Think You Have a Champion? Prove It.

Wayne Johnson
Oct 13
7 min read

**The Champion Final Exam: How to Know if You Really Have One**

Salespeople love the word Champion. It rolls off the tongue like a promise, someone inside the account who fights for you, sells for you, and ushers your deal through the gauntlet of internal politics. But here’s the truth: most sellers don’t actually have one. They have someone who’s friendly, responsive, and tells them what they want to hear. That’s not a Champion. That’s a spectator in a jersey they didn’t earn.

About eight years ago, I ran a research project for a company doing north of $100 million in annual revenue, selling into the Fortune 500. We’d been running the MEDDIC framework for years and decided to dig into the data, three years’ worth, thousands of opportunities. What we found was undeniable: in 90% of closed-won deals, there was a strong Champion. Flip it around, and 79% of deals without one were lost. The message was loud and clear: if you don’t have a Champion, you don’t have a deal.

Let’s break it down.

What Is a Champion, Really?

In simple terms, a Champion is an internal advocate who sells on your behalf when you’re not in the room.

They have power, influence, and motivation to help you win. They know how decisions get made and have enough credibility inside the organization to shape those decisions. They’re emotionally invested in your success because your success helps them win internally.

A true Champion does three things:

They sell when you’re not there. They explain your value to other stakeholders with the same conviction you would.
They protect your deal. When the competition takes a swing at you, they swing back.
They guide your path to victory. They help you navigate procurement, budgeting, politics, and timing.

If they’re not doing all three, they’re not your Champion. They might be a fan, an influencer, a coach, or an ally, but those aren’t the same thing.

The Mirage: Why Many Salespeople Think They Have a Champion (But Don’t)

Every sales manager has heard it. “She’s my Champion.” “He loves us.” “They said we’re the front-runner.”

Then the deal dies quietly two weeks later, and the “Champion” stops returning calls. What happened?

1. Confusing Access with Advocacy

You might have someone who takes your calls, gives you insights, or even introduces you to others. That’s access, not advocacy. Access means they’ll meet with you; advocacy means they’ll fight for you.

A real Champion doesn’t just forward your deck, they sell your deck. They internalize your message and spread it inside the company because they believe it moves their business and their own career forward.

2. Mistaking Enthusiasm for Influence

Energy is not authority. Some of the nicest, most enthusiastic people in your deal are also the least influential. They’re happy to meet, happy to explore, happy to share, but when it’s time for the final decision, they’re nowhere near the table.

Influence means they can sway others who hold the budget, the decision, or the veto power. If your “Champion” can’t get a meeting moved, a requirement changed, or a decision reconsidered, they’re not a Champion, they’re a cheerleader.

3. Believing Empathy Equals Ownership

Your contact might genuinely like you. They may even say, “I want to help you win this.” But unless they act on that intent, by introducing you to power, sharing internal objections, or helping you shape the business case, it’s empty empathy.

The biggest myth in sales is that liking equals loyalty. People like lots of vendors. Champions commit to one.

4. Ignoring the Internal Game

Many reps underestimate how messy internal politics can be. Buying decisions rarely hinge on logic alone; they hinge on alignment. A real Champion doesn’t just like your product, they know how to align others behind it.

If your contact never mentions what finance cares about, or what operations worries about, or how procurement behaves, they’re not a Champion, they’re a participant without a playbook.

5. Accepting Words Without Proof

The deadliest phrase in sales is: “They told me I’m their top choice.”Words are easy. Proof is hard. Champions prove their allegiance through actions, not affirmations.

Ask yourself: What have they done for you in the past 30 days that moved the deal forward? If the answer is “they said they’d help,” you don’t have a Champion, you have a well-meaning contact who’s going to ghost you the moment the deal gets political.

Why You Must Test Your Champion

Champions are like hypotheses in science; you don’t assume they’re true; you test them. Testing prevents false positives. False Champions lead to long, slow losses that clog your pipeline and crush your forecast accuracy.

Here’s why testing matters:

1. Champions Are Human

They have competing priorities, bosses, and politics to manage. Just because they like you doesn’t mean they’ll take a bullet for your deal. Testing helps you understand how far they’re truly willing to go.

2. Deals Die in the Dark

You can’t be in every internal meeting, budget discussion, or executive huddle. Your Champion is your light inside that darkness. But if that light is dim, or worse, nonexistent, you’re selling blind.

3. Forecast Discipline

Many reps overestimate deal health because they’re emotionally attached. A rigorous Champion test removes emotion from the equation. Either your contact acts like a Champion, or they don’t. You don’t hope for a Champion; you verify one.

4. It Teaches You to Coach Them

When you test, you also coach. You can guide your contact on how to champion you more effectively, what to say, who to talk to, and how to position your value. Testing reveals their gaps; coaching fills them.

The Champion Final Exam

Every salesperson should have a Champion Final Exam, a mental checklist that determines whether a contact truly qualifies.

You can’t grade it with a smile. You grade it with evidence.

Section 1: Power and Influence

Question 1: Can your contact directly or indirectly influence the buying decision?

If they can’t affect budget, scope, or vendor selection, they can’t be your Champion. They might still be valuable, but you’ll need to find someone who can actually move the deal.

Question 2: Do they have credibility with the executive sponsor?

Ask yourself: when your Champion speaks, do others listen? Influence doesn’t always come from title, it comes from trust. A respected mid-level operator can carry more weight than a disengaged VP.

Pass/Fail Criterion: If they can’t name the decision maker or describe how the final call gets made, they fail.

Section 2: Motivation and Alignment

Question 3: Do they personally benefit from your solution succeeding?

A true Champion ties their success to your success. Maybe it saves them time, makes their department look good, or helps them achieve a personal KPI. They have skin in the game.

Question 4: Have they articulated your value in their own words?

If they can explain your value proposition without your slides or prompts, they’ve internalized it. That’s when you know they can sell for you.

Pass/Fail Criterion: If they can’t clearly explain “why us” to others, they fail. Champions don’t parrot, they personalize.

Section 3: Access and Guidance

Question 5: Have they introduced you to power?

Champions open doors. They don’t hide you from executives; they bring you to them.

If your contact is always “protecting” the decision maker from you, they’re protecting themselves, not your deal.

Question 6: Do they give you insight into internal dynamics?

Champions tell you who’s blocking you, who’s supportive, and what’s really going on in the background. They debrief you after internal meetings. They give you political intelligence you couldn’t get elsewhere.

Pass/Fail Criterion: If they don’t proactively share insider knowledge, they fail. Champions are insiders who act like partners.

Section 4: Advocacy and Action

Question 7: Have they sold you internally?

Ask, “How did the last internal discussion about us go?” or “What objections came up?” If they can’t answer, they either weren’t there or engaged enough to care.

Question 8: Have they defended you against competitors?

If a competitor pitched leadership, did your contact push back or stay silent? Silence isn’t neutrality; it’s surrender.

Question 9: Do they act fast when you need them to?

Champions move with urgency. When you ask for feedback or introductions, they make it happen. If every ask turns into a two-week wait, they’re not championing, they’re stalling.

Pass/Fail Criterion: If they haven’t taken a meaningful action for you in the past two weeks, they fail.

Section 5: The Ultimate Test, Would They Bet Political Capital?

Question 10: Would your contact risk political capital to push your deal through?

That means they’re willing to vouch for you in a room full of skeptics, challenge an executive’s opinion, or advocate for funding when others hesitate.

If the answer is yes, you have a Champion. If the answer is maybe, you have a fan. If the answer is no, you have a contact.

The Psychology Behind a Champion

A Champion isn’t born; they’re built, created through trust, alignment, and empowerment. People become Champions when they see you as more than a vendor. They see you as a partner in their personal success story.

So how do you nurture that?

Make them the hero. Frame your value in terms of their wins, not yours.
Arm them with stories. Champions need ammunition, customer proof, outcomes, and ROI data.
Respect their risks. Championing a vendor can backfire internally. Acknowledge that. Thank them publicly. Make them look good in front of their boss.
Stay coachable. If they give you hard feedback, don’t get defensive. Champions won’t risk their reputation for someone who can’t take criticism.

When to Move On

Sometimes the hard truth is that you don’t have a Champion, and you never will in that account. That’s okay.

If your contact won’t introduce you to power, can’t influence the decision, and won’t share internal dynamics, stop trying to turn them into something they’re not. Instead, find another path in.

A bad Champion is worse than no Champion because they create false hope. They make you feel like progress is happening when it’s not. They lull you into comfort while competitors win over the real decision makers.

Disqualifying a false Champion isn’t failure; it’s discipline.

Turning the Final Exam Into a System

If you are a sales leader, how can operationalize the Champion Final Exam Into your organization? Here’s how you can use the Champion Final Exam in your daily rhythm:

Add Champion Qualification Fields in Your CRM. Force clarity, yes/no fields for “Has executive access?”, “Has personal stake?”, “Has defended us internally?”.
Review Champions in Pipeline Reviews. Don’t let reps say, “We’re good, they love us.” Ask for evidence. What have they done for us this week?
Run Champion Scenarios in Training. Role-play real-world tests. Teach reps how to spot false Champions early and coach real ones into stronger advocates.
Make It a Habit. Every time you update a deal, ask: “What did my Champion do for me this week?” If the answer is nothing, they’re slipping.

The Takeaway

A Champion is not a friendly face or a recurring calendar invite. A Champion is a force multiplier, someone who gives you leverage, insight, and influence.

If you don’t test for that, you’re not doing your job as a professional seller. Testing protects your pipeline, sharpens your forecast, and strengthens your deal strategy.