What Is B2B Champion Tracking (& How Does It Help Growth)

What is B2B Champion Tracking?

B2B champion tracking is a strategic approach to monitoring and nurturing relationships with key decision-makers within your target accounts. Identifying and engaging with champions who advocate for your solution is crucial. These champions are not only involved in the decision-making process but also actively promote your product or service within their organization.

Champion tracking involves keeping a close eye on the career movements and job changes of these key individuals. B2B sales cycles are often lengthy, and during this time, champions may move to different roles or even to new companies. Sales and marketing teams can maintain relationships with champions and continue to leverage their influence by tracking these changes, even if they have moved to another organization.

Effective champion tracking helps address a common problem in B2B sales: losing touch with key decision-makers. When a champion leaves their role, it can disrupt the sales process and set back progress. Monitoring job changes and proactively reaching out to champions in their new positions allows sales teams to maintain momentum and continue to build relationships.

Understanding the concept of B2B champion tracking is essential for sales and marketing professionals looking to optimize their pipeline and improve conversion rates. Identifying, monitoring, and nurturing relationships with champions helps teams navigate the complex B2B sales landscape more effectively. This guide aims to provide a comprehensive overview of champion tracking and its importance in B2B sales.

For more information on the broader context of B2B marketing, check out this article on B2B content marketing.

Why is B2B Champion Tracking Important?

B2B champion tracking is a critical component of any successful sales and marketing strategy. In the complex world of B2B sales, where multiple decision-makers are involved and the sales cycle can span months or even years, keeping track of your champions is essential for maintaining momentum and closing deals.

The benefits of B2B champion tracking are clear:

1. Maintain Relationships: Tracking job changes helps you maintain relationships with key decision-makers even when they move to new companies. This preserves the trust and rapport you've built.
2. Expand Your Network: When a champion moves to a new company, it opens up opportunities to expand your network and potentially gain a new customer.
3. Shorten Sales Cycles: Champion tracking helps you avoid losing progress when a key contact leaves. This shortens sales cycles and keeps deals moving forward.
4. Increase Win Rates: Staying connected to your champions increases the likelihood of winning deals. You have an advocate on the inside who understands the value you provide.

Effective B2B champion tracking has a significant impact on your bottom line. It enables you to build a robust pipeline, generate more revenue, and foster long-term relationships with your customers.

Now that we understand the importance of B2B champion tracking, let's dive into how to implement it effectively using AI and other strategies.

How to Start Champion Tracking

To effectively implement B2B champion tracking and reap its benefits, follow a structured approach. This section provides an overview of the key steps involved in the process, emphasizing the importance of a systematic method and briefly mentioning the tools and resources you'll need along the way.

The high-level steps to master B2B champion tracking are:

1. Identify Key Champions: Determine the most influential decision-makers within your target accounts who have the power to drive the sales process forward.
2. Monitor Job Changes: Keep track of your champions' career moves, promotions, and job changes to maintain a strong relationship and stay informed about their changing roles and influence.
3. Re-engage Champions: When a champion moves to a new company, promptly reach out to congratulate them and explore new opportunities for collaboration in their new role.

Following these steps allows you to build and maintain strong relationships with your champions, ensuring a smoother sales process and increasing your chances of success.

Now, let's dive into the first step of the process: identifying key champions.

Step 1: Identify Key Champions

The first crucial step in B2B champion tracking is to identify the key champions within your target accounts. These individuals have the most influence over purchasing decisions and can advocate for your product or service internally.

Start analyzing your sales data and CRM records to pinpoint your key champions. Look for contacts who have been actively engaged with your brand, such as those who have attended webinars, downloaded whitepapers, or expressed interest in your offerings. Pay special attention to decision-makers and influencers in departments that would benefit from your solution.

Consider the following criteria when identifying key champions:

• Job title and role: Focus on individuals with decision-making power or significant influence within their organization, such as C-level executives, VPs, and department heads.
• Engagement history: Prioritize contacts who have shown consistent engagement with your brand across multiple touchpoints, as they are more likely to be invested in your solution.
• Company fit: Ensure that the champion's organization aligns with your ideal customer profile in terms of industry, size, and pain points that your product or service addresses.

Leverage AI-powered tools like conversational AI for sales calls to streamline the process of identifying key champions. These tools can analyze sales conversations, identify key decision-makers, and provide insights into their pain points and interests, making it easier to pinpoint the most promising champions within your target accounts.

Create detailed profiles for each individual once you have identified your key champions. Include their contact information, role, engagement history, and any relevant notes. This information will be essential for the next step in the B2B champion tracking process: monitoring job changes.

Step 2: Monitor Job Changes

Monitoring job changes is a crucial aspect of effective B2B champion tracking. Your key champions may move to new roles within their company or even switch to a different organization altogether. Failing to keep track of these changes can lead to missed opportunities and a weakened sales pipeline.

You need to have a system in place to successfully monitor job changes. Create alerts for your key champions on professional networking sites like LinkedIn. This will notify you whenever they update their profile with a new position. You can also use AI-powered tools that scan multiple data sources and provide real-time updates on job changes.

It's essential to act promptly once you have gathered information about a job change. Update your CRM with the new contact details and note any changes in the decision-making hierarchy. Research their new role and the organization to identify potential opportunities if your champion has moved to a new company.

It's an excellent opportunity to re-engage with your champion when they move to a new company. Reach out with a personalized message, congratulating them on their new role and offering value-added insights or resources relevant to their new position. The success rate of cold calling is 4.8%, according to Cognism, but with proper research and personalization, you can significantly improve your chances of a positive response.

You can maintain strong relationships with your champions and identify new opportunities for growth by monitoring job changes and acting on the information gathered. In the next step, we'll delve deeper into re-engagement strategies to help you maximize the potential of your B2B champion tracking efforts.

Step 3: Re-engage Champions

Identifying your key champions and monitoring their job changes is crucial to re-engaging with them in their new roles. Re-engaging champions maintains the relationships you've built and ensures they continue to advocate for your products or services in their new companies.

Start re-engaging champions by reaching out with a personalized message congratulating them on their new position. Remind them of your previous interactions and the value your company provided. Offer to schedule a call or meeting to discuss how you can support them in their new role.

Focus on providing value rather than making a sales pitch when re-engaging champions. Share relevant case studies, industry insights, or educational resources that align with their new company's goals and challenges. Positioning yourself as a trusted advisor increases the likelihood of your champion continuing to advocate for your brand.

Use AI sales enablement software to streamline the re-engagement process. These tools help you personalize outreach at scale, track engagement, and provide valuable insights to guide your conversations.

Effective re-engagement strategies include:

• Sending a personalized email or LinkedIn message
• Inviting them to exclusive events or webinars
• Sharing relevant content or case studies
• Offering a free consultation or product demo
• Providing a special offer or discount for their new company

Tailor your approach based on your champion's preferences and communication style. Some may prefer email, while others may be more responsive to a phone call or in-person meeting.

Follow these steps and leverage the right tools and strategies to successfully re-engage your champions and maintain strong relationships as they move through their careers. This ongoing nurturing will help you expand your reach into new accounts and drive continued growth for your business.

Benefits of Solving the Problem This Way

Implementing an effective B2B champion tracking strategy using AI offers numerous advantages for sales and marketing teams. Following the steps outlined in this guide can lead to significant improvements in your sales pipeline and overall business growth.

One of the primary benefits of champion tracking is the ability to maintain relationships with key decision-makers, even when they change jobs. The average tenure of a sales leader is just 18 months. Monitoring job changes and re-engaging with champions at their new companies protects your sales pipeline and ensures continuity in your relationships.

Plus, AI-powered champion tracking enables you to scale your efforts efficiently. Instead of manually searching for job changes and updating your CRM, AI tools can automate the process, saving your team valuable time and resources. This allows you to focus on nurturing relationships and closing deals rather than spending hours on data entry and research.

Furthermore, effective champion tracking can lead to improved customer retention and expansion opportunities. Staying connected with your champions as they move through their careers builds long-lasting relationships that lead to referrals, upsells, and cross-sells. A study by Bain & Company found that a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25-95% increase in profits.

To start reaping the benefits of B2B champion tracking, you'll need the right resources and tools. The next section will discuss the essential resources you need to get started and succeed with your champion tracking efforts.

Additional Tips and Best Practices

To further enhance your B2B champion tracking efforts, consider these additional tips and best practices:

• Integrate champion tracking with your CRM: Connect your champion tracking solution with your CRM to ensure all relevant data is centralized and easily accessible to your sales team. This integration provides a comprehensive view of your champions and their engagement history.
• Personalize your re-engagement messages: Tailor your messages to champions who have changed jobs, focusing on their new roles and companies. Show your understanding of their current challenges and how your solution can help them succeed in their new position.
• Leverage trigger events: Monitor trigger events, such as job changes, company expansions, mergers, acquisitions, and industry-specific news or trends, to identify opportunities to re-engage with champions. Timely outreach based on relevant triggers keeps you top-of-mind with your champions.
• Collaborate with customer success teams: Work closely with your customer success teams to identify and track champions within your existing client base. These internal champions provide valuable insights, referrals, and advocacy opportunities. Regular communication between sales and customer success teams maximizes the potential of these relationships.

Be mindful of these common pitfalls:

• Over-reliance on automation: Maintain a human touch even when using AI and automation to streamline your champion tracking process. Ensure that your sales team actively nurtures relationships with champions instead of relying solely on automated messages.
• Neglecting data hygiene: Regularly clean and update your champion database to avoid reaching out to outdated or irrelevant contacts. Implement a data hygiene process to maintain the accuracy and quality of your champion data.

For experienced users looking to take their champion tracking to the next level, consider these advanced strategies:

• Implement champion scoring: Develop a scoring system to prioritize your champions based on their engagement level, influence, and likelihood to advocate for your solution. This scoring system helps your sales team focus their efforts on the most valuable champions.
• Create a champion advocacy program: Formalize your champion engagement efforts by creating an advocacy program. Include exclusive content, events, and incentives designed to nurture and reward your most active champions. Providing value and recognition transforms champions into long-term advocates for your brand.

Implementing these tips and best practices optimizes your B2B champion tracking efforts and drives more significant results for your sales pipeline.

Looking for a few free tools to get started with one-off tasks? Check out the following resources:

• Free AI Paragraph Rewriter
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These resources are perfect for getting through quick tasks, but to truly unlock the power of AI, you'll want to leverage workflows.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the difference between a champion and a decision-maker?

Champions and decision-makers are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference. A champion advocates for your product or service within their organization, while a decision-maker has the authority to make the final purchasing decision. Champions can influence decision-makers and help drive the sales process forward.

How often should I monitor job changes for my champions?

The frequency of monitoring job changes depends on your industry and sales cycle length. As a general rule, check for job changes at least once a month. However, if you have a longer sales cycle or work in an industry with high turnover rates, monitor more frequently.

What should I do if a champion leaves their company?

If a champion leaves their company, re-engage them as soon as possible. Reach out to congratulate them on their new role and explore opportunities to work together in their new organization. Additionally, identify a new champion within the previous company to maintain your relationship and continue nurturing the opportunity.

Can AI help with other aspects of sales and marketing beyond champion tracking?

Yes, AI can be applied to various areas of sales and marketing, such as lead generation, influencer marketing, content creation, and personalization. AI-powered tools can help automate repetitive tasks, analyze large datasets, and provide insights to optimize your strategies.

How does champion tracking fit into my overall sales strategy?

Champion tracking is a crucial component of a successful B2B sales strategy. Monitoring job changes and re-engaging champions helps maintain relationships, identify new opportunities, and ultimately increase your sales pipeline. Use champion tracking in conjunction with other sales techniques, such as lead nurturing, account-based marketing, and value-based selling.

Remember, B2B champion tracking is an ongoing process that requires consistent effort and attention. Leveraging AI-powered tools and following best practices streamlines your champion tracking efforts and drives better results for your sales team.