Operating under Incorrect pretenses can cause a big mess in your forecasted opportunities; one of the biggest mistakes is incorrectly identifying your Champion. To recap from our previous blog, A Champion is a key player who has power and influence in driving the opportunity, sells on your behalf, and has a personal win at stake. These tie to some common mistakes that happen in your deals regarding your Champion:
Your Champion doesn't have the influence or power they say they have or you think they have.
Your Champion does publicly identify your solution as the clear choice.
Your Champion does not have a personal win at stake.
You can do some things throughout the opportunity to test your Champion; you will find some suggestions that have worked well for me in the past below.
Test their Power and Influence.
When you first start engaging in an opportunity, information freely flows because it is at a very high level. Once both the buyer and the seller start to dig into very specific details, outcomes, and financials, it is incumbent for both organizations to enter into a Non-Disclosure agreement giving protection to both companies. Very early on, you can test your champion based on their ability to take your organization's Non-Disclosure and run it through their organization for approval.
During this process, you want to see how long it takes them to complete it. Not only will this give you insight into their power and influence to get things done, it will also give you some insight into their legal review process. This will come in handy when trying to understand that portion of the step in the Decision Process and how difficult or easy their legal department is to work for.
Test Selling on Your Behalf
Undoubtedly, a step in your sales process will come where you give a final presentation to key stakeholders. It is at this time when your Champion can come through big for you, and that is including them in the presentation. At a high level, these presentations typically include the definition of the paying, the cost of the pain, the Decision Criteria used to determine the best solution, your solution, and the Metric they can expect from It.
Areas to include the Champion can be in the definition of the pain, the financial impact of the pain, and the Decision Criteria setting you up to deliver the solution to the pain. The Champion can then close with the Metrics of what this solution can return to the organization. If your Champion is unwilling to participate, that is a sign that they are NOT selling on your behalf.
Test their Personal Win
What is meant by personal win? Think of it this way, if this project is successful and they were seen as the one who "made it happen", what would be in it for them? Forget about anything that provides mutual benefit to all the stakeholders in the solution but what is in it personally for your Champion.
A reputation? Were they hired recently to the organization and handed power and influence due to the role they were hired into? There is a "probationary period" where the organization looks closely at its performance and ability to launch successfully. If they are new, and this is their first project, it is very likely to result on whether they will stay and have a future with the company, or it could be the beginning of a short or long strenuous relationship that will result in an unsuccessful endeavor for both the company and your champion.
A promotion? Is your champion seeking to move from a VP to a C-Level executive at the organization, and does solving this challenge lead them to this promotion? If that is the case and they believe your solution will get them there, they WILL fight for you. They will be a CHAMPION! To pass this test, you must ask your Champion what is in it for them. Why is this so important to you? If the answer is a generic corporate answer and not a personally motivated answer, keep digging or look for a Champion with a personal win.
Bonus Test
Take a moment to look at your cellphone and pull up your text messages. Who makes the last three text message conversations? It is probably, your significant other, child, parent, sibling, or best friend. It would be someone who you have a personal relationship with. What kind of access do you have with your Champion? Do you have their cell phone? Do you text them? If so, try this, the next time you have important information to run by them and need some information or other requests. Send them a text asking them to call you when they have 3 minutes for a quick convo.
This Week Challenge
Pick your top 3 forecasted opportunities and test your Champion in each.
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