Mistaking a Fan for a Champion Costs You the Deal

Every rep has a deal where the Champion field holds the name of someone who genuinely likes them. That person takes every call. They reply within the hour. They told you the demo was the best one they had seen all year.

Most reps treat warmth plus access as proof of a champion. A champion has done something for the deal: forwarded the business case, booked time with the person who signs, argued for you in a room you were not in. If you forecast a fan as a champion, your commit rests on goodwill.

The MEDDICC guide to the Champion sets a clear bar. A champion must be "willing and able to assist you in making progress with your deal." I read that as a test of behavior, and your fan may be failing it right now. There is one habit below that sorts the two in about a minute per deal.

A Fan in the Field Inflates Your Commit

A named champion changes how everyone reads a deal. You, your manager and the forecast all treat it as a sign the deal can survive internal debate. So a deal with a strong name in that field tends to move into commit sooner.

When the named person is a fan, the deal stalls at the point you can't see. That might be the budget meeting, the exec review or the moment a rival vendor gets a hallway conversation you never hear about. You find out when the close date moves. For you, that means a slipped commit and a forecast call where the number you gave rested on a feeling.

Dated Actions Separate Champions From Fans

The Champion field is meant to capture one thing: is there someone inside the buyer's company who will sell for you when you are gone? The bias creeps in when reps fill it with whoever they talk to most. That person is the one they know best, so the name feels right. Warmth is easy to see, and action is easy to assume.

Willing shows up as things the person did. Able shows up as things that worked. Neither shows up in how pleasant a call felt.

Picture a rep named Sam with two deals in the same quarter. The first is $210K at a mid-size logistics firm. The Champion field says "Dana, head of customer service," and the deal is in commit.

Dana has joined five calls and replied fast every time. She has said "this is exactly what we need" more than once.

Now list what she has done. She shared an org chart on August 12th. Since then, Sam has set every meeting, Dana has not forwarded the business case, and the CFO has never heard the vendor's name from her. Her last action for the deal was more than 45 days ago.

The second deal is $95K. The contact, Luis, is short on calls and sometimes blunt. But last week he sent the ROI summary to his VP with his own note on top. Then he booked a 30-minute review on her calendar and asked Sam for two slides to support it.

Sam's gut ranks Dana higher, because the calls with Dana feel better. The evidence ranks Luis higher, because Luis is selling inside his own building. If someone has done nothing for the deal in 30 days, they are a friendly contact, and the field should say so.

That does not mean giving up on Dana. It means calling her a coach, a helpful contact who gives you insight and introductions but hasn't yet acted for the deal. Then you ask her for one specific action.

The easiest way to create that action is to hand her something worth carrying: a one-page business case in her words that she can present as her own. If she takes it to her CFO, she is on her way to becoming a champion. If she stalls, you learned it in October instead of on the last day of the quarter.

The CRM makes this harder in a quiet way. The Champion field holds a name, not a history. Most of what a real champion does happens where your tools can't see it: a forwarded email, a talk by the coffee machine, a slide in the boss's deck. The field is a helpful pointer, and the proof has to come from you asking what happened and writing it down.

Name the Last Thing Your Champion Did

When a deal with a named champion comes up in this week's pipeline review, say the last thing that person did for the deal and the date. Say it before you say anything about the relationship. It takes about 20 seconds per deal.

"Luis at Carrow Freight sent our ROI summary to his VP on October 1st and booked her review for the 9th."

If nothing from the last 30 days comes to mind, say that instead:

"Dana at Brightwater is friendly and quick to reply, but her last action for the deal was August 12th, so I'm listing her as a coach until she acts."

That one sentence tells you and your manager whether the deal has a seller inside the building or only a fan cheering from the outside.