Latest / Sales Leadership with Fexingo: Quota Carriers, Sales Managers, and Revenue Teams / How Sales Reps Can Move a Deal From Champion to Economic Buyer
Transcript
- Lucas: I want to talk about something that happens to almost every sales rep at least once a quarter. You find a champion inside the prospect company. They love your product. They're pulling for you internally. And then the deal just sits there. Luna: Right. You've got the warm handshake, the positive signals, and then nothing. The champion says 'everyone's on board,' but the signature never comes. Lucas: Exactly. And the typical rep reaction is to push harder — more follow-ups, more demos, maybe a discount. But the real issue is that the champion is almost never the economic buyer. And the rep hasn't built any direct relationship with the person who actually controls the budget. Luna: So the champion becomes a bottleneck without meaning to. Lucas: Precisely. And look — if these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, that's all we hope for. Honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, ever. Just a way for listeners who find this useful to help keep the show ad-free. Luna: Yeah, it's a small thing that makes a big difference for us. Appreciate anyone who does. Lucas: Okay, back to the bottleneck problem. The key insight is that in any deal over, say, fifty thousand dollars, there are usually three to five decision-makers. The champion is one node. But the economic buyer — often the CFO, a VP of finance, or a senior director — needs to hear the story from the rep, not just from the champion. Luna: How do you approach that without stepping on your champion's toes? I've seen reps get blocked because the champion felt undermined. Lucas: That's the art of it. You frame it as a team effort. You say something like, 'To make sure we build the strongest business case for your finance team, could we set up a brief call with your CFO together? I'll handle the ROI model, you handle the internal context.' Now the champion is part of the solution, not a gate you're trying to bypass. Luna: So you're giving the champion a reason to bring you in — you're the expert who makes them look good. Lucas: Exactly. And once you're in the room with the economic buyer, the conversation changes completely. They don't care about features. They care about payback period, implementation risk, and how this compares to other investments on their plate. Luna: That's a different skill set. Most reps are trained to sell to users, not to finance people. Lucas: It's a different language. Instead of saying 'our platform reduces manual data entry by 80 percent,' you say 'based on your team of 15 analysts, this saves approximately 600 hours per quarter, which at a fully loaded cost of sixty dollars per hour translates to thirty-six thousand dollars in annual savings. That gives you a payback period of under four months.' Luna: And you're speaking their language — dollars and months. Lucas: Right. And the second thing is to map the full decision tree early. Even before you close the champion, ask: 'Who else typically weighs in on decisions like this? What does that process look like?' If the champion says 'it's just me,' that's a red flag. In enterprise deals, it's never just one person. Luna: So you're looking for the full committee from day one. Lucas: Yes. And once you know the players, you can prioritize. Not all stakeholders are equal. The economic buyer is the most important, but there's also the technical evaluator — could be IT or security — and the end-user advocate. Each needs a different message. Luna: Let's talk about the technical evaluator. I've seen deals die in security review because the rep never talked to IT. Lucas: Classic trap. The rep assumes the champion has it covered. But IT doesn't care about ROI either — they care about compliance, data residency, integration complexity. If you don't preempt those concerns, the deal gets stuck in a 'security review' that lasts forever. Luna: So you need to proactively offer a security overview — maybe a SOC 2 report or a data flow diagram. Lucas: Exactly. And ask for the technical requirements early. 'To make sure our solution fits your environment, could you share any technical prerequisites or security questionnaires we should review?' That makes you look prepared and respectful of their process. Luna: I want to go back to the economic buyer conversation. You mentioned payback period. What about when they push back on price? Lucas: Price objections from an economic buyer are almost never about price. They're about value certainty. So don't drop price. Instead, ask: 'If we could show you how this delivers a three-times return within the first year, would that change your timeline?' Then walk through the math again, but tie it to their specific metrics. Luna: And if they still say it's too expensive? Lucas: Then you haven't built enough value. Or you're talking to the wrong person. Sometimes the 'economic buyer' you're talking to isn't the real one. I've seen deals where the VP of sales says no, but the CEO would have said yes if they'd been in the room. So always ask: 'Who else would need to sign off on a decision of this size?' Luna: That's a good multipurpose question. It uncovers the full committee and shows you're not trying to bypass anyone. Lucas: Right. And once you have that map, you can build a cadence. Maybe you meet with the champion weekly, the economic buyer monthly, and send a quarterly summary to the full group. Keep everyone informed without overwhelming them. Luna: What about the scenario where the champion is actually a blocker? They say they're supportive, but they keep delaying the next step. Lucas: That's a common pattern. The champion may be afraid that bringing in the economic buyer could expose their own poor decision-making, or they may have a hidden agenda — like they're evaluating multiple vendors and using you as leverage. In that case, you need to create a little constructive tension. Luna: How do you do that without alienating them? Lucas: You can say something like: 'I want to make sure this doesn't get stuck in internal prioritization. Would it be helpful if I put together a one-page summary for your leadership team that we could review together?' That shifts the dynamic — you're no longer waiting on them; you're offering to help them sell internally. Luna: And if they still resist? Lucas: Then you have to escalate carefully. Maybe you reach out to another stakeholder you've identified — not to go around the champion, but to 'share a relevant update.' Keep it professional. But honestly, if a champion blocks access for more than two weeks, the deal is probably already dead. You just haven't admitted it yet. Luna: That's a hard truth. Better to qualify out early than spend months on a phantom deal. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the meta-skill here: knowing when to walk away. But the framework we've talked about — map the decision tree, engage the economic buyer directly, speak their language, preempt technical blockers — that gives you a much higher probability of getting to a real yes. Luna: I think the key takeaway for me is that the champion is a starting point, not an ending point. You have to build your own bridges to the rest of the committee. Lucas: Right. And do it in a way that makes your champion look good. That's the win-win. They get internal credibility for bringing in a resource who helped close the deal, and you get the signature. Luna: Alright, I'm going to try that payback period framing on my next call with a CFO. I think I've been too focused on the features. Lucas: It takes practice. But once you see it work — the economic buyer leans in, starts asking real questions — you'll never go back to selling features to finance again.