Champion Identification
What is Champion Identification?
Champion Identification is the strategic process of finding, qualifying, and cultivating internal advocates within target accounts who will actively promote your solution to other stakeholders and decision-makers throughout the buying process. A champion is typically someone who recognizes how your product solves their problems, has credibility within their organization, and is willing to expend political capital to help you navigate the buying committee and close the deal.
Unlike simple relationship building, champion identification is a methodical approach to assessing which contacts within an account have the motivation, influence, and access necessary to drive internal consensus toward purchase. The champion doesn't necessarily have budget authority or final decision-making power—in fact, they're often mid-level managers or technical evaluators who will benefit directly from the solution and have the respect of senior leadership. What distinguishes a true champion from a friendly contact is their willingness to coach you on internal politics, connect you to other stakeholders, and actively advocate for your solution in meetings where you're not present.
For B2B SaaS sales teams, champion identification represents a critical success factor, particularly in complex enterprise deals involving multiple decision-makers and long sales cycles. Research from MEDDIC methodology studies shows that deals with identified champions close at 2-3x higher rates and 30-40% faster than deals relying solely on relationship selling or executive access. Champion identification has become even more important as buying committees have grown from an average of 5-6 stakeholders in 2015 to 7-11 stakeholders in 2025, making internal advocacy essential for navigating consensus-building processes.
Key Takeaways
Critical Success Factor: Deals with identified and engaged champions close 2-3x more frequently than those without, making champion identification a top priority in complex B2B sales
Beyond Friendliness: True champions demonstrate specific behaviors—coaching on internal politics, connecting you to stakeholders, and advocating in private meetings—that distinguish them from merely supportive contacts
Multi-Threaded Requirement: Champion identification must occur alongside executive sponsor development and buying committee mapping, not as a replacement for multi-threaded account strategies
Qualification Criteria: Effective champions possess three essential attributes—motivation to solve the problem, organizational credibility and influence, and access to decision-makers and budget holders
Ongoing Cultivation: Champion relationships require continuous nurturing with relevant insights, competitive intelligence, and enablement materials that help them sell internally on your behalf
How It Works
Champion identification begins during discovery conversations when sales teams assess not just what prospects need but who within the organization cares most about solving the problem and has the influence to drive change. Effective sales professionals use deliberate questioning techniques to understand organizational dynamics, political landscapes, and who holds formal versus informal power in decision-making processes.
The identification process typically follows a structured framework evaluating potential champions across multiple dimensions. Sales teams assess motivation level by understanding how much the prospect personally benefits from solving the problem—do they own the pain point directly, or are they evaluating on behalf of others? They evaluate organizational influence by asking about involvement in previous purchasing decisions, relationships with executive stakeholders, and ability to allocate resources or shape priorities. They test accessibility by gauging whether the contact can facilitate introductions to other buying committee members, including economic buyers and technical decision-makers.
Once potential champions are identified, sales teams qualify them through behavioral indicators rather than self-reporting. True champions demonstrate their commitment through specific actions: they proactively share information about competitors being evaluated, explain internal processes and timelines without prompting, connect sellers to other stakeholders before being asked, and provide coaching on how to position value propositions for different audiences within their organization. Salespeople using methodologies like MEDDIC (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion) systematically document these champion qualification criteria in their CRM systems.
CRM platforms like Salesforce enable champion tracking through opportunity contact roles, with specific fields identifying champions versus other stakeholder types. Advanced implementations use contact engagement scoring to quantify champion strength based on interaction frequency, content sharing behavior, and internal advocacy actions. Sales intelligence platforms can enrich champion identification by providing insights into the individual's tenure, previous role changes, social media activity indicating thought leadership, and connections to other stakeholders visible through organizational chart mapping.
Modern GTM teams increasingly use signal-based approaches to identify potential champions before direct engagement. Platforms like Saber track behavioral signals such as which contacts within target accounts engage deeply with product content, attend multiple webinars, share resources with colleagues, or exhibit research patterns suggesting they're building internal business cases. These signals help sales teams prioritize which relationships to cultivate as potential champion opportunities.
Key Features
Motivation Assessment: Evaluates personal and professional incentives driving the contact to advocate for change and your specific solution
Influence Mapping: Measures organizational credibility, informal power, and ability to shape opinions of decision-makers and budget holders
Access Verification: Confirms the contact can facilitate introductions across buying committee and navigate organizational hierarchy effectively
Behavioral Qualification: Tests champion commitment through actions (sharing intel, making connections, advocating in meetings) rather than verbal support
Ongoing Cultivation: Requires continuous relationship investment with relevant enablement, competitive intelligence, and internal selling support
Use Cases
Complex Enterprise Sales Cycles
Enterprise account executives use champion identification to navigate large organizations with consensus-driven buying processes involving 8-12 stakeholders. When selling into Fortune 500 companies, direct executive access is often limited, making champions essential for navigating procurement processes, legal reviews, and technical evaluations. The AE identifies a VP of Marketing Operations who personally experiences data integration challenges, has led three previous technology implementations successfully, and reports directly to the CMO. By cultivating this champion with ROI calculators, competitor comparison documents, and customer references relevant to their specific use case, the AE gains coaching on how to position the solution for IT security, procurement, and finance stakeholders. The champion advocates internally during vendor evaluation meetings, ultimately helping the deal progress from technical evaluation to executive approval 40% faster than typical sales cycles. According to MEDDIC Institute research, enterprise deals with qualified champions close at 68% win rates compared to 23% for deals without identified champions.
Account-Based Marketing Campaigns
ABM teams integrate champion identification into their account engagement strategies, using content engagement signals and stakeholder mapping to identify which individuals within target accounts show characteristics of potential champions. When running plays against strategic accounts, ABM marketers track which contacts attend multiple events, download advanced content, share resources with colleagues (indicated by multiple logins from same company viewing forwarded content), and engage across multiple channels. These behavioral signals identify individuals likely building internal business cases who could become champions once sales initiates direct contact. The ABM team enriches these contacts with organizational intelligence showing their influence level, creates personalized content addressing their specific pain points, and coordinates warm hand-offs to sales with context about the prospect's champion potential. This signal-based champion identification helps ABM teams achieve 3-5x higher meeting-to-opportunity conversion rates compared to generic account outreach approaches.
Customer Expansion and Upsell Motions
Customer success and account management teams use champion identification not just for initial sales but for expansion opportunities within existing customers. CSMs identify champions who can advocate for additional product modules, seat expansion, or enterprise-wide rollouts by assessing which users demonstrate deep product engagement, participate in user communities, evangelize the product to colleagues, and have political capital to sponsor new initiatives. A customer success manager notices that a regional sales manager has achieved measurable results with the platform, frequently shares success metrics with leadership, and has been promoted based partially on productivity improvements from the tool. The CSM cultivates this relationship by providing executive presentation templates, ROI analysis specific to expansion use cases, and customer testimonials from similar expansion scenarios. This champion then sponsors the business case for expanding from their 50-person region to the entire 300-person sales organization, resulting in 6x seat expansion and 4x ARR growth from the account. Research from Gainsight shows that expansion deals with internal champions close 2.1x faster and at 54% higher ACV than expansions driven solely by vendor-initiated outreach.
Implementation Example
Champion Qualification Framework
This table shows the MEDDIC-based framework for qualifying potential champions:
Champion Identification Process Flow
Salesforce Champion Tracking Configuration
Custom Opportunity Contact Roles:
- Create contact role: "Champion" with description field for qualification notes
- Add custom fields to Contact Role object:
- Champion Score (Number): Calculated from qualification scorecard
- Champion Qualification Date (Date): When contact met minimum threshold
- Last Champion Activity (Date): Most recent advocacy behavior logged
- Champion Status (Picklist): Prospective / Qualified / Active / At Risk
Opportunity Requirements:
- Validation rule: Opportunities cannot move to "Proposal" stage without Champion contact role assigned
- Validation rule: Champion Score must be 40+ for opportunities >$50K ACV
- Dashboard component: Win rate by presence/absence of qualified champion
- Report: Champion influence on deal velocity and close rates
Automated Alerts:
- Alert AE when champion engagement score drops below threshold (no activity in 14 days)
- Alert sales manager when opportunities >$100K lack identified champion after 30 days
- Alert AE when potential champion (identified through engagement signals) reaches 30+ engagement score
Activity Tracking:
- Custom activity type: "Champion Cultivation" to log specific enablement provided
- Task auto-creation: Weekly reminder to engage champion when in active deals
- Chatter @mention sales manager when champion facilitates executive introduction
This CRM configuration ensures champion identification becomes a systematic, measurable part of the sales process rather than ad hoc relationship management, with clear accountability and visibility into champion presence and strength across the pipeline.
Related Terms
Buying Committee: The group of stakeholders involved in B2B purchase decisions, which champions help you navigate
Economic Buyer: The person with budget authority for purchase decisions, who champions provide access to
Multi-Threading: Strategy of building relationships with multiple stakeholders in an account, including champions and executives
Influencer: Stakeholder who shapes opinions and recommendations but may lack final decision authority
Account Mapping: Process of documenting organizational structure and stakeholder relationships to identify potential champions
Deal Velocity: Speed at which opportunities move through sales stages, which champions significantly accelerate
Engagement Signals: Behavioral indicators that help identify which contacts show champion potential before direct qualification
MEDDIC: Sales qualification methodology that explicitly includes champion identification as critical success criterion
Frequently Asked Questions
What is champion identification?
Quick Answer: Champion identification is the systematic process of finding and qualifying internal advocates within target accounts who will actively promote your solution to other stakeholders and help navigate the buying process.
Champion identification goes beyond building friendly relationships to strategically cultivating individuals who have the motivation, influence, and access necessary to drive internal consensus toward purchasing your solution. True champions don't just like your product—they actively coach you on internal politics, facilitate introductions to decision-makers, share competitive intelligence, and advocate for your solution in meetings where you're not present. This internal advocacy becomes particularly critical in complex B2B sales involving multiple stakeholders, where champions help you navigate organizational dynamics and build the consensus required for deal closure. Sales methodologies like MEDDIC explicitly include champion identification as a mandatory qualification criterion because deals with engaged champions close at significantly higher rates than those without internal advocates.
How do you identify a champion in sales?
Quick Answer: Identify champions through behavioral qualification—look for contacts who proactively share internal information, facilitate stakeholder introductions, personally own the problem you solve, have organizational credibility, and access to decision-makers.
Champion identification requires assessing both characteristics and behaviors. Strong champion characteristics include directly experiencing the pain point your solution addresses, having political capital and credibility within their organization, and access to budget holders or executive decision-makers. But characteristics alone don't confirm a champion—you must test through behavioral qualification. Ask the contact to make introductions to other stakeholders; true champions facilitate these without hesitation. Request information about competing vendors or internal processes; champions share this intelligence to help you succeed. Provide internal selling materials and see if they use them; champions actively present your value proposition to colleagues. According to MEDDIC methodology training from PTC, sales professionals should document specific champion behaviors in CRM systems and require minimum champion qualification scores before advancing opportunities to later stages, preventing pipeline bloat from deals lacking internal advocacy.
What's the difference between a champion and an economic buyer?
Quick Answer: Champions are internal advocates who sell for you and help navigate the organization, while economic buyers have budget authority and make final purchase decisions—effective deals typically require both roles, often filled by different people.
The champion usually lacks final purchasing authority but possesses motivation, influence, and access that make them invaluable advocates. They might be the director who will implement and use your solution daily, giving them strong personal motivation to drive the deal forward. The economic buyer—often a VP or C-level executive—controls the budget and makes final sign-off decisions but may not be deeply engaged in evaluation or moved by the same motivations. In most enterprise deals, these are different individuals, requiring sales teams to build relationships with both. Your champion provides coaching on how to position value for the economic buyer, facilitates the introduction, and advocates for your solution in executive discussions. The multi-threading sales strategy explicitly addresses this by ensuring relationships with champions, economic buyers, and other stakeholders rather than relying on a single point of contact regardless of their role.
Can you have multiple champions in one deal?
Yes, and having multiple champions across different departments or levels significantly increases win probability and deal velocity. In complex enterprise sales, you might have a technical champion who advocates within the IT organization, a business champion who drives the use case from operations or marketing, and an executive champion who sponsors the initiative at the leadership level. Each champion provides different types of support—technical champions help you navigate security and architecture reviews, business champions build ROI cases and drive user adoption planning, and executive champions remove political obstacles and accelerate procurement processes. Research from The Challenger Sale shows that deals with multi-level champions (both ground-level users and executive sponsors) close 3-4x faster than deals with single-level advocacy, as they can simultaneously drive bottom-up adoption enthusiasm and top-down strategic prioritization.
How do you maintain champion relationships throughout long sales cycles?
Effective champion cultivation requires continuous value exchange, not just transactional engagement when you need something. Provide champions with competitive intelligence that helps them make informed internal decisions, share industry research and benchmarks that strengthen their business cases, offer exclusive access to product roadmap information or customer communities, and create executive presentation templates that make it easy for them to advocate internally. Schedule regular check-ins focused on their needs and challenges rather than just deal status, and ensure you're responsive when they request information or support. Many successful sales teams assign specific team members (sales engineers, solutions consultants) to maintain champion relationships, ensuring consistent engagement even when account executives are focused on executive access or contract negotiations. According to research from Revenue.io, deals with weekly champion engagement show 47% shorter sales cycles than deals with monthly or sporadic champion contact, highlighting the importance of consistent relationship maintenance throughout evaluation processes.
Conclusion
Champion identification represents one of the most critical capabilities in complex B2B sales, directly impacting win rates, deal velocity, and expansion potential. As buying committees have grown larger and decision-making has become increasingly consensus-driven, the ability to cultivate internal advocates who navigate organizational politics and sell on your behalf has evolved from a nice-to-have relationship skill to a mandatory qualification requirement for pipeline advancement.
Sales teams must approach champion identification systematically using qualification frameworks that assess motivation, influence, and access, then validate champion commitment through behavioral tests rather than assuming friendly contacts will advocate effectively. Sales leaders should implement CRM tracking mechanisms that make champion presence visible across the pipeline, build validation rules preventing advancement without qualified champions, and analyze win/loss data by champion presence to quantify the impact on revenue outcomes.
Customer success and account management teams increasingly apply champion identification beyond initial sales to expansion scenarios, recognizing that internal advocates drive faster, larger upsells and cross-sells compared to vendor-initiated expansion outreach. As account-based marketing and sales intelligence platforms become more sophisticated, GTM teams can use engagement signals and behavioral intelligence to identify potential champions earlier in the buying journey, enabling proactive cultivation before competitors establish their own internal advocates. For revenue organizations building modern, signal-based go-to-market strategies, systematizing champion identification through data-driven qualification and ongoing relationship cultivation represents a fundamental competitive advantage in an increasingly complex B2B buying landscape.
Last Updated: January 18, 2026
