In complex SaaS sales, the champion is the internal advocate who sells on your behalf when you're not in the room. They make introductions to the Economic Buyer, navigate internal politics, surface objections before they become fatal, and create urgency with stakeholders who will never speak with you directly.
Without a champion, you don't have a deal. You have a contact who finds your product interesting — which is a completely different thing.
The champion is also the most commonly misidentified element in MEDDPICC. Reps mistake enthusiasm for advocacy, seniority for influence, and responsiveness for sponsorship. A genuine champion is specific: they have power within the organisation, they are personally invested in the outcome, and they actively do things on your behalf that require them to spend political capital.
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The most reliable champion test is asking for the EB introduction and observing the response.
"We're at the stage where it would be really valuable to get [EB name] involved — even a 20-minute conversation to share the business case we've been building. Would you be able to set that up?"A real champion says yes and delivers the introduction within a week. A pseudo-champion says yes but consistently finds reasons why the timing isn't right. A contact who isn't a champion says no or explains why the EB doesn't need to be involved.
Test 2: The internal information askAsk for information that requires the contact to go beyond what's comfortable:
"To tailor the business case to what your board cares about most — do you have a sense of what their top three priorities are for this year? Anything from investor communications or board materials would be really helpful."A champion finds a way to share relevant context. A contact who isn't a champion deflects or provides only what's publicly available.
Test 3: The competitive intelligence ask- "Are there other vendors being evaluated? It would help me understand where we stand and tailor our approach."*
A champion tells you who the competition is, what the evaluation criteria are, and where you're strong and weak. A contact who isn't a champion gives a vague non-answer or says "I'm not sure."
Test 4: The internal advocacy ask- "Is there a conversation about this happening internally that I should be aware of? Anything I should be preparing for or helping you navigate?"*
A champion surfaces internal dynamics — concerns from other stakeholders, competing priorities, political sensitivities. A contact who isn't a champion has nothing to report because they're not having those conversations.
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Identifying a potential champion is the beginning, not the end. Most contacts who have champion potential need to be developed — given the tools, the confidence, and the compelling reasons to advocate internally.
Arm them with the business case.Give the champion everything they need to make the case without you — a quantified ROI model specific to their company, a one-page executive summary in their language (not yours), and reference customer connections from similar companies they can speak with directly.
Help them understand their personal stake.The champion needs to see clearly how this purchase advances their own objectives — not just the company's. What does solving this problem mean for their team's performance? For their standing with the EB? For their own goals?
Rehearse the internal conversation.Ask the champion to walk you through how they'd present this to the EB. Listen for gaps, help them strengthen the argument, and prepare them for the specific objections the EB is likely to raise.
Give them credit.When the EB or other stakeholders engage positively, make sure the champion receives credit internally for driving the initiative. Their internal status is one of the primary reasons they're investing in this — protect and build it.
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A coach is a contact who likes you, responds promptly, and provides information helpfully — but doesn't have the power or the willingness to actively advocate internally. Coaches are valuable but cannot substitute for a champion.
The most dangerous mistake in complex sales is treating a coach as a champion. Deals built on coaches stall at the point where internal advocacy is required — EB introduction, procurement prioritisation, competitive evaluation influence — because the coach can't do what a champion can.
Signs you have a coach, not a champion:
- They respond to your questions but never proactively share new information.
- They say the EB is "aware" but won't arrange a direct introduction.
- They're enthusiastic about the product but can't articulate the internal business case.
- They've never mentioned any internal discussion about the purchase — no politics, no competing priorities, no concerns from other stakeholders.
- Every follow-up action they commit to takes significantly longer than expected.
If you have a coach and not a champion, your primary objective is to find the real champion — or to develop this contact into one.
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Champion departure is one of the most common causes of late-stage deal loss. When a champion leaves their role — resignation, internal transfer, restructure — the deal loses its internal advocate, its EB relationship, and often its urgency at the same moment.
Champion risk management:
Multi-thread before you need to. Never rely on a single champion. Identify and develop a secondary internal advocate — ideally at a different level or in a different function — from Stage 2 onwards. Connect the champion to the EB before they leave. If the champion transition is happening, arrange a direct EB introduction as a priority before the champion's last day. Activate the secondary champion immediately. If the primary champion departs, the secondary must step up before internal momentum dissipates. This requires the secondary to already be briefed on the deal, the business case, and the current state.---
Brazn's call analysis tracks champion-indicating behaviours across every conversation — internal advocacy signals, information-sharing quality, EB access indicators, and competitive intelligence provision. The Champion element of MEDDPICC in Brazn is scored not on what the rep believes about the champion, but on specific observable behaviours extracted from call and email data. This makes champion assessment objective rather than optimistic — and surfaces champion risk before it becomes a Stage 4 surprise.
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About the Author
Alex Margarit, Sales AI Expert, SaaS Sales Leader, BMC, ServiceNow, Docusign — 25+ years in SaaS sales.