Most conventional sales methodologies encourage salespeople to find at least one coach inside the potential customer’s organisation who is willing and able to give them honest feedback and guide them through the decision-making and approval processes.
It’s supposed to be even better if the coach turns out be an enthusiastic champion of your approach. But finding a champion won’t necessarily significantly improve your chances of winning the deal, unless they are capable of mobilising their colleagues…
Other than inevitable purchases where the customer absolutely has to do something, the majority of apparently well-qualified but ultimately unsuccessful B2B sales opportunities end up being lost to “no decision” rather than to an obvious competitor.
So, it should be obvious that your salespeople need to identify and engage with someone who is not only an effective coach and an enthusiastic champion of your approach, but also someone capable of mobilising their colleagues around