Stakeholder Map
Definition
A structured picture of the people involved in a buying decision: who champions, who blocks, who holds budget, who evaluates technically, and what each cares about. SEs use it to pitch at the right altitude — a deep-dive aimed at the wrong stakeholder loses the room in minutes.
What to record against each person
- What their quarter is judged on. This predicts their objections better than their title does.
- Tenure and previous employer. Someone who joined six months ago from a competitor's customer arrives with assumptions already formed.
- What they lose if this goes wrong. Risk exposure explains behaviour that looks irrational from outside.
- Whether they can say no on their own. Most people in an evaluation can block; far fewer can approve.
The distinction people skip
A champion is not someone who likes the product. It is someone who has spent internal capital arguing for it and who will look wrong if it fails. Enthusiasm is cheap; exposure is the signal. Mapping the two separately stops a friendly evaluator being mistaken for a sponsor.
Where it comes from
Most of it is public — org changes, tenure, prior roles. The part that is not public is the champion's internal risk, and that can only be asked for, once you have given them a reason to answer honestly.
Related terms
Further reading
See how this works on a real deal
WinIQ turns RFPs, competitor data and account research into deal-specific output your SEs can defend.
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