Champion Identification: Finding & Cultivating Internal Advocates
What Is a Champion & Why They Matter
A champion is an internal advocate within your target account who sells your solution to the buying committee. They're not the economic buyer (who controls budget). They're typically a layer below - a VP or director who feels the pain most acutely and believes your solution solves it.
Champions accelerate deals. They advocate in internal meetings. They answer objections. They push the deal toward closing. Without a champion, deals stall. You're selling from the outside. With a champion, the customer sells internally for you. Deal velocity doubles.
Who Makes a Good Champion
Champions have specific characteristics. Not everyone who engages with you is a potential champion.
Champion characteristics:
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Has skin in the game: They own a problem your solution solves. If they don't have a personal stake in fixing the problem, they won't advocate.
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Has credibility with decision-makers: They're respected by their peers and leadership. Their opinion influences others.
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Has access to budget and decision-makers: They can get in a room with the economic buyer. They understand approval processes.
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Has urgency: They want to solve this problem now, not eventually. Urgency drives them to advocate.
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Understands the buying process: They know how their company buys. They can navigate politics and procurement.
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Is natural communicator: They can articulate why your solution matters. They'll advocate in writing, in meetings, in hallway conversations.
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Is not the economic buyer: The person controlling the budget is unlikely to be your champion - they're often skeptical and need convincing. Your champion is usually a layer below.
Champion profile: A VP of Sales (not the CFO) who wants a better way to manage opportunities. A VP of Marketing (not the CMO) who owns lead quality and wants better targeting. A Director of Operations (not the CEO) who sees inefficiency and wants tools to fix it. The person most acutely feeling the pain.
---Identifying Champion Potential: Early Signals
Champion identification starts early, often before you know they'll be a champion.
Engagement signals: - Opens email first (ahead of their peers) - Clicks links and downloads content - Attends webinars or meetings - Engages with your content on LinkedIn - Replies to emails with substantive questions - Volunteers to set up calls or demos - Asks detailed technical questions
High engagement isn't deterministic, but it's a starting signal.
Conversational signals: - Asks about ROI (cares about business case, not just features) - Asks about implementation and timelines (thinking about next steps) - Asks about customers similar to them (validating social proof) - Raises objections (engagement, not dismissal) - Mentions budget or timeline constraints (real constraints, not stalling) - Asks about company or vision (understanding your perspective)
Substantive questions signal someone thinking through your solution seriously.
Organizational signals: - Can arrange meetings with other stakeholders (has influence) - Shares internal context and constraints (trusts you) - Mentions other decision-makers positively or by name (knows the process) - Asks about customization or tailoring (thinking concretely about fit) - Initiates follow-up conversations (driving momentum)
Someone who can get meetings and shares context is showing champion potential.
Behavioral signals: - Meets with you repeatedly (not one-off) - Meets at their office (not always via video, investing time) - Brings colleagues to meetings (advocating internally) - Tests your product or schedules trial (committing time) - Asks about pricing unprompted (thinking toward deal) - Mentions timeline or budget (considering purchase seriously)
Repeated engagement and escalating commitment suggest champion potential.
Assessing Champion Quality
Not all champions are created equal. Some are strong advocates. Others are weak.
Use this framework to assess champion strength:
Dimension 1: Urgency - Does this person feel urgency to solve the problem? - High: "This is killing us. We need to fix this by Q3." (Strong champion potential) - Medium: "We'd like to improve this. We have budget next year." (Moderate champion) - Low: "This might be useful someday." (Weak champion)
Dimension 2: Credibility - Do decision-makers respect this person's opinion? - Signals: Others defer to them, they explain business context, they reference past projects, they're brought into important decisions
Dimension 3: Access - Can they get decisions made? - High: "I can get this in front of [CFO/CEO] next week" (Direct access) - Medium: "I can arrange a meeting with the decision-maker" (Indirect but connected) - Low: "I'll have to pitch to my manager" (Multiple levels)
Dimension 4: Economic Interest - Is there something in it for them? - High: Their bonus is tied to the metric you improve (Personally motivated) - Medium: It makes their job easier but doesn't directly impact them (Professionally motivated) - Low: It's generally good for the company but not them (Altruistic)
Champion scoring: Score each dimension 1-5 (total 4-20): - 16-20: Tier 1 champion. Cultivate intensely. They'll close your deal. - 12-15: Tier 2 champion. Support and give resources. - 8-11: Tier 3 potential. Monitor. They might develop. - Less than 8: Not a champion. Look for other advocates.
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Once you've identified champion potential, cultivate them strategically.
Step 1: Build trust and credibility - Share genuine insights about their problem, be transparent about your solution's strengths and limitations, make introductions to your best customers for reference calls, provide research they can use internally, ask for their advice.
Step 2: Equip them with internal ammunition - Provide internal business case, success stories, technical overview, competitive positioning, implementation timeline, one-pagers and talking points. Make it easy for them to advocate.
Step 3: Keep them informed - Champions want to feel like insiders. Share product roadmap, give early access to beta features, invite them to webinars, introduce them to your product/CS team, ask for their input.
Step 4: Support their internal advocacy - When they face objections, respond with data, answers to common questions, success stories from similar companies, offer to meet skeptics, creative problem-solving.
Step 5: Manage champion relationships proactively - Weekly or biweekly check-ins, updates on progress, new relevant content, celebrate wins, honesty about challenges. Champions want to feel like partners, not prospects.
---Common Champion Mistakes
Mistake 1: Ignoring the champion's personal motivation - You want them to advocate, but they also want something. Ask what they want and help them get it.
Mistake 2: Asking champions to do your job - Don't expect your champion to fully explain your solution. Your champion opens doors. You walk through them.
Mistake 3: Picking the wrong champion - Sometimes the most engaged person isn't the best champion. A quiet executive might be more influential. Look beyond engagement to actual credibility and access.
Mistake 4: Only one champion - If you only have one champion and they leave, your deal is in trouble. Identify multiple champions at different levels.
Mistake 5: Forgetting about champions after close - Make sure your champion feels valued after you close. They helped you win. They might be your advocate for expansions or referrals.
Champion Development Across Buying Stages
Champions' roles change as the deal progresses. In awareness stage, they're just engaged contacts. In consideration stage, they're champion candidates (assess quality). In decision stage, they're actively advocating internally. Post-close, they become customer advocates.
In ABM, champions are essential to deal acceleration. They know the account's buying process and timeline, can arrange meetings with other stakeholders, provide insight into competitors and concerns, counter-advocate against skeptics, and drive momentum when deals stall.
Best ABM outcomes happen when you identify a strong champion early and cultivate them through the buying process. Abmatic AI's signal-based champion identification surfaces these advocates automatically - tracking engagement spikes, title-fit, and buying-committee activity so your team can focus on cultivating the right contacts rather than guessing at who they are.
Bringing It Together
Champions are internal advocates who believe in your solution and push it through their organization.
Identify them through engagement signals, conversational cues, and organizational context. Assess them using the 4-dimension framework: urgency, credibility, access, economic interest. Cultivate them by building trust, equipping them with resources, keeping them informed, and supporting their internal advocacy.
In complex B2B deals, champions are the difference between a long, painful sales cycle and a fast, smooth one. Find them. Invest in them. They're your leverage.
Ready to identify and cultivate champions in your target accounts? Abmatic AI helps you surface and track champion engagement throughout the buying cycle. Book a demo.
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