How to set your champion up and protect the deal

It’s a story we hear all the time in product marketing. Usually preceded by a long sigh.

You’ve finally got someone inside the company who gets it. They believe in your product. They’re getting other people on board. It’s taken weeks, sometimes months, to get here.

And then… they’re gone.

They move teams. Or jobs. Or just disappear from the process.

Suddenly you’re left without an internal advocate, and a deal that felt promising now feels like it’s hanging by a thread.

We’ve seen this derail great opportunities more than once. But we’ve also seen it avoided by teams that planned ahead.

Here’s how to protect the deal from unexpected changes of personnel.

Help your champion shine

The best way to protect the deal is to set your champion up for success.

Give them something they’re proud to share, a clear, compelling story they can explain confidently in their own words. Something that helps them win internal support, not just for your solution, but for their own judgement.

When they feel confident, your message carries further. And when they look good, you do too.

Build for the room you’re not in

Product marketing isn’t about telling a good story once. It’s about making it repeatable.

If your value prop is too complicated, too jargony or too tailored to one person, it won’t travel.
You need a message that’s easy to pass on, and hard to forget.

That means clear one-pagers, internal-ready decks, and punchy explainers that don’t rely on someone being there to narrate them.

Expect the handover

People leave. Roles shift. Priorities change. If your whole approach hinges on one person, you’re exposed.

So make sure you’ve mapped the wider buying group. Give your champion the tools to brief others, and prep assets that a replacement can use without needing a 30-minute download call.

One client we worked with lost their main contact twice in a single buying process. But because they’d prepared a tight handover kit and clarified the ‘why now,’ the story held up. The deal still closed.

This is where product marketing proves its value. Not just as a storytelling function but as a risk reducer. A way to make sure your message outlives the room, the meeting, and the person who championed it in the first place.