In this presentation, the speaker outlines a repeatable, engineered process for moving a sales champion to the economic buyer in B2B transactions. The framework consists of five core steps: (1) introduce a structured evaluation framework to the champion, teaching them how and when to involve the economic buyer; (2) set a "double upfront agreement" that defines the purpose of the next call while still on the current call; (3) execute a value‑first, qualification‑second motion, establishing tangible value before probing the buying process; (4) when seeking access to power, uncover the full series of evaluation steps the buyer will take and negotiate the sequencing to pull the economic buyer forward; and (5) if persistent push‑back occurs, decide whether to continue pursuing the deal or walk away. Throughout, the speaker provides concrete script snippets, slide examples from his own organization (P Club), and practical tips such as avoiding the term "economic buyer" with prospects. The talk emphasizes proactive leadership, clear framing of next steps, and the importance of executive sponsorship for successful deployment.
Chapters
Today we are going to learn how to systematically engineer the path to power. Okay. This is a repeatable engineered path to the economic buyer. And I just want to warn you right now, this is going to get dense. I need you to follow along with me. If you were clicking around in the background, now is the time to pay the most attention today. We're talking about engineering the path from champion to economic buyer. Now, here's what that path looks like. Step 1 is to introduce the evaluation framework when the time is right. Teach your champion how to evaluate, what the steps typically look like, including when and where the economic buyer needs to be engaged. Teach them how to buy. Number 2 is you set a double upfront agreement. I'll show you what that means word for word, but instead of just setting the purpose of the call you're on, You set the purpose of the next call, and that will set you up to get access to power. I'll show you what that means in just a second. Number 3, you then execute this motion, and the principle is to establish value first, qualify second. You cannot ask about buying process or access to power until you've first shown value. This is why I've hammered home, you've got to activate people. Step 4, as you ask power, ask for power, you may get a little bit of pushback. So now your job is to uncover the full series of steps your buyer would need to take and then negotiate the sequencing of those steps. I'll show you what I mean in a second. And step 5 is if you continue to get pushback, you've got to either draw the line or live to regret it. You've got to make a choice. Do you want to pursue this deal? Eyes wide open, knowing you might just waste a metric shit ton of time. As long as you're okay with that risk, go forward. So I'm going to go a little slower. Just write yes if you're still with me so far. If this is making sense, we'll get into some of the tactics. I just want to make sure we're intuitively grasping this. Good. So let's start with the first couple. The first thing you're going to do is teach your champion how to evaluate, which includes when, why, and how to involve the economic buyer. You are prescribing the buying process. I'm not saying you have to be rigid, right? That's not today's takeaway. I am saying you're going to demonstrate leadership by showing here's how this typically goes and here's when, why, and how to involve the quote unquote economic buyer. Pro tip: don't actually say the words economic buyer to your buyer. Economic buyer is an internal piece of language. Okay. Teach your champion how to evaluate. This is how I do it. This is the exact slide with a few things kind of obfuscated that we use here at P Club when we're selling to revenue organizations. Typically, we'll do this at the end of the first or second call with the champion. And we'll explain, here's where you are right now. If we want this to be successful, We need to follow a proven process because if we deploy this and we don't follow the process that I'm prescribing here, you're going to have deployment problems. You're going to have adoption problems. And so one of the next steps that we're going to want to take is alignment with, in my case, the Chief Revenue Officer. Okay, because we're going to need that exec sponsorship if this is going to be successful. If there isn't exec sponsorship, this isn't going to work. Now, this is my example. I'm not saying use exactly what I have. I'm using this as a demonstration of how you should teach your buyer to evaluate. So just write yes if you've started to connect those dots in your head and on what that could look like for your world, even though I'm using an example that's specific to me. Good. And so I mentioned a few minutes ago that while you do this, you're going to use a double upfront agreement. What that means is you're setting the expectations of the next call in advance of that call even happening. You do that while you're on the current call. And so while I'm voicing over this slide here on the left that I just shared with you, that talk track might sound something like this, right? After you explain the evaluation framework, you say, as you can see, we've done this a lot and we can guide you through a clear go/no-go process. Now, soon, as you can see, is it's going to make sense to talk to your CXO because the success of this potential deployment will depend on their executive sponsorship. But for now, before we get there, let's just talk about the next call between you and me. The purpose of the next call is to decide whether we're ready to expand the conversation to additional people on your end. So the next call is just going to be you and me, but the point of that call is to decide whether we're going to loop in other people. So at the end of the call, we'll make that decision together. Does it make sense to do that and take the next step? Or does it make sense to not and part way as friends, at least for now? Is that a fair ask? Now, keep in mind, I'm on one call setting the frame for the next call so that now when I get on the next call and I do whatever work is being asked of me, like a demo or presentation, The buyer knows that the decision I'm holding them accountable for at the end of that call is, are we quote unquote getting access to power or not? Okay, right. So take some screenshots if this part resonates with you, but write yes in the chat if you're getting this, if you can see where this would be powerful for you and repeatable for you. Good, good, good, good. Okay. Now, as you are doing that, as you're going through this path to power, it would be naive of me to tell you it's going to work smoothly every single time. And so when you get to the end of that next call, you've done your demo or whatever. If you don't get their immediate agreement, you are now going to negotiate. Sequence of steps that you're going to take together. You're going to uncover the total series of steps that they would need to evaluate and then negotiate the order in which you execute those, pulling the economic buyer forward as soon as they will allow it to happen. And you use this question, you get your pushback and you say, okay, well, let's take a step back. What steps do you think you and your organization need to take to make a confident evaluation of this. And you're not just talking about the next step. You are talking about the series of steps between today and a potential partnership. It doesn't have to be fully detailed, but you need the overview. So your job is to uncover the steps, and they might say something like this. Well, first I'd need to feel comfortable with X part of your solution. Okay, we can do that. Then John, Mary, and Jane her peers would need to weigh in. Okay, we'd probably want to run a 2-week proof of concept. Okay, Loretta would be the final approver. In this case, Loretta is the economic buyer. You can see why I would put risky here. Loretta would be the final approver. You mean I'm going to go build consensus with John, Mary, and Jane and run a 2-week proof of concept and then hope Loretta approves that at the end? Now, that's not how I would say it to a buyer, but that's what's going through my head. And then they'll say something like, then of course, legal, security, etc. And you say, when they give you the full path, you say, that I can agree to. The only thing I'd ask is this. And now you suggest the sequencing and you explain why that sequencing needs to happen. In this case, I would say, I think we need to get Loretta's alignment before we run any sort of pilot and before we do deep consensus building with John, Mary, and Jane. And now you're negotiating. Okay, it doesn't have to be perfect, but your general ethos is to pull the economic buyer alignment meeting as soon as they will allow it. Write yes in the chat if you're with me on this, if you're understanding what I'm talking about here. Okay. Good. So the key takeaway again is that 90% of champions believe their boss's role in the buying process is approval at the end. So if you don't guide this path to power, they'll automatically default to just assuming that's the case and waiting for the end for the deal to blow up after you've done a ton of work.
