What is Product Champion
A Product Champion is an internal advocate within an organization who actively promotes and supports a specific product or solution, ensuring its success by driving adoption and alignment across teams. They act as the key motivator and liaison between product development and end-users, often influencing strategic decisions and championing the product’s value. Learn more about Product Champions.
Why Product Champions Matter in 2026
In 2026, the role of Product Champions has become increasingly vital in B2B SaaS companies due to the complex nature of product ecosystems and buyer journeys. They bridge the gap between technical teams and end-users, ensuring product features are well understood and effectively utilized, which enhances customer satisfaction and retention. Their advocacy accelerates internal alignment, speeds up product adoption, and drives user feedback loops that refine product development. Without Product Champions, companies risk slow product uptake and missed strategic opportunities in competitive markets.
How to Implement Product Champion Programs: Key Steps
Implementing an effective Product Champion program starts with identifying enthusiastic and influential team members who demonstrate a strong understanding of the product and its benefits. Next, empower these individuals with exclusive training, resources, and early product insights to enable them to advocate credibly within the organization and to customers. Establish clear communication channels between Product Champions and product teams to facilitate the flow of feedback and success stories. Regularly recognize and reward their efforts, and monitor program impact through adoption metrics and internal surveys to continuously optimize the initiative.
3 Real-World Examples of Product Champions in B2B
1. Salesforce appoints power users within client organizations who act as Product Champions to drive feature adoption and deliver product training internally, resulting in higher user engagement and satisfaction.
2. HubSpot identifies product-savvy marketing professionals across departments who champion new tools and integrations, facilitating faster rollout and increased ROI.
3. Zendesk empowers customer success managers as Product Champions, enabling them to advocate for product enhancements based on direct user feedback while ensuring customers maximize value from the solution.
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How do you identify a potential product champion within a prospect organization?
Look for individuals who ask insightful questions, share organizational challenges your product could solve, and demonstrate enthusiasm about your solution's potential impact. Pay attention to those who proactively introduce you to other stakeholders or request additional resources to share internally with their team. Potential champions often reveal themselves by discussing how your product aligns with their personal goals or career advancement, not just organizational objectives. They typically engage beyond formal meetings, following up with questions and exploring use cases specific to their environment. The strongest champions usually have both the influence to drive change and a genuine problem your product can solve.
How can sales teams effectively nurture and support product champions?
Sales teams can nurture product champions by regularly sharing industry insights and product updates that help champions look knowledgeable to their peers. Schedule exclusive briefings or early access opportunities to make champions feel valued and invested in your solution's success. Provide champions with internal-facing materials like ROI calculators, case studies, and presentation templates they can use to build consensus within their organization. Recognize their contributions through testimonial opportunities or customer advisory board invitations. Always maintain responsive communication channels so champions know they can count on your support when advocating for your solution.
What's the difference between a product champion and an executive sponsor?
A product champion is an internal advocate who personally believes in your solution and drives adoption from within the customer organization, while an executive sponsor is a high-ranking stakeholder who provides formal authority, budget approval, and strategic alignment. Champions operate at the ground level, actively promoting daily usage and gathering user feedback, whereas sponsors provide top-down support and remove organizational barriers. Both roles are complementary in B2B sales—champions build grassroots momentum while executive sponsors enable formal decision-making and resource allocation. For complex sales cycles, identifying both champions and sponsors significantly increases your chances of successful implementation and long-term retention.
