How to Create a Champion
Creating a champion is not about persuasion techniques. It is about earning the right to internal advocacy.
Why Champions Are Created, Not Found
While some opportunities begin with a natural advocate, most champions are developed over time through the way the opportunity is handled.
People do not risk their credibility lightly, particularly in complex or visible decisions. They become champions when they believe in the outcome, trust the approach being taken and feel confident that supporting it will not expose them unnecessarily.
Understanding how to create a champion therefore requires understanding what must be true for someone to move from interest to advocacy.
What Must Exist Before a Champion Can Form
Champion creation depends on a small number of conditions being in place consistently, rather than a single conversation or moment of enthusiasm.
In most cases, a potential champion needs:
-
Influence over the economic buyer and access to them
-
A clear understanding of the problem being solved
-
Confidence that your approach addresses it credibly
-
Personal or functional stake in the outcome
-
Trust in how you will support them internally
When one or more of these elements is missing, advocacy tends to remain tentative or conditional.
How Sellers Contribute to Champion Creation
The behaviours sellers demonstrate day to day either build the conditions for advocacy or undermine them.
Sellers who successfully develop champions tend to:
-
Share insight that helps the buyer think differently
-
Be transparent about risks and trade-offs
-
Invite challenge rather than pushing for agreement
-
Help the buyer prepare for internal conversations
-
Show consistency between words and actions
These behaviours reduce personal risk for the buyer and increase confidence that advocating internally is a reasonable step rather than a gamble.
The Role of Shared Stakes
Champions tend to emerge when there is a shared sense of ownership over both the problem and the outcome.
This often involves aligning openly on:
-
What success looks like internally
-
What failure would cost
-
Who needs to be convinced and why
-
Where resistance is likely to come from
When these conversations are handled well, advocacy becomes a by-product of clarity rather than something that needs to be manufactured.
Why Champion Creation Affects Deal Momentum
When a champion is actively forming, internal progress usually becomes easier to read and easier to influence.
Stakeholders are engaged earlier, objections surface sooner and decision paths become clearer. When champion creation is ignored, sellers often mistake access for support and only discover resistance late in the process.
This is why champion development is often explored during deal coaching, particularly when momentum feels fragile or difficult to interpret.
Champion creation is one of the skills we develop through our complex B2B coaching work. Take a look at our services to see the full range of services.
Is Your Champion Actually Developing?
Not sure whether your efforts to develop a champion are working? The Champion Test assesses your contact across the behaviours that define genuine internal advocacy, so you can see clearly where they are and what still needs to develop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you create a champion, or do you just find one?
Both. While some opportunities begin with a natural advocate, most champions are developed over time through how the opportunity is handled. People do not risk their credibility lightly. They become champions when they trust the approach being taken, believe in the outcome and feel confident that supporting it will not expose them unnecessarily.
What conditions need to exist for a champion to form?
A potential champion needs to be close to the decision, have a personal or functional stake in the outcome, be credible with other stakeholders, and trust that advocating internally is a reasonable step rather than a risk. If one or more of these elements is missing, support tends to remain tentative.
How do sellers contribute to champion creation?
By sharing insight that helps the buyer think differently. By being transparent about risks and trade-offs rather than only presenting positives. By inviting challenge rather than pushing for agreement. By helping the buyer prepare for internal conversations. Consistent behaviour that reduces personal risk for the buyer creates the conditions for advocacy to develop.
How long does it take to develop a champion?
It varies considerably depending on the account, the individual and the nature of the decision. In some cases, a genuine champion forms through two or three well-handled conversations. In others, it takes months of consistent behaviour before someone is willing to put their credibility behind your position.
What happens if you cannot create a champion?
The deal becomes significantly harder to win and much harder to read accurately. Without internal advocacy, you are relying entirely on external persuasion. This does not make winning impossible, but late-stage surprises are more likely and the outcome is less predictable.
Speak With Us
If you want to explore how your team develops champions through their selling approach and day-to-day behaviour, you can start a conversation via Contact.