A Champion is an influential decision-maker who wields authority, drives consensus, and commands respect within their organization.
Deals Don’t Close Without a Champion
People often ask if it’s possible to have more than one Champion — and the answer is a clear yes, provided they’re qualified. In fact, one strong, credible Champion is far more valuable than a dozen who lack influence or alignment.
What Makes a Qualified Champion?
Champions drive deals. Coaches watch from the sidelines.
To be truly qualified, a Champion must:
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Have Power & Influence – They can sway decisions.
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Act as an Internal Seller – They advocate for you when you're not there.
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Have a Vested Interest – They win when you win.
What If They’re Missing a Key Trait?
Earn Trust, Win Deals
Trust is a critical ingredient in developing a true Champion. When a Champion trusts you, they’re more committed, more vocal on your behalf, and more willing to share the full picture — the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable.
But trust isn’t given — it’s earned. It comes from being consistent, reliable, and honest over time.
That said, there’s an important distinction:
You want to be friendly, not friends. Your relationship should be outcome-driven, built on mutual success.
When sellers get too close on a personal level, they often hesitate to challenge their Champion or hold them accountable — and that undermines the entire purpose of having one.
A trusted Champion is an ally, not just a confidant.
How Marketing Can Help You Build Champions
Your marketing team is a powerful ally in strengthening and enabling Champions. We've seen sellers succeed when marketing supports in the following ways:
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Host a Champion-Building Event
Create exclusive, high-value experiences where Champions feel recognized and connected.
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Craft a Champion Letter
Provide a personalized, professionally written letter that Champions can use to advocate internally.
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Leverage Your Network
Facilitate warm introductions that expand their influence and increase their internal credibility.
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Invite Them to Speak or Write Give Champions a platform — through webinars, blogs, or case studies — that raises their profile.
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Sponsor Their Visibility
Support them in being featured in trade publications or invited to speak at industry events.
Navigating the Power of Your Counter Champion
If you have a Champion, your competitor likely has one too.
Identifying your Counter Champion and understanding if they hold more influence than your own Champion is vital. This insight can help you refine your approach and strengthen your position in the sales process.
Testing Your Champion
We've lost count of how often sellers claim to have a Champion, only for it to become clear that the person is neither qualified nor truly tested. Simply put: an untested Champion isn’t really a Champion.
To effectively test your Champion and ensure they’re truly an advocate for your solution, check out more insights in MEDDICC - The Book or join our MEDDPICC Masterclass.
Developing Your Champion
Creating a strong Champion is a cornerstone of the MEDDPICC methodology. This process revolves around two core dimensions: their connection to the Solution and their Political standing within the organization.
Each dimension calls for a distinct approach, and your success in navigating both is crucial to empowering your Champion to drive the deal forward.
One highly effective tactic is the "Three Why’s" framework. When your Champion can clearly articulate the answers to these three essential questions, they become a persuasive and credible advocate who can influence decisions from within.
What motivates the customer to invest in your solution?
Why would a customer choose to do business with you over others?
What makes this the right time for the customer to take action?
Understanding the Roles: Contact, Coach, and Champion
When we first engage with a Contact in a new opportunity, we often lack enough information to determine whether they will evolve into something more. It’s the salesperson’s role to assess whether the individual will remain a Contact, or potentially grow into a Coach or Champion.
Customers don’t typically enter a vendor relationship with the goal of becoming a Coach or Champion. Instead, it’s the salesperson’s responsibility to guide the Contact through the process of transformation. While it is generally possible to develop a Contact into a Coach, it’s not always feasible to turn a Coach into a Champion.
Why Not All Coaches Become Champions
A Champion is someone with significant power and influence within their organization, who actively advocates for your solution internally and, crucially, has a personal stake in your success.
However, a Coach might not meet all these criteria. They may be missing one or even two of the key traits that define a true Champion.
In contrast, a Coach does not fulfill these three qualifying criteria of a Champion. It could be that they are missing one of the criteria, or perhaps even two of the three qualifying criteria of a Champion.
A skilled salesperson can develop a Coach to sell internally for you or to have a mutual interest in your success. However, it isn’t generally within the salesperson’s ability to develop the Coach into power and influence. This is because there are so many long-standing and deeper factors that dictate power and influence that it is challenging for a salesperson to impact it.
Therefore in answer to the question: ‘In MEDDIC can Coaches become Champions?’ The answer is: Sometimes, as long as they have power and influence.
For salespeople, it is essential to identify as early as possible whether you have a Contact, a Coach, or a Champion.
Discovering Your Internal Advocate
When your Contact is acting as an advocate for your solution, can they clearly identify its key strengths? More importantly, are they willing to promote it when it matters most—when you're not there to guide them?
Are they capable of downplaying the competition because, ultimately, they view your competitors as their own rivals?
Do they help you navigate the decision-making process, providing advice on how to approach the client and eventually close the deal?
Are they actively working with you to identify the client's pain points and collaborating to highlight and emphasize them?
Are they committed to collaborating on the Decision Process with you? Are they actively involved in defining timeframes, dependencies, and necessary actions? Are they eager to work with you on creating a Go Live Plan?
Transforming Your Coach’s Investment in Success
The foundation of turning your Contact into someone deeply invested in your success lies in the salesperson's ability to conduct thorough discovery. This discovery process uncovers the Contact’s objectives and challenges, allowing you to align your solution in a way that addresses those needs effectively.
A vested interest typically means that the Contact stands to gain recognition, a promotion, a bonus, or even a new skill as a result of your success. By understanding and leveraging your Contact’s personal ambitions, you can earn their trust and secure their commitment to helping you succeed.
Identifying Power and Influence
Consider how much the individual is personally impacted by the driving factors behind your engagement or the business challenges you're aiming to address. If these issues significantly affect them, it's a positive sign they could be Champion material.
A great discovery question to ask your Contact is about their past experience with solutions similar to yours. Have they been involved in a project from start to finish? What role did they play, and who was responsible for the results? This helps uncover insights into their Decision Process—a crucial element when identifying potential Champions.
Does your Contact seem to be the go-to person for executives within the organization? This can be a sign of their power and influence. If they have connections to senior leaders, it can help you gain access to key decision-makers and move the deal forward.
How do they view the rules within their company? Champions tend to be action-oriented and see rules more as guidelines they can adapt when necessary, rather than rigid obstacles.
How does your Contact share information with you? Are they open with their insights, or do they keep things close to the chest? Champions are generally more transparent, providing you with valuable information that may not be readily available, unlike a Coach who may share less.
Reflect on the information your Contact has provided so far. Is it impactful and unique, offering insights you wouldn’t have access to otherwise? Or is it generic information that your competitors are likely already aware of?
Building a Strong Coach
As mentioned, it’s generally not feasible for a salesperson to transform a Coach into someone with power and influence. However, one way to work around this limitation is by backing your Coach with solid, irrefutable Metrics that can help them influence other key stakeholders in the organization, encouraging them to support your solution.
Identifying the Vested Interest
Do they treat every success you achieve as their own? Do they share positive updates with the same enthusiasm, as if it were a personal victory? For instance, a Champion might say, “I just heard from the Economic Buyer, and they’ve approved the deal. Things are looking really positive!”
Do they exhibit the same urgency as you? A Champion who is truly invested in your success understands that deals don’t close themselves, and they recognize that urgency is critical. In contrast, a Coach might adopt a more relaxed, “it will all work out” approach.
Building on This...
To motivate a Coach to sell your solution effectively within their organization, they generally need to have a vested interest in your success. This requires the salesperson to communicate two key things:
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What’s in it for them? It’s not just about closing the deal—it’s important for the salesperson to explain the value of selling your solution internally and how it benefits the Coach personally or professionally.
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Ensure they are well-versed in Metrics and Solution Strengths: The salesperson needs to make sure the Coach fully understands the strengths of the solution and can articulate the key metrics that support it.
Champion and Procurement
A Champion can be a huge asset when working with Procurement. They not only help guide you through the engagement itself, but they can also provide valuable insight on how best to work with their Procurement team, ensuring you’re prepared and positioned for success.
The same goes for your customer’s legal team. A Champion can be instrumental in preparing you to navigate the legal aspects smoothly, setting you up for success with their lawyers as well.
Champion and Procurement
A strong Champion can be a valuable asset when dealing with Procurement. They don’t just assist with the engagement; they can guide you on how to effectively collaborate with their Procurement team, ensuring you’re prepared for what’s ahead.
The same principle applies when working with your customer’s legal team. A Champion can provide insight and direction, helping you navigate legal processes smoothly and positioning you for success.
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Making MEDDPICC Work with Your Champion
Among all the stakeholders involved in a deal, your Champion is the one most aligned to collaborate with you on MEDDPICC. Don’t shy away from walking a strong Champion through each element of the framework—explain why you use it and how it drives value. A true Champion will appreciate the structure and clarity it brings.
What’s the worst that could happen? They recognize you’re running a focused, effective, and value-driven sales process? That’s exactly the impression you want to leave.
Champion and Your Sales Journey
Quick Overview of the Sales Process and Champion Involvement:
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Early Stage: Is this opportunity worth pursuing? Can this person become my Champion?
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Mid Stage: My Champion and I are aligned, collaborating to advance the deal.
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Late Stage: My Champion is leading the way, helping me navigate each step toward a successful close.
Champion Summary
“No Champion, No Deal.”
This phrase has stood the test of time for a reason—without a true Champion, your chances of winning drop significantly.
Throughout this chapter, we've explored just how critical a Champion can be in driving your deal forward. From internal influence to shared urgency, their impact is unmatched. More importantly, you’ve seen how to identify, develop, and empower a Champion to become your strongest internal advocate.
Building a Champion isn't luck—it's strategy, skill, and execution.