Command of the Message is Force Management's value-based sales messaging framework, which trains reps to describe their solution in terms of the customer's problems and outcomes. Force Management defines it as being "audible-ready to define your solutions to customer problems in a way that differentiates you from your competitors and allows you to charge a premium for your products and services."
Using it in deal reviews and the CRM
The framework gives a sales team one vocabulary for value, and its terms end up in sales meetings, deal reviews and CRM fields: the Before Scenario (the customer's situation today), Value Drivers (the business problems that make a buyer spend), Required Capabilities (what the solution must do) and Positive Business Outcomes (the measurable result). Audible-ready means a rep can adapt that message to what the buyer says in the moment without going off message.
- Before ScenarioThe customer's situation today
- Value DriversThe business problems that make a buyer spend
- Required CapabilitiesWhat the solution must do
- Positive Business OutcomesThe measurable result
- Before ScenarioThe customer's situation today
- Value DriversThe business problems that make a buyer spend
- Required CapabilitiesWhat the solution must do
- Positive Business OutcomesThe measurable result
Teams usually pair it with a qualification framework. GitLab's public handbook shows one version: its Command Plan asks why now, the primary value driver, the primary capability and why do anything at all, then adds a set of MEDDPPICC fields to the same opportunity record. In a deal review, a manager checks whether each of those fields is in the buyer's words. For how messaging and qualification layers fit together, see the sales methodology guide.
Example
This example is illustrative. A rep writes up a deal with a regional bank. Before Scenario: loan officers re-key applicant data into three systems, and each application takes four days to approve. Positive Business Outcome, stated by the head of lending: approve in one day by the end of next year. Required Capabilities: one intake form that writes to all three systems, with an audit trail. In the review, the manager notices the Value Driver is missing. On the next call the rep asks why the bank cares now. The answer is a competitor that approves in a day and is taking share in two of its markets.
What a filled-in field sounds like
Most Command of the Message fields fail the same way: the rep writes them from the pitch deck. The test in a deal review is whether a buyer could have said the line. From the bank deal above:
- Value Driver, written by the rep: "Improve operational efficiency in lending."
- Value Driver, in the buyer's words: "We lose applicants to a lender that approves in a day."
- Positive Business Outcome, written by the rep: "Faster approvals."
- Positive Business Outcome, in the buyer's words: "One-day approval by the end of next year."
The rep's versions would fit any bank and any vendor. The buyer's versions belong to this deal, and the manager can ask the rep who said them and when.
Related terms
- What is MEDDPICC?
- What are metrics in MEDDPICC?
- MEDDPICC vs MEDDIC
- Coaching a team's own methodology on live deals
FAQ
Who created Command of the Message?
Command of the Message was created by Force Management, a B2B sales consulting and training firm. It is a registered trademark of Force Management, which runs the training engagements and publishes the framework's definition and core terms.
Is Command of the Message the same as MEDDPICC?
The two do different jobs: Command of the Message is a messaging framework about how reps describe value. MEDDPICC is a qualification framework about what must be true for a deal to close. Many teams run both, as GitLab's handbook shows with its Command Plan and MEDDPPICC fields.
What does audible-ready mean in sales?
Audible-ready is Force Management's term for a rep who can adapt the value message to what a customer says in the moment while staying on message. It borrows from football, where a quarterback changes the play at the line based on what the defense shows.