Building Powerful Champions in MEDDPICC: Expert insights with Lisa Occleshaw

Building strong, influential Champions is one of the most critical skills in enterprise selling — and one of the hardest to master. In Episode 3 of inspir’em’s Champion Series, CEO Emma Maslen is joined by Lisa Occleshaw, UK&I Sales Director at Ping and long-time enterprise sales leader. Together they unpack what it really takes to build, develop and maintain powerful Champions who can help you navigate procurement, influence the Economic Buyer, and ultimately move deals forward.

This session is packed with practical, real-world stories about trust, influence, face-to-face engagement, working through partners, and how to turn early relationships into long-term Champions.

What you’ll learn:
✅ Why building Champions takes time — and why first-deal Champions are rare
✅ How to create trust, credibility, and personal alignment with senior stakeholders
✅ Navigating partner and SI ecosystems to build shared Champions
✅ How face-to-face engagement accelerates Champion development
✅ Strategies for working through procurement-heavy cycles and RFP blockers
✅ How sales leaders can support Champion access and EB alignment
✅ Long-term relationship building: why careers are long and Champions often follow you

About the guest:
Lisa Occleshaw is the UK & Ireland Sales Director at Ping and has held senior sales and leadership roles across IBM, SAP, and Ping over a 20-year career. Known for building high-performing teams and deep customer relationships, Lisa brings extensive experience in Champion creation, enterprise deal cycles, and strategic customer engagement.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:35 Welcome and series overview
1:20 Introducing guest: Lisa Occleshaw
2:20 Why Champions are vital in enterprise sales
3:05 The difference between coaches and Champions
4:30 Stories of true Champion influence
6:10 Why Champion building takes time
7:05 Old-fashioned methods: face-to-face and human connection
8:30 Using flattery, advice and involvement to deepen relationships
9:20 Coach vs Champion in partner & SI ecosystems
11:00 Treating partners as their own Champions
12:10 Understanding the customer chain of influence
13:30 The long-term value of relationships across your career
14:45 Key moments to prioritise Champion building
16:00 Why you might not get a Champion in the first deal
17:15 The role of sales leaders in Champion building & EB access
18:40 Creating constructive “theatre” with senior alignment
20:00 Tips for Champion building when relationships are hard to start
21:15 Dealing with procurement-owned processes and heavy RFP cycles
22:20 When to take a stand and decline an RFP
23:10 Final advice: humility, tenacity & EQ in Champion building
24:10 Wrap-up and next episode preview

If you enjoyed this episode, like, comment and subscribe to the inspir’em channel for more expert MEDDPICC content. Follow the full Champion Series to learn how to identify, test, develop and leverage Champions to close enterprise deals with control.

#MEDDPICC #MEDDIC #EnterpriseSales #SalesChampions #B2BSales
#SalesLeadership #ChampionBuilding #SalesWebinar #inspirem #EmmaMaslen