By Michael K. Adonteng

September 1st, 2026

Building Champions: Why Your Deal Dies When One Person Leaves the Room

The decision on your deal is rarely made in a meeting you attend.

It’s made in a corridor conversation. A budget meeting three floors up. A room you’ll never enter.

Whoever is representing your case in those rooms is doing more to determine the outcome than your next scheduled call with them.

That person is your champion.

And the difference between a strong champion and a warm contact isn’t enthusiasm.

It’s capability.

Enthusiasm Is Not Enablement

Most sellers can identify their champion easily. The person who responds fastest and says encouraging things at the end of every call.

Fewer stop to ask a harder question.

Has this person actually been equipped to defend the deal to a sceptical CFO?

Enthusiasm without ammunition is fragile. It survives an easy conversation and collapses the moment someone pushes back with a real objection.

What a Champion Actually Needs From You

A business case they can present in your absence. Built around this account’s specific numbers. In language, finance will accept without needing you to translate it.

Answers to the objections they’ll actually face internally, not the ones raised to you directly.

A champion is rarely challenged on features. They’re challenged on budget timing, switching risk, why now rather than next year.

If they haven’t rehearsed those answers with you, they’ll improvise under pressure.

And improvisation loses deals.

A clear escalation path. Permission and language to bring you into the conversation at the right moment, rather than carrying the whole internal sale alone.

The Transformation Narrative

The most effective champions carry a simple story into the boardroom.

Current state. The operational problems and risks, as the business actually experiences them.

Future state. What the organization looks like once those problems are solved.

Your solution, positioned as the enabler of that transformation.

Executives don’t approve products. They approve business outcomes.

This Week

For your most advanced active deal, write down the last three objections your champion has actually faced internally. Not the ones raised to you.

If you don’t know, that’s this week’s gap to close.

Final Thought

A champion is not equipped with enthusiasm. They are equipped by preparation for the objections you will never hear directly.

If you’d like the Champion Enablement Deck guideline and template, request it and we’ll share the structure used in enterprise B2B deals.

Explore our articles section for other topics of interest.

Michael K. Adonteng
Founder, ASA 

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