Who are the hidden blockers?

The last in the series of key questions to ask your Champion. (Next week: try firing your prospect!)

When your Champion is selling internally, they may forget the wider complexity of the purchase. Ensuring their management line is happy does not necessarily overcome all the internal challenges. If the product requires IT integration, how will that team react? Can the security team veto the solution? Is there a procurement process which will delay or even kill the deal? Who is responsible for any change management steps to get the organisation operating differently? And sometimes it is somebody who is supporting a different solution.

Many Champions are infrequent purchasers. They may not understand the processes or the politics. We need to coach them to uncover any landmines.

What was the process last time you acquired a solution of this scale?

It’s much better to ask for concrete examples from the past than ask the generic question about how their purchasing process works. You may find they’ve never purchased anything before – in which case, strategise with them about how they will understand the process. Who will they ask? How will they validate what they hear?

If they do have a good understanding, ask about any gaps. “You didn’t mention IT, how did they engage with the previous project?” Don’t hesitate to ask because you don’t want bad news – it will come up sooner or later, and the earlier you know, the better.

My VP has asked me to map out the detailed process from here to deployment, can you help me fill in how procurement, security, IT and legal will engage?

Sometimes it’s helpful to show that you have internal pressures – in this case “my VP” – your Champion needs to support you as well as you supporting them. By listing as many relevant functions as possible, you will hopefully jog their memories and avoid any gaps.

Note that the question says “from here to deployment”. By focusing on deployment, we are focusing on when they get value, not on the contract signature.