GM. It's Tuesday.
A few weeks ago we covered multi-threading — why you need conversations at multiple levels of the buying committee.
This week is about the system that keeps that execution from falling apart.
You've done the discovery work.
You know the stakeholders.
You've multi-threaded the buying committee.
So why do deals still slip?
Why do follow-ups get forgotten?
Why does someone always ask, "Did we already cover this with Finance?"
The problem isn't discovery.
It's visibility.
Most teams don’t have it.
A quick example
One team we reviewed had a $420K deal in late-stage proposal.
On paper, everything looked aligned.
But when we mapped the account:
The CFO had never seen an ROI case
Legal hadn’t been engaged at all
The champion hadn’t been contacted in 12 days
The deal wasn’t blocked.
It was fragmented.
They built a simple account map, re-engaged each stakeholder with relevant context, and closed the deal three weeks later.
Nothing changed in the product.
Execution did.
What an Account Map Actually Does
An account map solves three problems simultaneously:
1. Institutional Knowledge
Right now, deal knowledge lives in one person’s head.
When that rep gets pulled away, the deal slows — silently.
An account map makes the deal transferable.
Anyone can step in and know what’s been said, what matters, and what’s next.
2. Stakeholder Blindness
Most deals don’t die because of objections.
They die because someone wasn’t included.
Finance appears late.
Legal blocks progress.
An influencer kills the deal behind the scenes.
An account map forces you to surface stakeholders early — before they surface themselves.
3. Message Fragmentation
Different stakeholders hear different stories.
Product talks implementation.
Sales talks value.
No one talks ROI to finance.
The result: misalignment.
An account map keeps messaging coordinated.
The Core Structure
A working account map has five elements:
1. Stakeholder List
Name, title, role.
Economic buyer, technical evaluator, mobilizer, sponsor, influencer.
Know who they are.
2. Their Concerns
Not generic.
What did they actually say?
“CFO needs 6-month ROI and minimal disruption.”
Specifics drive execution.
3. What They’ve Heard
When did they last hear from you?
What did you send?
Was it relevant?
If not, you’re not executing — you’re hoping.
4. Engagement Level
High, medium, low.
Who’s moving the deal?
Who’s passive?
Who’s missing entirely?
This is where deals break.
5. Next Step
For each stakeholder:
What happens next?
When?
Why?
If you don’t know, the deal doesn’t have momentum.
How to Build It (Fast)
No template needed.
20 minutes.
Step 1: List everyone involved
Step 2: Write what each cares about
Step 3: Note last interaction
Step 4: Define next step
Done.
Where It Actually Wins Deals
The map itself doesn’t matter.
Usage does.
High-performing teams use it like this:
Weekly reviews: What changed? Who’s stale?
Before calls: What did this person hear last?
Team handoffs: Everyone stays aligned
Risk detection: Gaps show up immediately
One pattern we see consistently:
When 2–3 stakeholders go untouched for 10+ days, deal velocity drops sharply.
The map shows this early.
Red Flags Your Map Will Surface
Once you build one, problems become obvious:
One stakeholder dominates all touchpoints
Finance or legal hasn’t been engaged
“Next step” = vague follow-up
One contact represents multiple roles
These aren’t small issues.
They’re deal killers.
This Week's Move
Pick your top deal.
Spend 20 minutes building a real account map.
Not perfect.
Accurate.
Then share it with your manager or peer and ask:
“What am I missing?”
You’ll find blind spots fast.
By next week, your top 5 deals should all have maps.
That’s the difference between:
Reps who own deals
and…
reps who react to them.
Pipeline Playbook drops every Tuesday and Friday. Forward this to a sales leader who needs this, or send them to pipelineplaybook.co/subscribe. (but I’d recommend using the referral link ☝️)
— Pipeline Playbook