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general champion-development

champion-development

This skill should be used when the user asks to "develop a champion", "build an internal champion", "coach a champion to sell internally", "create a champion in a deal", "arm a champion", "enable internal selling", "develop an internal advocate", "coach the champion", "build champion relationships", or any variation of identifying, developing, and arming internal champions to sell on your behalf in B2B SaaS deals.

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Champion Development

A champion is an internal advocate at the prospect's company who has influence, access to the economic buyer, and a personal stake in your product succeeding. They sell when you're not in the room. Without a champion, enterprise deals stall, committees default to "no decision," and competitors with stronger internal advocates win. Champion development is the single most important skill in complex B2B sales.

The principle: a champion is not someone who likes you. It's someone who will spend their political capital to push your deal through their organization. Liking your product is necessary but not sufficient. The champion must be willing to act: schedule internal meetings, share materials with the EB, push back on blockers, and give you honest feedback when the deal is at risk.

Champion vs Coach vs Fan

Type	Definition	Power	Willingness to act	Value to the deal
Champion	Has influence. Access to EB. Personal stake. Actively sells internally	High	High	Critical. Deals with champions close at 2-3x the rate
Coach	Gives you information (org structure, politics, timelines). May lack influence	Low-medium	Medium (information, not action)	Useful but not sufficient. A coach without a champion = a stalled deal
Fan	Likes your product. Enthusiastic in meetings. Does nothing outside them	Varies	Low (passive)	Dangerous. Creates false confidence. "They love us" but nobody's selling internally

How to tell the difference

Test	Champion response	Coach response	Fan response
"Can you introduce me to your VP?"	"Let me set that up for next week"	"I can give you their email"	"Maybe later"
"What's the main objection we should expect?"	"Finance will push back on pricing. Here's how to handle it"	"I think there might be some pushback"	"I don't think there will be any issues!"
"Can you share this ROI doc with the team?"	Shares it. Reports back: "VP had 2 questions about the integration timeline"	"Sure, I'll forward it" (no follow-up)	"Definitely!" (never sends it)
"What do we need to do to win?"	"You need to meet with [blocker] and address their [specific concern]"	"I think you're in good shape"	"You guys are definitely the best option"

Identifying Potential Champions

Where to find champions

Signal	What it looks like	Why this person might be a champion
They feel the pain daily	They described the problem in emotional terms during discovery. It affects their work	Personal stake. Solving this problem makes their life better
They're new in role (< 6 months)	Recently hired or promoted. Looking for early wins	New broom. Buying a tool that delivers results is a visible accomplishment
They talk about the problem publicly	LinkedIn posts, conference talks, podcast appearances about the problem	Already invested in the topic. Solving it validates their expertise
They asked detailed questions on the demo	Not "what does it do" but "how would this work for our specific workflow"	Thinking about implementation. Already imagining using it
They initiated the conversation	They requested the demo or responded to outbound with genuine interest	Self-selected. They came to you
They have influence in the org	Director+, well-connected, respected by peers, been at the company 1+ years	Can move things internally. Not a lone voice

Champion identification rules

The person who scheduled the demo is often a coach, not a champion. They facilitated the meeting but may not have the influence or willingness to sell internally. Test before assuming
New hires make excellent champions because they have urgency. They need to prove themselves in the first 90 days. A tool purchase that delivers results is exactly the kind of win they're looking for
The loudest person in the room is often a fan, not a champion. Enthusiasm in a meeting doesn't predict action outside of it. Champions are proven by what they do between meetings, not during them
You may need to develop a champion, not just find one. Sometimes no natural champion exists. You build one by helping someone see that solving this problem advances their career

The Champion Development Process

Stage 1: Identify and qualify (Discovery through Demo)

Goal: Determine who could be the champion. Test their influence and willingness.

Action	How
Ask who owns the problem	"Who on your team is most affected by [problem]?"
Test influence	"If you recommended a tool like this, who would listen?"
Test willingness	"Would it be helpful if I put together materials you could share with your VP?" (Do they say yes AND follow through?)
Map their relationship to the EB	"Who do you report to? How do they typically evaluate new tools?"
Assess personal stake	"How does [problem] affect your day-to-day? Your team's goals?"

Stage 2: Arm with materials (Post-demo through Evaluation)

Goal: Give the champion everything they need to sell internally.

Material	For whom	What the champion does with it
One-pager: business case	Economic buyer	Champion emails it to their VP: "Worth 5 minutes to review"
ROI calculator (pre-filled with their data)	Finance / EB	Champion includes in internal business case
Technical overview	Engineering / IT / Security	Champion forwards to technical evaluator: "Can you review before our next call?"
Case study from a peer company	All stakeholders	Champion shares as social proof: "A company like ours did this and saw [result]"
Demo recording	Stakeholders who missed the demo	Champion shares with people who weren't in the room
Competitive comparison (if they're evaluating alternatives)	Champion's own use	Champion uses to defend your product against internal competitor advocacy
Executive summary email (drafted for them to send)	Economic buyer	Champion copy-pastes or adapts the email to send to their boss. Lowest friction

Arming rules

Draft the email the champion sends to the EB. This is the highest-leverage arming tactic. Write a 3-sentence email the champion can send to their VP. "I've been evaluating [tool] for [problem]. Here's the business case: [link]. Worth 15 minutes to review together?" The champion edits and sends. 70% of the work is done
Make materials shareable without login. PDFs, Google Docs with open sharing, or public links. If the champion has to request access or create a login to share your materials, they won't share them
Tailor materials to each stakeholder. The VP gets the ROI doc. Engineering gets the technical overview. Don't give the champion one generic deck and say "share it with everyone." Different stakeholders need different materials
Ask the champion what they need. "What would make it easier to get your VP onboard? What questions would they ask?" The champion knows their org. Let them tell you what materials will work

Stage 3: Coach to sell (Evaluation through Proposal)

Goal: Prepare the champion for internal conversations you won't be in.

Coaching topic	How to coach
Anticipate objections	"When you bring this to your VP, what pushback do you expect? Let me help you prepare responses"
Frame the business case	"The strongest way to position this with finance is [specific framing]. Here's the ROI math in their language"
Handle the blocker	"I heard [name] might have concerns about switching from the current tool. Here's how other champions have handled that"
Timeline pressure	"If we can get this approved by [date], your team can be live by [date]. What would help accelerate the internal process?"
Competitive positioning	"If someone mentions [competitor], the key differentiator for your use case is [X]. Here's a one-line way to frame it"

Coaching rules

Coach the champion like you'd prep a co-presenter. They're presenting your product to their org. Give them the talking points, the objection responses, and the proof points. Don't leave them to improvise
Ask "what happened in the internal meeting?" after every internal discussion. The champion reports back with intel: who supported, who pushed back, what questions came up. This intel is gold for your deal strategy
Never make the champion feel like a sales rep. They're your advocate, not your employee. Coach with "here's how I'd position this" not "you need to sell this to your VP." The framing matters

Stage 4: Protect the relationship (Negotiation through Close)

Goal: Keep the champion engaged and protected as the deal gets commercial.

Risk	How to protect the champion
Champion feels bypassed when you engage the EB directly	Always loop the champion in. CC them. Brief them before and after every EB meeting
Negotiation goes aggressive and champion is caught in the middle	Don't negotiate through the champion. Negotiate directly with procurement/EB. Shield the champion from pricing pressure
Champion's boss asks "why this vendor?"	Arm them with the answer before the question comes. "Here's why we're the right fit for [your specific situation]"
Deal stalls and champion loses momentum	Re-energize with new information: a new case study, a product update, a competitive development. Give them a reason to bring it up again
Champion leaves the company mid-deal	Multi-thread (per multi-threading-strategy skill). If the champion is the only thread, the deal dies with them

Champion Strength Assessment

Score your champion on 5 dimensions. Total ≥ 12/15 for a strong champion.

Dimension	1 (Weak)	2 (Medium)	3 (Strong)
Influence	Junior IC. Limited organizational pull	Manager/Director. Respected but not senior	VP+ or well-connected Director with EB's ear
Access to EB	Has never spoken to the EB about this	Can get a meeting with the EB but hasn't yet	Regular access. EB trusts their recommendations
Personal stake	"It would be nice to have." No career impact	"It would help my team." Moderate importance	"This is my #1 priority this quarter." Career-defining
Willingness to act	Says positive things but hasn't acted between meetings	Has shared one material or scheduled one meeting	Actively selling internally. Reports back. Asks for more materials
Honesty with you	Only tells you good news. "Everything's great!"	Shares some concerns but hedges	Tells you the truth: "Finance is pushing back. Here's what they said"

Assessment rules

Score after every interaction, not once. A champion at 3/3/3/3/3 in week 2 who stops responding by week 6 is no longer a strong champion. Re-assess continuously
Willingness to act is the most important dimension. An influential person who won't act is a fan, not a champion. A less influential person who actively sells internally may be more valuable than a passive VP
Honesty is the hardest dimension to assess. A champion who only delivers good news is either a fan (telling you what you want to hear) or a coach (giving you their honest-but-limited perspective). Real champions give you bad news because they want to fix the problem, not hide it

Developing a Champion from Scratch

Sometimes no natural champion exists. You need to create one.

The development path

Contact → Coach → Champion

Step 1: Build trust through value delivery
  Share insights, data, and resources without asking for anything
  Help them think about their problem in a new way
  ↓
Step 2: Connect the problem to their career
  "Solving [problem] would directly impact [their KPI]. The VP
  would notice when [metric] improves by [amount]"
  ↓
Step 3: Give them a quick win
  A pilot, a teardown, a benchmark that they can share internally
  with immediate results
  ↓
Step 4: Make them the hero
  Position them as the person who found the solution. Not "our
  product solved your problem." "[Champion name] identified the
  gap and brought in the solution"
  ↓
Step 5: Arm and coach (Stages 2-3 above)

Development rules

The key to developing a champion is connecting the purchase to their career. "If this works, you're the person who fixed [problem]. Your VP knows it. Your team knows it." This creates the personal stake that turns a contact into a champion
Quick wins accelerate champion development. A 2-week pilot that produces measurable results gives the champion ammunition: "We tested this and reply rates went from 3% to 9%. Here's the data." Now they have a story to tell internally
Never position yourself as the hero. Position the champion as the hero. The champion doesn't want to be seen as bringing in a vendor. They want to be seen as solving a problem. Frame everything in terms of their achievement, not your product

When the Champion Isn't Enough

Scenarios where a champion alone can't close the deal

Scenario	Why the champion isn't enough	What to do
Champion is too junior	Has passion but no budget authority or organizational influence	Find a second champion at Director+ level. Or coach the junior champion to recruit a senior sponsor
Champion is too new	Just started. Hasn't built internal credibility yet	Give them quick wins to build credibility. Or find an additional established champion
Champion is in the wrong department	The buyer is Sales, the champion is in Marketing	Find a champion in the buying department. The Marketing champion can introduce you but can't close a Sales deal
Organization requires committee consensus	No single champion can push it through. Need 3-4 supporters	Multi-thread. Develop 2-3 champions across different functions
Champion is leaving the company	Departure imminent or announced	Urgently build a relationship with their successor or another stakeholder. Do NOT wait until they're gone

Measurement

Metric	Definition	Target	Frequency
Deals with identified champion	% of open deals where a champion is named and scored	> 70% of deals past Discovery	Weekly (pipeline review)
Champion strength score	Average champion score across open pipeline	≥ 12/15 for deals in Proposal+ stages	Per deal review
Champion actions per deal	Number of internal actions the champion took (intros, shares, meetings scheduled)	≥ 3 by Proposal stage	Per deal
Win rate: champion deals vs no-champion	Close rate comparison	Champion deals should win at 2-3x	Quarterly
Deals lost due to champion departure	Deals where champion left and deal died	Track. Should inform multi-threading urgency	Quarterly

Anti-Pattern Check

Calling a fan a champion. "They love us" is not champion evidence. "They scheduled a meeting with their VP, shared the ROI doc, and reported back that Finance has two questions about pricing" is champion evidence. Test with actions, not words
Not arming the champion. You expect them to sell internally with no materials. They walk into a VP meeting and say "I saw a cool product." That's not selling. That's a mention. Give them the business case, the ROI calculator, the one-pager, and the email draft
Bypassing the champion to go directly to the EB. You get impatient and email the VP directly without telling the champion. The champion feels undermined. Their trust drops. Their willingness to advocate decreases. Always go through or with the champion, never around them
Only one champion on a $100K+ deal. One person's vacation, one reorg, one job change kills the deal. Multi-thread. Develop 2-3 internal advocates for any deal above $50K
Treating every enthusiastic contact as a champion. "Three people on the call said they liked the demo." Enthusiasm in a meeting is fan behavior. Champion behavior happens between meetings. Test each person with an action request before labeling them a champion
Not asking for bad news. The champion tells you "everything's going great" for 4 weeks. Then the deal dies because Finance rejected it 2 weeks ago. A real champion gives you bad news early enough to fix it. If they're only giving good news, they're either a fan or they're not close enough to the process to know the real status
Treating champion development as optional. "The product sells itself." No product sells itself through a 6-person buying committee, a procurement process, a security review, and a budget approval. Without a champion, the product sits in evaluation forever. Champion development is not optional for deals above $20K

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# Champion Development

## Champion vs Coach vs Fan

| Type | Definition | Power | Willingness to act | Value to the deal |
|------|-----------|-------|-------------------|------------------|
| Champion | Has influence. Access to EB. Personal stake. Actively sells internally | High | High | Critical. Deals with champions close at 2-3x the rate |
| Coach | Gives you information (org structure, politics, timelines). May lack influence | Low-medium | Medium (information, not action) | Useful but not sufficient. A coach without a champion = a stalled deal |
| Fan | Likes your product. Enthusiastic in meetings. Does nothing outside them | Varies | Low (passive) | Dangerous. Creates false confidence. "They love us" but nobody's selling internally |

### How to tell the difference

| Test | Champion response | Coach response | Fan response |
|------|------------------|---------------|-------------|
| "Can you introduce me to your VP?" | "Let me set that up for next week" | "I can give you their email" | "Maybe later" |
| "What's the main objection we should expect?" | "Finance will push back on pricing. Here's how to handle it" | "I think there might be some pushback" | "I don't think there will be any issues!" |
| "Can you share this ROI doc with the team?" | Shares it. Reports back: "VP had 2 questions about the integration timeline" | "Sure, I'll forward it" (no follow-up) | "Definitely!" (never sends it) |
| "What do we need to do to win?" | "You need to meet with [blocker] and address their [specific concern]" | "I think you're in good shape" | "You guys are definitely the best option" |

---

## Identifying Potential Champions

### Where to find champions

| Signal | What it looks like | Why this person might be a champion |
|--------|-------------------|--------------------------------------|
| They feel the pain daily | They described the problem in emotional terms during discovery. It affects their work | Personal stake. Solving this problem makes their life better |
| They're new in role (< 6 months) | Recently hired or promoted. Looking for early wins | New broom. Buying a tool that delivers results is a visible accomplishment |
| They talk about the problem publicly | LinkedIn posts, conference talks, podcast appearances about the problem | Already invested in the topic. Solving it validates their expertise |
| They asked detailed questions on the demo | Not "what does it do" but "how would this work for our specific workflow" | Thinking about implementation. Already imagining using it |
| They initiated the conversation | They requested the demo or responded to outbound with genuine interest | Self-selected. They came to you |
| They have influence in the org | Director+, well-connected, respected by peers, been at the company 1+ years | Can move things internally. Not a lone voice |

### Champion identification rules

- **The person who scheduled the demo is often a coach, not a champion.** They facilitated the meeting but may not have the influence or willingness to sell internally. Test before assuming
- **New hires make excellent champions because they have urgency.** They need to prove themselves in the first 90 days. A tool purchase that delivers results is exactly the kind of win they're looking for
- **The loudest person in the room is often a fan, not a champion.** Enthusiasm in a meeting doesn't predict action outside of it. Champions are proven by what they do between meetings, not during them
- **You may need to develop a champion, not just find one.** Sometimes no natural champion exists. You build one by helping someone see that solving this problem advances their career

---

## The Champion Development Process

### Stage 1: Identify and qualify (Discovery through Demo)

**Goal:** Determine who could be the champion. Test their influence and willingness.

| Action | How |
|--------|-----|
| Ask who owns the problem | "Who on your team is most affected by [problem]?" |
| Test influence | "If you recommended a tool like this, who would listen?" |
| Test willingness | "Would it be helpful if I put together materials you could share with your VP?" (Do they say yes AND follow through?) |
| Map their relationship to the EB | "Who do you report to? How do they typically evaluate new tools?" |
| Assess personal stake | "How does [problem] affect your day-to-day? Your team's goals?" |

### Stage 2: Arm with materials (Post-demo through Evaluation)

**Goal:** Give the champion everything they need to sell internally.

| Material | For whom | What the champion does with it |
|----------|---------|------------------------------|
| One-pager: business case | Economic buyer | Champion emails it to their VP: "Worth 5 minutes to review" |
| ROI calculator (pre-filled with their data) | Finance / EB | Champion includes in internal business case |
| Technical overview | Engineering / IT / Security | Champion forwards to technical evaluator: "Can you review before our next call?" |
| Case study from a peer company | All stakeholders | Champion shares as social proof: "A company like ours did this and saw [result]" |
| Demo recording | Stakeholders who missed the demo | Champion shares with people who weren't in the room |
| Competitive comparison (if they're evaluating alternatives) | Champion's own use | Champion uses to defend your product against internal competitor advocacy |
| Executive summary email (drafted for them to send) | Economic buyer | Champion copy-pastes or adapts the email to send to their boss. Lowest friction |

### Arming rules

- **Draft the email the champion sends to the EB.** This is the highest-leverage arming tactic. Write a 3-sentence email the champion can send to their VP. "I've been evaluating [tool] for [problem]. Here's the business case: [link]. Worth 15 minutes to review together?" The champion edits and sends. 70% of the work is done
- **Make materials shareable without login.** PDFs, Google Docs with open sharing, or public links. If the champion has to request access or create a login to share your materials, they won't share them
- **Tailor materials to each stakeholder.** The VP gets the ROI doc. Engineering gets the technical overview. Don't give the champion one generic deck and say "share it with everyone." Different stakeholders need different materials
- **Ask the champion what they need.** "What would make it easier to get your VP onboard? What questions would they ask?" The champion knows their org. Let them tell you what materials will work

### Stage 3: Coach to sell (Evaluation through Proposal)

**Goal:** Prepare the champion for internal conversations you won't be in.

| Coaching topic | How to coach |
|---------------|-------------|
| Anticipate objections | "When you bring this to your VP, what pushback do you expect? Let me help you prepare responses" |
| Frame the business case | "The strongest way to position this with finance is [specific framing]. Here's the ROI math in their language" |
| Handle the blocker | "I heard [name] might have concerns about switching from the current tool. Here's how other champions have handled that" |
| Timeline pressure | "If we can get this approved by [date], your team can be live by [date]. What would help accelerate the internal process?" |
| Competitive positioning | "If someone mentions [competitor], the key differentiator for your use case is [X]. Here's a one-line way to frame it" |

### Coaching rules

- **Coach the champion like you'd prep a co-presenter.** They're presenting your product to their org. Give them the talking points, the objection responses, and the proof points. Don't leave them to improvise
- **Ask "what happened in the internal meeting?" after every internal discussion.** The champion reports back with intel: who supported, who pushed back, what questions came up. This intel is gold for your deal strategy
- **Never make the champion feel like a sales rep.** They're your advocate, not your employee. Coach with "here's how I'd position this" not "you need to sell this to your VP." The framing matters

### Stage 4: Protect the relationship (Negotiation through Close)

**Goal:** Keep the champion engaged and protected as the deal gets commercial.

| Risk | How to protect the champion |
|------|----------------------------|
| Champion feels bypassed when you engage the EB directly | Always loop the champion in. CC them. Brief them before and after every EB meeting |
| Negotiation goes aggressive and champion is caught in the middle | Don't negotiate through the champion. Negotiate directly with procurement/EB. Shield the champion from pricing pressure |
| Champion's boss asks "why this vendor?" | Arm them with the answer before the question comes. "Here's why we're the right fit for [your specific situation]" |
| Deal stalls and champion loses momentum | Re-energize with new information: a new case study, a product update, a competitive development. Give them a reason to bring it up again |
| Champion leaves the company mid-deal | Multi-thread (per multi-threading-strategy skill). If the champion is the only thread, the deal dies with them |

---

## Champion Strength Assessment

Score your champion on 5 dimensions. Total ≥ 12/15 for a strong champion.

| Dimension | 1 (Weak) | 2 (Medium) | 3 (Strong) |
|-----------|----------|-----------|------------|
| Influence | Junior IC. Limited organizational pull | Manager/Director. Respected but not senior | VP+ or well-connected Director with EB's ear |
| Access to EB | Has never spoken to the EB about this | Can get a meeting with the EB but hasn't yet | Regular access. EB trusts their recommendations |
| Personal stake | "It would be nice to have." No career impact | "It would help my team." Moderate importance | "This is my #1 priority this quarter." Career-defining |
| Willingness to act | Says positive things but hasn't acted between meetings | Has shared one material or scheduled one meeting | Actively selling internally. Reports back. Asks for more materials |
| Honesty with you | Only tells you good news. "Everything's great!" | Shares some concerns but hedges | Tells you the truth: "Finance is pushing back. Here's what they said" |

### Assessment rules

- **Score after every interaction, not once.** A champion at 3/3/3/3/3 in week 2 who stops responding by week 6 is no longer a strong champion. Re-assess continuously
- **Willingness to act is the most important dimension.** An influential person who won't act is a fan, not a champion. A less influential person who actively sells internally may be more valuable than a passive VP
- **Honesty is the hardest dimension to assess.** A champion who only delivers good news is either a fan (telling you what you want to hear) or a coach (giving you their honest-but-limited perspective). Real champions give you bad news because they want to fix the problem, not hide it

---

## Developing a Champion from Scratch

Sometimes no natural champion exists. You need to create one.

### The development path

```
Contact → Coach → Champion

Step 1: Build trust through value delivery
  Share insights, data, and resources without asking for anything
  Help them think about their problem in a new way
  ↓
Step 2: Connect the problem to their career
  "Solving [problem] would directly impact [their KPI]. The VP
  would notice when [metric] improves by [amount]"
  ↓
Step 3: Give them a quick win
  A pilot, a teardown, a benchmark that they can share internally
  with immediate results
  ↓
Step 4: Make them the hero
  Position them as the person who found the solution. Not "our
  product solved your problem." "[Champion name] identified the
  gap and brought in the solution"
  ↓
Step 5: Arm and coach (Stages 2-3 above)
```

### Development rules

- **The key to developing a champion is connecting the purchase to their career.** "If this works, you're the person who fixed [problem]. Your VP knows it. Your team knows it." This creates the personal stake that turns a contact into a champion
- **Quick wins accelerate champion development.** A 2-week pilot that produces measurable results gives the champion ammunition: "We tested this and reply rates went from 3% to 9%. Here's the data." Now they have a story to tell internally
- **Never position yourself as the hero. Position the champion as the hero.** The champion doesn't want to be seen as bringing in a vendor. They want to be seen as solving a problem. Frame everything in terms of their achievement, not your product

---

## When the Champion Isn't Enough

### Scenarios where a champion alone can't close the deal

| Scenario | Why the champion isn't enough | What to do |
|----------|------------------------------|-----------|
| Champion is too junior | Has passion but no budget authority or organizational influence | Find a second champion at Director+ level. Or coach the junior champion to recruit a senior sponsor |
| Champion is too new | Just started. Hasn't built internal credibility yet | Give them quick wins to build credibility. Or find an additional established champion |
| Champion is in the wrong department | The buyer is Sales, the champion is in Marketing | Find a champion in the buying department. The Marketing champion can introduce you but can't close a Sales deal |
| Organization requires committee consensus | No single champion can push it through. Need 3-4 supporters | Multi-thread. Develop 2-3 champions across different functions |
| Champion is leaving the company | Departure imminent or announced | Urgently build a relationship with their successor or another stakeholder. Do NOT wait until they're gone |

---

## Measurement

| Metric | Definition | Target | Frequency |
|--------|-----------|--------|-----------|
| Deals with identified champion | % of open deals where a champion is named and scored | > 70% of deals past Discovery | Weekly (pipeline review) |
| Champion strength score | Average champion score across open pipeline | ≥ 12/15 for deals in Proposal+ stages | Per deal review |
| Champion actions per deal | Number of internal actions the champion took (intros, shares, meetings scheduled) | ≥ 3 by Proposal stage | Per deal |
| Win rate: champion deals vs no-champion | Close rate comparison | Champion deals should win at 2-3x | Quarterly |
| Deals lost due to champion departure | Deals where champion left and deal died | Track. Should inform multi-threading urgency | Quarterly |

---

## Anti-Pattern Check

- Calling a fan a champion. "They love us" is not champion evidence. "They scheduled a meeting with their VP, shared the ROI doc, and reported back that Finance has two questions about pricing" is champion evidence. Test with actions, not words
- Not arming the champion. You expect them to sell internally with no materials. They walk into a VP meeting and say "I saw a cool product." That's not selling. That's a mention. Give them the business case, the ROI calculator, the one-pager, and the email draft
- Bypassing the champion to go directly to the EB. You get impatient and email the VP directly without telling the champion. The champion feels undermined. Their trust drops. Their willingness to advocate decreases. Always go through or with the champion, never around them
- Only one champion on a $100K+ deal. One person's vacation, one reorg, one job change kills the deal. Multi-thread. Develop 2-3 internal advocates for any deal above $50K
- Treating every enthusiastic contact as a champion. "Three people on the call said they liked the demo." Enthusiasm in a meeting is fan behavior. Champion behavior happens between meetings. Test each person with an action request before labeling them a champion
- Not asking for bad news. The champion tells you "everything's going great" for 4 weeks. Then the deal dies because Finance rejected it 2 weeks ago. A real champion gives you bad news early enough to fix it. If they're only giving good news, they're either a fan or they're not close enough to the process to know the real status
- Treating champion development as optional. "The product sells itself." No product sells itself through a 6-person buying committee, a procurement process, a security review, and a budget approval. Without a champion, the product sits in evaluation forever. Champion development is not optional for deals above $20K