I need my champions selling for us in rooms I may not be in.

I need my champions selling for us in rooms I may not be in.

A champion who likes your team will take your call. A champion whose career improved because of your work will tell your story to their boss, their peers and their industry.

Five questions to see if your team can do this job today:

1. Has your team solved a problem that mattered to your champion personally and professionally?
2. Is your delivery consistent enough that your champion wants to share it?
3. Have you given your champion the proof points and case studies to tell your story in their own words?
4. Does your team know the venues where your champion's voice carries the most weight?
5. Does every referral your champion makes get the same quality, so their reputation stays protected?

Two or more no's, and your champions may be fans who never sell for you.

A few years ago, we were working with a champion at a large life sciences organization. Her department had been devastated by attrition and turnover, and her existing vendor relationships had not been able to solve the problem.

We helped her solve it. Within six months, we had placed close to 50 people in her department and brought her team back to full capacity.

That experience turned her into an advocate. She started by telling her boss, the economic buyer, who began putting in a good word for us at other institutions in their network.

Then her industry's national trade organization, representing over 100 institutions, invited her to present at its largest annual conference. She used our partnership as a case study. We didn't ask her to do this. She volunteered because she believed in what we had done together. She sold it better than I could have after 28 years in the business.

We eventually worked with roughly 50% of the institutions in that industry, including all of the top-tier organizations. One champion, one advocacy moment at the right venue, opened an entire market.

Your best advocates are not the ones who like you the most. They are the ones whose careers or organizations were measurably improved because of your partnership.

Our system, the Vitality Index, gives your key account teams a growth strategy and the plan to run it across 21 growth drivers, including customer advocacy, status with champion and brand leverage. It shows where they stand today, the work it takes to level up, and how to do it, until they reach a vital partnership that lasts.

Whose career has your team measurably improved, and could they tell your story without you?

We built a free, 4-minute Key Account Risk Assessment. It gives you a risk score for your key accounts across team alignment, account planning, account transitions, and visibility. Link in the comments.