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.
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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.
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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.
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In most cases, a potential champion needs:
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Influence over the economic buyer and access to them
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A clear understanding of the problem being solved
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Confidence that your approach addresses it credibly
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Personal or functional stake in the outcome
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Trust in how you will support them internally
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When one or more of these elements is missing, advocacy tends to remain tentative or conditional.
How Sellers Contribute to Champion Creation
Champion creation depends on a small number of conditions being in place consistently, rather than a single conversation or moment of enthusiasm.
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Sellers who successfully develop champions tend to:
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Share insight that helps the buyer think differently
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Be transparent about risks and trade-offs
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Invite challenge rather than pushing for agreement
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Help the buyer prepare for internal conversations
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Show consistency between words and actions
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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.
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This often involves aligning openly on:
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What success looks like internally
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What failure would cost
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Who needs to be convinced and why
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Where resistance is likely to come from
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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.
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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.
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This is why champion development is often explored during deal coaching, particularly when momentum feels fragile or difficult to interpret.
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.