Companies don't sign six-figure contracts to solve one person's frustrations. To justify a large purchase, you must anchor the sale to tangible business outcomes. Frame discovery questions around the company's goals, not just an individual champion's personal pain points.

An enthusiastic champion often rushes to pitch a solution internally, only to be shut down. Slow them down using 'commercial coaching'—sharing stories of how similar deals failed. This helps them understand the importance of first aligning the buying group on the problem.

"Pull" (strong customer demand) is more crucial in enterprise sales than in SMB. A champion needs immense motivation to push a deal through complex procurement, legal, and committee approvals. Without strong pull, the deal will stall due to internal friction and extended timelines.

A single champion cannot carry a nine-figure deal across the finish line. Winning requires building a "demand plan" by systematically creating champions within each major line of business. These stakeholders must be prepped to advocate for the deal's value when the C-suite inevitably questions the massive investment.

Late in a deal, a team met a Global SVP who had different priorities than the champion. Instead of forcing it, the AE pivoted. They worked with the champion to find a new executive sponsor (a Mid-Market VP) whose business needs aligned, ultimately saving the deal.

A 'champion' likes your product, but a 'coach' has the internal experience and political capital to navigate procurement, legal, and other departments. To qualify a coach, confirm they have successfully managed similar complex projects in the past and can protect you from internal minefields.

Sales cycles often lengthen not because of lost interest, but because your internal champion feels embarrassed to repeatedly ask you for information needed for other stakeholders. Proactive multi-threading and enablement prevents this friction and keeps the deal moving.

Enterprise deals often stall in procurement or legal, not with the business champion. From the start of a POC, identify and build relationships with stakeholders in these departments. Parallelize legal paperwork with technical validation to prevent late-stage delays and shorten sales cycles.

Corporate development teams prioritize financial metrics like IRR, which can kill a strategically sound deal. To succeed, sellers must get an internal sponsor from a business unit who has a strategic "hole to fill." This operator becomes the champion who advocates for the deal's value.