Champion

A champion is your salesperson on the other side of the table. This is someone within the company who believes in your solution and actively convinces colleagues, managers and the boss. They take over your story in internal meetings where you're not present. Without a champion you lose 84% of your B2B deals. Why? Because between your presentations dozens of conversations take place where you're not present. "Is this really necessary?" "Can't we do this ourselves?" "Too expensive." If nobody takes your side there, you lose. A good champion has three qualities: 1) They have a problem you solve and feel the pain now. 2) They have enough influence to be heard (not necessarily the highest position). 3) They want you to win because it strengthens their own position. Watch out: many salespeople confuse interest with commitment. Someone who says "interesting, send me info" is not a champion. A champion says: "I'm going to discuss this with my manager and make sure you can talk to him next week." They open doors, share internal info, warn about obstacles. Test your champion: ask them to explain the problem in their own words. If they can't, they don't understand it enough to convince others. Ask: "What do you think the CFO will think of this?" A real champion has an answer to this.