three Stops

Every pillar reads at one of three levels: No evidence (0), Seller acted (1), Buyer adopted (2).

Fact / Feeling / Fiction

The plain-English read of the three stops. Fact (2): the buyer's behavior proves it. Feeling (1): you believe it, the buyer hasn't shown it. Fiction (0): nothing supports it.

Ghost Deal

A deal forecast on narrative alone. No evidence behind any pillar · a story wearing a close date.

Nuclear Question

The one question per pillar that, if the rep cannot answer it, the deal is not real.

Forecast Fiction

A pipeline number unsupported by evidence. The default state for most teams before MIQL.

Sentiment to Truth

The shift from feeling-based forecasting to evidence-based forecasting. The whole point of MIQL.

Audit the deal, not the rep

MIQL scores the evidence in the deal, never the person. It is a flashlight, not a performance review.

Forecast Category

The label the 10-point score maps to: Pipeline, Best Case, Most Likely, Commit, Commit Locked.

Time Back

The leader hours MIQL returns by cutting deal reviews from about 45 minutes to under 10.

MAP · Mutual Action Plan

The buyer-owned plan of dated milestones. Buyer-owned is the test, not seller-built.

Economic Buyer (EB)

The one person who controls the budget calendar and can authorize the spend.

Cost of Inaction (COI)

The number that answers “what does staying still cost you?” · validated in the buyer's own finance terms.

Coach the Gap

The pillar sitting at 0 is the deal's coaching surface. Move that pillar and the category moves. Coach the gap, not the deal in aggregate.

Propensity-to-Act

An effort-to-win overlay (Low / Medium / High) on top of the score · how hard this specific deal is to win, separate from how real it is.

One card per category. The score band on the front, the operational meaning and the next move on the back. This is the bridge from “what is the number” to “what do I do Monday.”

Use these to build the business case. Each stat names the pillar it argues for, so you can pull the three that fit your room.

Each pillar has a definition (what it is), a Nuclear Question (the test · if the rep can't answer it, the deal isn't real), and the difference between Fact and Fiction so you know a real 2 when you see one.

If your team already runs MEDDPICC

The methodology was the right investment · MIQL is the missing scoring layer on top. It takes the MEDDPICC vocabulary you already use and gives it a number and a coaching surface. Here is how the language maps:

Metrics → Quantify (Q)

MEDDPICC asks for metrics; MIQL asks whether the buyer validated the cost-of-inaction number themselves.

Economic Buyer → Leadership (L)

MEDDPICC names the EB; MIQL scores whether an exec-to-exec link actually exists.

Decision Criteria / Process → Maps (M)

MIQL asks whether the Mutual Action Plan is buyer-owned, not just documented.

Identify Pain → Outcome (O)

MIQL asks whether the outcome is in the buyer's own written words, not the seller's paraphrase.

Champion → Insight (I)

A real champion repeats your insight as their own · that is how I is scored.

Tap the headphones icon on the right edge of the screen to listen along. The written outlines below match the audio panel exactly · skim them, or print them for a rep who'd rather read.

The default 12-week cadence

• Weeks 1 to 2 · Install. Kickoff, vocabulary install, audit-tool walkthrough. Every rep scores one live deal by Friday of week 2.
• Weeks 3 to 6 · Reps. Weekly deal-review sessions; every rep audits two deals per week. Managers shadow, they don't grade.
• Weeks 7 to 9 · Managers. Manager certification; the coaching surface goes live. Reviews drop toward 10 minutes.
• Weeks 10 to 12 · Operate. The forecast call runs on MIQL category language. Close-out, retrospective, next-quarter cadence set.

Variants · pick the one that fits

6-engagement (compressed)

Same arc in six touchpoints for teams that can't give 12 weeks · install, two rep blocks, manager cert, operate.

Role-specific

AEs start at Outcome and Maps; CSMs start at the renewal view; BDRs run a lighter Outcome-and-Maps-only version.

Distributed team

Async kickoff video, recorded run-sheets, and a shared board so remote reps audit on their own clock between live sessions.

Session 1 · Kickoff (60 min)

• 0-15 · Why forecasts are feelings (use 3 stats from Foundations).
• 15-35 · The five pillars and the 0/1/2 rubric.
• 35-55 · Score one real deal together, live.
• 55-60 · Homework: each rep scores one of their own deals.

Session 2 · Weekly deal review (45 → 30 → 15 min)

• Two deals per rep, audited live.
• Read the scores, not the story. Find the lowest pillar.
• Name one coaching action per deal · the gap, not the whole deal.
• The session gets shorter every week as the habit sticks.

Session 3 · Manager certification (90 min)

• Read evidence vs. narrative · spot the Ghost Deal.
• Practice coaching the gap out loud.
• Calibrate: same deal, three managers, same score within one point.

Session 4 · Close-out (60 min)

• Retrospective with the metrics in hand (review time, Commit accuracy).
• Build the My QBR recap.
• Set the next-quarter cadence and owner.

Front · run an audit in 60 seconds

1. Pick the deal. Enter ARR, stage, and close date.
2. Score each pillar 0, 1, or 2 from evidence. If you can't point at buyer behavior, it's not a 2.
3. Read the coaching surface. The tool shows the lowest pillar and one action to move it.
4. Save. The score lands in the rep's pipeline view, and the trajectory line starts tracking week over week.

Back · coach the gap

The pillar at 0 is the deal's coaching surface. Move that pillar, and the score moves the category. Do not coach the deal in aggregate · coach the gap. One pillar, one action, one week.

Four stories

• Story 01. A super-region team went from 17% to 57% close rate in one quarter (Q3 2026), across 4 regional directors.
• Story 02. A regional sales org entered the fiscal year at $61M pipeline / 140% of plan, on pace to double Q1 sales.
• Story 03. Deals using MIQL closed at +27% higher average ARR.
• Story 04. Average deal review dropped from 45 minutes to under 10.

Why it works · the research underneath

These outcomes aren't luck · they line up with the industry research. Here are the 12 stats that explain the mechanism:

Eight decks

• 01 · Kickoff (vocabulary install, the five pillars)
• 02 · Math Logic (scoring, categories, time back)
• 03 · The Five Pillars (deep read, per pillar)
• 04 · Reading Evidence (move from narrative to proof)
• 05 · Nuclear Questions (per pillar)
• 06 · Coaching the Gap (manager certification)
• 07 · Forecast Call Operating Model
• 08 · Close-out and Retrospective

The five pillar cards

One card per pillar. Front: the letter and the pillar name. Back: the definition and the Nuclear Question.

Forecast category cards

One card per category. Front: the category and score band. Back: what it means and what to do.

Term cards

One card per term · the fastest way to install the shared vocabulary.

MIQL

The five-pillar evidence score · Outcome, Maps, Insight, Quantify, Leadership · that turns a forecast from a feeling into a fact.

The Five Movements

The five pillars, in the order you work them: O, M, I, Q, L. Each one is a question the deal has to answer with evidence.

Evidence Slider

Each pillar is a slider with three stops (0 / 1 / 2). You move the slider to the level of evidence the buyer's behavior proves. You move the slider, you don't “set a score.”

The Three Stops

Every pillar reads at one of three levels: No evidence (0), Seller acted (1), Buyer adopted (2).

Fact / Feeling / Fiction

The plain-English read of the three stops. Fact (2): the buyer's behavior proves it. Feeling (1): you believe it, the buyer hasn't shown it. Fiction (0): nothing supports it.

Ghost Deal

A deal forecast on narrative alone. No evidence behind any pillar · a story wearing a close date.

Nuclear Question

The one question per pillar that, if the rep cannot answer it, the deal is not real.

Forecast Fiction

A pipeline number unsupported by evidence. The default state for most teams before MIQL.

Sentiment to Truth

The shift from feeling-based forecasting to evidence-based forecasting. The whole point of MIQL.

Audit the deal, not the rep

MIQL scores the evidence in the deal, never the person. It is a flashlight, not a performance review.

Forecast Category

The label the 10-point score maps to: Pipeline, Best Case, Most Likely, Commit, Commit Locked.

Time Back

The leader hours MIQL returns by cutting deal reviews from about 45 minutes to under 10.

MAP · Mutual Action Plan

The buyer-owned plan of dated milestones. Buyer-owned is the test, not seller-built.

Economic Buyer (EB)

The one person who controls the budget calendar and can authorize the spend.

Cost of Inaction (COI)

The number that answers “what does staying still cost you?” · validated in the buyer's own finance terms.

Coach the Gap

The pillar sitting at 0 is the deal's coaching surface. Move that pillar and the category moves. Coach the gap, not the deal in aggregate.

Propensity-to-Act

An effort-to-win overlay (Low / Medium / High) on top of the score · how hard this specific deal is to win, separate from how real it is.

Available forms

• Kickoff sign-in sheet (one per session)
• Deal-review worksheet (one per deal, per review)
• Manager certification roster (one per cohort)
• Close-out retrospective form (one per program)

Deal-review worksheet · the five-line version

The whole worksheet is five lines · one per pillar. Score each 0/1/2, circle the lowest, write one action. That's the review.

• O · Outcome ____ (0 / 1 / 2)
• M · Maps ____ (0 / 1 / 2)
• I · Insight ____ (0 / 1 / 2)
• Q · Quantify ____ (0 / 1 / 2)
• L · Leadership ____ (0 / 1 / 2)
• Total ____ / 10 → Category ________ → One action: ________