The buying decision in a B2B sale is influenced by many people, and possibly groups. This is because business (B2B) marketing & selling are very sophisticated processes.
This is my fourth article on the four influencers in a B2B sale. In the first three articles we discussed who these influencers are in a B2B sale. These three influencers are;
1. The Financial Influencer and
2. The User Influencer
3. Gatekeepers
The last influencer, and one influencer most people don’t cultivate enough, is your champion or sponsor.
Your Champion
Your champion may also be called your sponsor or coach. It is someone who preferably is inside your prospect’s organization. But, it may be someone inside your organization or someone who is outside of both companies.
Your champion is someone who will help sponsor your proposal to the buying company. The person must therefore have influence within the buying company. Preferably, it is an executive within the buying organization.
Of course the best champion is the financial influencer. The second best champion is the user influencer executive.
However, you will have a much easier time overcoming all objections if the champion or sponsor is the financial influencer. The champion’s role is to interpret information about;
• The situation and why the company is looking to buy
• To give you access to all of the buying influencers
• Understand and lead you as to how each of the buyer influencers win and what benefits each of them is looking for.
Your champion will focus on how you can be successful with this proposal, or how can we pull this off. Look for a champion or sponsor, and your job will become much, much easier by having one.
Keep in mind though, that his or her reputation is at stake. So, you better implement well, and look after this client for a long time to come. You be rewarded far beyond your expectations if you do this.
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