How to Map Every Person in the Decision Process Before They Surprise You.
You are mid-deal and confident you know the key players, but you have not formally mapped who touches each phase of the evaluation, approval, and signing process.
Most deals are not lost to a single decision-maker saying no. They are lost to someone you never met - a security lead, a procurement manager, a regional legal reviewer - who raises a concern late, when you have no time and no relationship to work with. The Decision Process in MEDDIC asks you to map not just who decides, but who is involved at every gate: technical validation, commercial approval, and the paper process. Each phase has different people with different concerns.
Where it goes wrong
A stakeholder you did not know about can slow or kill a deal in the final stretch. They have no relationship with you, no context for your value, and no reason to move fast. By the time you find out they exist, your champion is already apologising for the delay.
What you'll be able to do
You can systematically uncover every person involved across all three phases of the customer's buying process, so no one appears as a surprise in the final weeks.
How to do it
Ask your champion to walk you through the last
Ask your champion to walk you through the last time their company bought something of similar size and complexity. Who was involved at each stage? What slowed it down?
Map the deal in three columns
Map the deal in three columns: technical evaluation, commercial approval, paper and signature. For each column, ask who participates, who can block, and what they need to say yes.
Get to named individuals, not departments
Get to named individuals, not departments. 'Legal will review it' is not enough. 'Marcus in legal, usually takes ten days, needs a redline and a DPA addendum' is what you need.
Ask directly about committees and scheduled meetings
Ask directly about committees and scheduled meetings: 'Are there any steering groups or approval boards this needs to pass through? When do they meet next?'
Once you have the map, share it with your
Once you have the map, share it with your champion and ask: 'Is there anyone here who could slow this down or raise a concern we have not addressed yet?'
See the difference
Rep knows the economic buyer and the main champion. Assumes legal is straightforward. In week seven, an InfoSec lead the rep has never spoken to requests a full penetration test report and a completed vendor risk questionnaire. The deal slips by six weeks.
Rep asks the champion: 'Last time you bought a platform like this, who else got pulled in before you could sign?' Champion mentions IT architecture, InfoSec, and a regional procurement lead in Dublin. Rep asks for names, typical timelines, and what each person needs. Rep builds a stakeholder map with three columns and shares it back: 'Here is what I have - does this look right? Anyone missing?' Champion adds the CFO's EA who coordinates the final signature. Rep reaches out to InfoSec two weeks earlier than planned with the security pack already prepared.
You can systematically uncover every person involved across all three phases of the customer's buying process, so no one appears as a surprise in the final week
How you'll know it's working
You have got it when you can name a specific person, their role, and their typical timeline for every gate in the customer's buying process - and there are no blanks.
Questions people ask
How do you map every person in the decision process before they surprise you?
Most deals are not lost to a single decision-maker saying no. They are lost to someone you never met - a security lead, a procurement manager, a regional legal reviewer - who raises a concern late, when you have no time and no relationship to work with. You can systematically uncover every person involved across all three phases of the customer's buying process, so no one appears as a surprise in the final weeks.
What is the most common mistake to avoid?
A stakeholder you did not know about can slow or kill a deal in the final stretch. They have no relationship with you, no context for your value, and no reason to move fast.
Hire with Assessment.
£7-10k flat fee. The methodology, delivered.
See Hire with Assessment