To find and build a champion in an enterprise deal, look past the friendliest contact and test for three things: power and influence inside the buying organisation, a personal stake in your solution succeeding, and a willingness to sell it internally when you are not in the room. Most people who like you will fail at least one of those tests. The ones who pass need to be equipped, coached and kept close, because they are the person who wins the deal for you in meetings you never attend.

Getting this wrong is the most common reason a promising enterprise deal stalls after a strong start. The seller had a contact who was enthusiastic, responsive and helpful. That contact was a coach, not a champion, and when the decision moved into a room with budget holders and competing priorities, nobody in that room was arguing for you.

What is a champion in enterprise sales?

A champion is a person inside the buyer's organisation who has power and influence, has a vested interest in your success, and is actively selling your solution internally on your behalf. That is the definition used by the people behind MEDDICC, who set out exactly those three criteria and are clear that a friendly main point of contact does not meet the bar (see No Champion, No Deal on meddicc.com).

It helps to separate the champion from the other people you meet in a deal:

• Coach: gives you information and advice, but will not spend their own credibility on you.
• User or fan: likes the product, often loudly, but has little say over the decision.
• Economic buyer: controls the budget and signs. They can be your champion, but usually are not, because they are weighing your project against everything else asking for money.
• Champion: has the standing to move the decision and chooses to use it for you, because your success is also their success.

Everyone in that list matters. Only one of them closes the gap between a good evaluation and a signed contract.

Why does every enterprise deal need a champion?

Every enterprise deal needs a champion because the real decision is made by a group, in conversations you are not part of, and someone inside that group has to build agreement for you. A Gartner survey of 632 B2B buyers, published in 2025, found that 74 percent of buyer teams showed unhealthy conflict during the decision, and that buying groups which reached consensus were 2.5 times more likely to report a high-quality deal (Gartner, 2025).

You cannot create that consensus from outside the building. You can supply evidence, answer questions and run good meetings, but the argument that settles the decision happens on an internal call or in a budget review. Without a champion, the outcome rests on whoever argues hardest in that room, and it is rarely the person who thinks your product is nice.

How do you find a potential champion?

You find a potential champion by looking for the person who owns the problem and has something to gain from solving it, not the person who is easiest to talk to. In Harvard Business Review, the authors of The End of Solution Sales found that star sellers preferred "skeptical change agents over friendly informants" (Adamson, Dixon and Toman, 2012). The sceptic who pushes back on your claims is often a better candidate than the contact who agrees with everything.

Signs worth noticing in your first few conversations:

• They describe the problem in terms of its cost to the business and to their own goals, not just as an annoyance.
• They ask hard, specific questions about how your solution would work in their environment.
• They have led a change like this before, or are clearly being judged on fixing this one.
• Colleagues defer to them in group meetings, or mention them by name when describing how decisions get made.
• They offer introductions and context without being asked.

A well-run discovery call is where most of this shows up. Ask what happens to them personally if the problem is still there in a year. The answer tells you more than any job title.

How do you test whether someone is really your champion?

You test a champion by asking them to do something that costs them a little effort or credibility, and watching what happens. Enthusiasm in a meeting is cheap. Action between meetings is the evidence. Use these five tests:

1. Access: ask them to arrange a meeting with the economic buyer. A champion can make it happen, or tells you exactly why not and what would change that.
2. Information: ask about budget, competing projects and who might oppose the purchase. A champion shares what a coach keeps to themselves.
3. Effort: ask them to circulate a summary, gather requirements or book a meeting with another team. See whether it gets done, and how quickly.
4. Advocacy: ask what they will say about you in the next internal meeting, and whether they will put their name to a recommendation.
5. Personal win: ask what success looks like for them. If they cannot say, their interest may not survive the first difficult conversation.

Score each test honestly. As an illustration, if a contact passes access and information but goes quiet on effort and advocacy, you have a well-placed coach. Treat the deal accordingly, and keep looking.

How do you build and equip a champion?

You build a champion by making it easy and safe for them to sell for you: give them the material to make the case, coach them through their own buying process, and make sure they get the credit when it works. Most champions have never bought something this large or this complex, and they are taking a personal risk by backing you.

• Write the case in their words. A one-page summary of the problem, the cost of doing nothing and the expected result, which they can forward without editing.
• Prepare them for the objections. Walk through what finance, security, IT and their own boss are likely to ask, and agree the answers together.
• Build the plan with them. A mutual success plan gives your champion a timeline and a set of commitments to point to internally.
• Rehearse the big meetings. Before they present to the economic buyer, run through it with them. Offer to join, but let them lead.
• Make them look good. Credit their thinking in front of colleagues. Never let them be surprised by something you knew.

Keep a regular rhythm of contact, such as a short weekly check-in through the late stages. Champions are busy, and a deal that is not on their mind is a deal that is not being sold.

What should you do if your champion leaves or goes quiet?

If your champion leaves, changes role or stops responding, treat it as a material change to the deal and act within the week. The MEDDICC article cited above quotes a well-known line from the sales training firm SMG that puts the stakes plainly: "No Champion, no deal." A deal that has lost its champion should not stay at the same stage or the same probability in your forecast.

• Ask your champion, before they move on if possible, to introduce you to whoever inherits the project.
• Re-run the five tests on the new contact rather than assuming they share the same commitment.
• Revisit the economic buyer to confirm the priority still stands.
• Update the forecast on evidence: move the deal back a stage until a new champion is confirmed.

The best protection is never relying on one person. Having two or three relationships in the account means losing one is a setback rather than the end of the deal.

This week, list your five largest open deals and write the champion's name next to each. Then mark which of the five tests that person has passed. Any deal with a blank or with fewer than three passes needs a different next step from the one currently in your CRM.

Sources and further reading

• MEDDICC (2026): No Champion, No Deal
• Gartner (2025): Sales survey finds 74% of B2B buyer teams demonstrate unhealthy conflict during the decision process
• Harvard Business Review (2012): The End of Solution Sales

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a champion and a coach in sales?

A coach gives you information and advice about the buying organisation but will not spend their own credibility on your behalf. A champion has power and influence, has a personal stake in your success, and actively sells your solution internally. The simplest test is action: ask a contact to arrange a meeting with the economic buyer or to put their name to a recommendation. A coach hesitates. A champion does it.

Can the economic buyer be the champion?

Yes, but it is uncommon in larger enterprise deals. The economic buyer controls the budget and is usually weighing your project against several others competing for the same money, so they tend to stay neutral. A champion more often sits one or two levels below, owns the problem directly, and builds the case that the economic buyer then approves. If the economic buyer is genuinely championing you, still find a second strong relationship.

How many champions should you have in an enterprise deal?

Aim for one clear champion who leads the internal case, supported by two or three other strong relationships in the account. A single champion is a single point of failure: if they change role, leave or lose influence, the deal can stall overnight. Additional relationships across finance, IT or the user team make the deal more resilient and give your champion allies in internal meetings.

How early in a deal should you identify a champion?

Start looking in the first discovery conversations and aim to have a tested champion before the deal reaches a formal evaluation or proposal stage. Early on you are looking for candidates: people who own the problem and gain from solving it. By the time you are discussing commercial terms, you should have seen that person take real action for you, such as securing access to the economic buyer.