The worst place to be in B2B sales is “evaluation purgatory.” You’ve had a great demo, the economic buyer seems interested, and the technical team is nodding along. But then, silence. The deal stalls.
Why? Because you are relying on an interested prospect to do the job of an internal champion.
An interested prospect likes your solution. An internal champion is willing to expend their political capital to push your deal through when you’re not in the room.
An internal champion will sell your vision to the CFO, navigate procurement, and defend your solution against competitors during internal budget meetings.
And these champions don’t just appear; they’re cultivated. And that’s good news for you!
Here’s the practical blueprint for transforming an interested prospect into a deal-closing advocate.
Phase 1: The Qualification—Are They Build-able?
Before you invest significant time, you must ensure your contact has the raw material to become a champion. Here I like to look for three specific traits during discovery:
- The Personal Pain: The prospect doesn’t just want your software; they need the problem solved for their own career trajectory. They are looking for a promotion, relief from burnout, or to look good in front of their boss.
- The Clout: Do they have influence? They don’t need to be a C-level exec, but they must be respected by the people who do have that influence.
- The Access: Are they willing and able to introduce you to the real power brokers (Economic Buyer, Legal, Security)?
Phase 2: The Value Alignment—Selling Through Them
Once you identify a potential champion, you must arm them with the ammunition they need to sell internally. You are no longer selling to the prospect; you are teaching them how to sell your solution to their peers.
Practical Tactic: Co-Author the Business Case. Don’t send a generic pitch deck. Instead, schedule a collaborative working session.
- Ask: “If we move forward with this, what metrics will your CFO need to see to approve the budget?”
- Do: Create a simple, joint ROI spreadsheet together.
- The Outcome: When they present the numbers, they aren’t presenting “your vendor data”; they are presenting “their project plan.”
This is a huge mental shift on how most salespeople do business; and trust me, it’s a game-changer.
Practical Tactic: The “Anti-Competitor” Document. Assume that your prospect is evaluating competitors. Give them a competitive matrix that highlights your strengths versus the competitor’s weaknesses, framed specifically around their biggest pain points. You are making their job easier by writing their evaluation notes for them. Just be sure not to slander your competition.
Phase 3: The Test Drive—Micro-Commitments
A champion needs to prove to themselves that you are reliable. You do this through a series of escalating commitments.
- Low-Stakes: “Could you share this one-pager with the IT security lead?”
- Medium-Stakes: “We need to get Legal involved to review the data privacy addendum. Can you facilitate that introduction?”
- High-Stakes: “In the final budget meeting with the CEO next week, what part of the presentation do you think will resonate most?”
If they execute these tasks, trust grows. If they fail to follow through on small tasks, they will probably fail to follow through when it matters most.
Phase 4: The Final Alignment—Coaching for the Tough Meeting
The final stage of building a champion is preparing them for the meetings you aren’t allowed to attend. You need to coach them on handling objections from stakeholders who weren’t in your discovery calls.
Practical Tactic: Run a “Pre-Mortem.” Ask your champion: “If this deal gets killed in the final review next Tuesday, who is the person who kills it, and what is their primary objection?”
Once you know the villain, you can equip the hero. Give your internal champion the exact talking points to disarm the naysayer.
Say this to your champion:“When the CFO brings up the annual contract value, you can remind them that [Competitor X] not only costs 20% more, but requires an additional headcount to manage, whereas we are an all-in-one platform. Here’s the math on that.”
Summary: Invest in People, Not Just Logos
Building a champion is a deliberate act of leadership within the sales process. It requires you to stop being a vendor and start being a partner. When you dedicate yourself to making your contact look like a hero within their organization, they will reward you by ensuring you cross the finish line.
Now with that, let’s get out there and build some champions!
Until next time…
Johnny-Lee Reinoso
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