5 important elements of stakeholder mapping in B2B sales

Introduction

The B2B buying landscape has fundamentally changed. A typical buying group for a complex B2B solution now involves six to ten decision makers—each with their own priorities, concerns, and influence over the final decision. Miss one critical stakeholder, and your deal stalls. Engage the wrong person too early, and you burn credibility.

This is why stakeholder mapping in B2B sales isn't optional—it's the foundation of consistent deal execution. When done right, stakeholder mapping transforms how your team navigates complex buying committees, builds consensus, and closes larger deals with predictable velocity.

In this guide, we'll break down the five core elements of stakeholder mapping: identifying stakeholders, understanding their roles and motivations, mapping influence and relationships, developing targeted engagement plans, and maintaining your stakeholder map throughout the sales cycle. By the end, you'll have a clear, repeatable framework for multi-threading every opportunity in your pipeline.

Let's dive in!

What is Stakeholder Mapping in B2B Sales?

Stakeholder mapping in B2B sales is the systematic process of identifying, organizing, and tracking every member of a buyer's decision-making committee. It answers three critical questions for every deal: Who are the key players? What do they care about? And how much influence do they have over the final decision?

A complete stakeholder map includes each person's role, reporting structure, sentiment toward your solution, level of engagement, and strategic importance to the deal. This visibility enables your team to execute targeted, multi-threaded outreach—ensuring you're building relationships with the right people at the right time, rather than relying on a single champion or hoping the right stakeholders surface on their own.

Why stakeholder mapping matters:

Without a structured approach to stakeholder mapping, deals slip through the cracks. You miss blockers until it's too late. You over-invest in low-influence contacts. You lose deals to "no decision" because you never built consensus across the full buying committee. According to Forrester research, 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process. Stakeholder mapping eliminates these blind spots by making buying committee coverage a measurable, enforceable part of your sales process.

Element 1: Identifying Key Stakeholders

The first step in stakeholder mapping is knowing who to map. In complex B2B sales, buying committees include multiple stakeholder types—each with distinct roles, priorities, and levels of influence. Missing even one critical stakeholder can derail an otherwise solid opportunity.

Common Stakeholder Types in B2B Sales

Here are the core stakeholder archetypes you'll encounter in most B2B buying committees:

• Economic Buyer: The person who controls the budget and makes the final financial decision. They care about ROI, cost justification, and whether the investment aligns with broader business priorities. Typically a CFO, VP of Finance, or department head with P&L responsibility.
• Technical Evaluator: The person responsible for assessing whether your solution integrates with existing systems, meets security requirements, and can be implemented without disruption. Often an IT manager, security lead, or technical architect.
• Champion: An internal advocate who believes in your solution and actively promotes it within their organization. Champions help you navigate internal politics, surface objections early, and build momentum with other stakeholders.
• End User: The people who will use your product day-to-day. Their feedback on usability, workflow fit, and feature requirements heavily influences the decision, even if they don't have final approval authority.
• Influencer: Someone whose opinion carries weight with decision makers—often due to expertise, seniority, or past experience with similar solutions. They may not have formal authority, but their endorsement (or skepticism) can make or break a deal.
• Blocker: A stakeholder who can slow down or kill a deal, either due to competing priorities, risk aversion, or preference for an alternative solution. Common blockers include compliance officers, procurement teams, and department heads with veto power.
• Decision Maker: The person with final sign-off authority. In enterprise deals, this is often a C-level executive or senior VP who weighs input from the full buying committee before making the call.
• Gatekeeper: Someone who controls access to decision makers and influencers. Executive assistants, chiefs of staff, and department managers often play this role—and building rapport with them can accelerate your deal.
• Signer: The person who has legal authority to execute contracts. This may be the same as the economic buyer or decision maker, but in larger organizations, it's often a separate role (e.g., VP of Procurement, General Counsel).

How to Identify Stakeholders

Once you understand the stakeholder types, the next step is finding the specific people who fill these roles in each target account. Here's how to do it systematically:

1. Start with your champion or initial contact

Ask your champion directly: "Who else needs to be involved in this decision?" and "Who has input on [budget/technical requirements/implementation]?" Champions often know the full buying committee and can help you map reporting lines and influence.

2. Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Search for relevant job titles within your target account (e.g., "CFO," "VP of IT," "Director of Operations"). Review profiles to understand reporting structure, tenure, and areas of focus. Look for recent promotions or role changes that might signal shifting priorities.

3. Leverage enrichment platforms

Tools like Apollo and ZoomInfo provide verified contact details, org charts, and role-based insights. Use these platforms to fill gaps in your stakeholder map and identify decision makers you might not surface through LinkedIn alone.

4. Review company websites and leadership pages

Most B2B companies list their executive team and department heads publicly. Cross-reference these names with LinkedIn to confirm roles and find additional contacts within each department.

5. Automate stakeholder discovery with Accord Intelligence

Accord Intelligence uses your ICP, personas, and deal context to automatically recommend the right stakeholders for each opportunity—eliminating manual research and ensuring you're covering the full buying committee from day one.

The goal isn't just to build a list of names—it's to systematically identify every person who has input, influence, or authority over the decision, so you can engage them strategically throughout the sales cycle.

Element 2: Understanding Stakeholder Roles and Motivations

Identifying stakeholders is only half the battle. To engage them effectively, you need to understand what drives their decision-making—what they care about, what keeps them up at night, and what success looks like from their perspective.

Why Stakeholder Motivations Matter

Different stakeholders evaluate your solution through completely different lenses. The CFO cares about ROI and budget impact. The IT lead cares about security and integration complexity. The end user cares about ease of use and day-to-day workflow. If you pitch the same value prop to all three, you'll lose credibility with at least two of them.

Understanding stakeholder motivations allows you to tailor your messaging, anticipate objections, and build a business case that resonates with each person's priorities. This is how top reps build consensus across complex buying committees—they speak the language of each stakeholder, not just their champion.

Common Stakeholder Motivations by Role

Here's what typically drives each stakeholder type:

• Economic Buyer (CFO, VP of Finance): Focused on financial impact—ROI, payback period, cost avoidance, and budget allocation. They need to see a clear business case showing that moving forward makes financial sense, and that not moving forward has a measurable cost.
• Technical Evaluator (IT, Security, Engineering): Concerned with risk, integration, and operational feasibility. They want to know if your solution is secure, compatible with existing systems, and easy to implement without disrupting current workflows.
• Champion (Internal Advocate): Motivated by solving a specific problem they've experienced firsthand or advancing a strategic initiative they own. They need ammunition to sell your solution internally—case studies, ROI data, and objection-handling talk tracks.
• End User (Frontline Team Members): Cares about usability, time savings, and whether your solution makes their job easier or harder. They're often skeptical of "another tool" and need proof that adoption won't be a burden.
• Influencer (Senior Leader, Subject Matter Expert): Driven by strategic alignment and risk mitigation. They want to know if your solution supports broader company goals and whether you're a credible, stable vendor.
• Blocker (Compliance, Procurement, Competing Department): Motivated by risk avoidance, process adherence, and protecting their own priorities. They need reassurance that your solution won't create new problems or disrupt existing initiatives.

How to Gather Stakeholder Intelligence

Once you've identified your stakeholders, here's how to learn what motivates them:

1. Review LinkedIn profiles

Look for career history, areas of expertise, and recent posts or articles. This gives you context on their priorities and talking points that build rapport.

2. Listen to podcasts and watch interviews

Many senior leaders share their perspectives on industry podcasts, webinars, and conference panels. These conversations reveal what they care about and how they think about strategic decisions. (Need a starting point? Check out our Revenue Execution podcast for revenue leaders.)

3. Read earnings reports and investor updates

For publicly traded companies, earnings calls and investor presentations highlight financial priorities, strategic initiatives, and areas of concern. Use this intel to align your pitch with what the business is focused on right now.

4. Explore company blogs and press releases

Company blogs often feature thought leadership from key executives, giving you insight into their priorities and how they communicate internally. Press releases reveal recent initiatives, partnerships, and strategic shifts.

5. Ask your champion

Your champion knows the internal dynamics better than anyone. Ask them: "What does [stakeholder name] care most about?" and "What concerns might they have about this decision?" Use their insights to refine your approach.

The goal is to build a profile for each stakeholder that goes beyond job title—capturing their motivations, concerns, and decision-making criteria so you can engage them with precision.

Element 3: Mapping Stakeholder Influence and Relationships

Not all stakeholders carry equal weight in the decision. Some have formal authority. Others have informal influence. Some are aligned with your champion. Others are skeptical or actively opposed. Mapping these dynamics is critical for prioritizing your outreach and navigating internal politics.

Why Influence Mapping Matters

In complex B2B sales, the org chart doesn't tell the full story. A VP might have formal authority, but if the CEO trusts a specific director's opinion, that director becomes the real decision maker. A champion might be enthusiastic, but if they lack credibility with the economic buyer, their advocacy won't move the deal forward.

Influence mapping helps you understand who actually drives the decision—not just who has the title. It also reveals relationships between stakeholders: who reports to whom, who trusts whom, and where potential conflicts or alliances exist. This visibility allows you to sequence your outreach strategically, leveraging positive relationships and addressing skepticism before it becomes a blocker.

Common Stakeholder Mapping Models

There are several frameworks for mapping stakeholder influence. Here are the most practical for B2B sales:

Power/Interest Grid

The Power/Interest Grid categorizes stakeholders based on two dimensions: their level of power (ability to influence the decision) and their level of interest (how much they care about the outcome).

How it works:

• High Power, High Interest: Key players who need close, ongoing engagement. These are your priority stakeholders—keep them informed, address their concerns proactively, and ensure they're aligned with your solution.
• High Power, Low Interest: Stakeholders who can influence the decision but aren't actively engaged. Keep them satisfied with periodic updates, but don't over-invest in frequent touchpoints.
• Low Power, High Interest: Stakeholders who care deeply but lack formal authority. Keep them informed and leverage their enthusiasm to build momentum, but don't rely on them to drive the decision.
• Low Power, Low Interest: Minimal engagement required. Monitor them for changes in interest or influence, but don't prioritize them in your outreach plan.

When to use it: The Power/Interest Grid is ideal for prioritizing stakeholders early in the sales cycle and allocating your time and resources efficiently.

RACI Matrix

RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. While typically used for project management, it's useful in stakeholder mapping for clarifying who owns what in the buying process.

How it works:

• Responsible: The person doing the work (e.g., running the technical evaluation, building the business case).
• Accountable: The person with final decision authority (e.g., the economic buyer or decision maker).
• Consulted: Stakeholders whose input is required before a decision is made (e.g., IT, legal, end users).
• Informed: Stakeholders who need to be kept in the loop but don't have direct input (e.g., adjacent department heads).

When to use it: Use the RACI Matrix when you need to clarify roles and responsibilities within the buying committee, especially in deals with formal evaluation processes or cross-functional decision-making.

Salience Model

The Salience Model categorizes stakeholders based on three attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. This model helps you identify which stakeholders require immediate attention versus those who can be managed over time.

How it works:

• Power: The stakeholder's ability to influence the decision.
• Legitimacy: The stakeholder's formal role or relationship to the decision.
• Urgency: The stakeholder's need for immediate attention or action.

Stakeholder categories:

• Definitive Stakeholders (Power + Legitimacy + Urgency): Your top priority—engage them immediately and keep them closely aligned.
• Dominant Stakeholders (Power + Legitimacy): Important stakeholders who should be managed closely, even if urgency is low.
• Dependent Stakeholders (Legitimacy + Urgency): Stakeholders who need your solution but lack power—leverage them to build internal momentum.
• Dangerous Stakeholders (Power + Urgency): Stakeholders who can derail your deal if not managed carefully—address their concerns early.

When to use it: The Salience Model is useful for complex, multi-stakeholder deals where you need to prioritize engagement based on shifting dynamics and urgency.

Stakeholder Relationship Mapping

Stakeholder Relationship Mapping visualizes the connections between stakeholders—who reports to whom, who influences whom, and where alliances or conflicts exist.

How it works:

1. List all stakeholders in the buying committee.
2. Draw lines between stakeholders to represent reporting relationships, influence, and communication channels.
3. Identify key influencers—stakeholders who have outsized impact on others' opinions.
4. Note sentiment and alignment for each stakeholder (e.g., champion, neutral, skeptical, blocker).

When to use it: Use Relationship Mapping when you need to understand internal dynamics, identify the best path to decision makers, and leverage positive relationships to build consensus.

How to Map Influence in Practice

Here's a step-by-step process for mapping stakeholder influence:

Step 1: Categorize each stakeholder using the Power/Interest Grid

Identify who has high power and high interest—these are your priority stakeholders.

Step 2: Map reporting relationships

Use LinkedIn, org charts, or your champion's insights to understand who reports to whom. This reveals formal authority and decision-making hierarchy.

Step 3: Identify informal influence

Ask your champion: "Whose opinion does [decision maker] trust most?" and "Who has the CEO's ear?" Informal influence often matters more than formal authority.

Step 4: Track sentiment and engagement

For each stakeholder, note their current sentiment (champion, neutral, skeptical, blocker) and level of engagement (highly engaged, somewhat engaged, not yet engaged). Update this as the deal progresses.

Step 5: Visualize the buying committee

Create a visual stakeholder map showing reporting lines, influence, and sentiment. Tools like automate this process, giving you a live, up-to-date view of the buying committee for every deal.

The goal is to move beyond a flat list of names and build a dynamic, relationship-based view of the buying committee—so you can engage strategically and build consensus across the full group.

Element 4: Developing a Targeted Engagement Plan

Identifying and mapping stakeholders is only valuable if you act on it. The next step is building a targeted engagement plan—a structured approach to reaching each stakeholder with the right message, at the right time, through the right channel.

Why Personalized Engagement Matters

Generic outreach doesn't work in complex B2B sales. 71% of buyers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and when you fail to meet that expectation, you lose credibility and momentum. Personalized engagement means tailoring your messaging, content, and cadence to each stakeholder's role, motivations, and level of influence.

This doesn't mean writing a completely custom email for every stakeholder—it means using a repeatable framework that adapts to each person's priorities. For example, your outreach to the CFO should focus on ROI and cost justification, while your outreach to the IT lead should focus on security and integration. Same deal, different lens.

Key Tactics for Stakeholder Engagement

Here's how to build and execute a targeted engagement plan:

1. Partner with Marketing for Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

For high-value accounts, work with your marketing team to run coordinated ABM campaigns. This includes personalized content (case studies, ROI calculators, industry-specific resources), targeted ads, and multi-channel outreach that warms up stakeholders before you reach out directly.

How to execute:

• Identify your top-priority accounts and share your stakeholder map with marketing.
• Collaborate on personalized content that addresses each stakeholder's priorities.
• Use marketing automation to deliver targeted content to specific stakeholders, then follow up with direct outreach once they've engaged.

2. Conduct Deep Account Research for Outbound Outreach

Before reaching out to any stakeholder, invest time in research. Review their LinkedIn profile, recent posts, company news, and any public content they've created. Use this intel to craft personalized messages that reference their priorities, challenges, or recent initiatives.

How to execute:

• Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, or ZoomInfo to gather contact details and background information.
• Identify 2-3 relevant talking points for each stakeholder (e.g., a recent initiative they're leading, a challenge their department is facing, a shared connection).
• Reference these talking points in your outreach to build credibility and relevance.

3. Leverage Your CRM to Track and Sequence Engagement

Your CRM should be the single source of truth for stakeholder engagement. Use it to track every interaction, log sentiment and engagement level, and set reminders for follow-up. This ensures no stakeholder falls through the cracks and gives you visibility into who's engaged and who needs more attention.

How to execute:

• Create a custom field in your CRM for stakeholder role, influence level, and sentiment.
• Log every email, call, and meeting with each stakeholder.
• Set up automated reminders for follow-up based on engagement level (e.g., follow up with high-power, low-engagement stakeholders within 3 days).

4. Personalize Every Touchpoint

Personalization goes beyond using someone's name in an email. It means tailoring your message to their role, priorities, and stage in the buying process.

How to execute:

• Use personalized email templates that adapt based on stakeholder role (e.g., CFO template, IT lead template, end user template).
• Customize presentations and business cases to highlight the outcomes each stakeholder cares about.
• Share role-specific content (e.g., send the CFO a CFO-focused ROI case study, send the IT lead a security whitepaper).

5. Use Accord Playbooks to Embed Stakeholder Engagement into Your Workflow

Rather than managing stakeholder engagement in spreadsheets or disconnected tools, use Accord Playbooks to build stakeholder engagement directly into your deal execution workflow. Playbooks guide reps through each step of stakeholder mapping and engagement, ensuring every deal follows best practices and no critical stakeholder is overlooked.

How to execute:

• Set up a stakeholder mapping step in your playbook that prompts reps to identify and categorize each stakeholder.
• Embed role-specific talk tracks, objection handling, and content directly into the playbook for easy access during stakeholder conversations.
• Track stakeholder engagement automatically, giving leaders visibility into who's covered and who's missing.

Sample Engagement Plan

Here's what a targeted engagement plan might look like for a typical B2B deal:

Week 1-2: Initial Discovery and Champion Engagement

• Engage with your champion to map the full buying committee.
• Identify high-power, high-interest stakeholders and prioritize outreach.
• Send personalized intro emails to the economic buyer and technical evaluator, referencing insights from your champion.

Week 3-4: Multi-Threaded Outreach

• Schedule discovery calls with the economic buyer and technical evaluator.
• Share role-specific content (e.g., ROI case study for the CFO, security overview for IT).
• Loop in end users for a product demo tailored to their workflow.

Week 5-6: Building Consensus

• Host a group demo or workshop that brings together key stakeholders.
• Share a mutual action plan that outlines next steps, timelines, and responsibilities for each stakeholder.
• Address objections and concerns raised by blockers or skeptical stakeholders.

Week 7+: Closing and Final Approvals

• Work with your champion to secure final sign-off from the decision maker.
• Provide the economic buyer with a CFO-ready business case that justifies the investment.
• Coordinate with procurement and legal to finalize contracts.

The key is to sequence your outreach based on stakeholder influence and engagement level, ensuring you're building relationships with the right people at the right time.

Element 5: Maintaining the Stakeholder Map Throughout the Sales Cycle

Stakeholder mapping isn't a one-time exercise—it's an ongoing process that evolves as the deal progresses. New stakeholders emerge. Priorities shift. Sentiment changes. If your stakeholder map is static, it's already out of date.

Why Continuous Maintenance Matters

Deals stall when stakeholders surface late in the process—often with concerns or objections you didn't anticipate. According to 6sense research, over 80% of sellers say deals have stalled or been lost in the past 12 months due to a key stakeholder leaving. Maintaining your stakeholder map throughout the sales cycle helps you stay ahead of these dynamics, identify gaps in coverage, and adjust your strategy in real time.

A well-maintained stakeholder map also improves forecast accuracy. Companies that document their sales processes are 33% more likely to report high forecast accuracy according to Harvard Business Review. When you have clear visibility into who's engaged, who's aligned, and who's still skeptical, you can assess deal health objectively—rather than relying on gut feel or your champion's optimism.

How to Keep Your Stakeholder Map Current

Here's how to maintain your stakeholder map as the deal progresses:

1. Update After Every Stakeholder Interaction

After every call, email, or meeting with a stakeholder, log the interaction in your CRM or deal workspace. Note their sentiment, any new concerns or objections, and whether their level of engagement has changed.

What to track:

• Sentiment (champion, neutral, skeptical, blocker)
• Engagement level (highly engaged, somewhat engaged, not yet engaged)
• Key concerns or objections raised
• Next steps or commitments made

2. Use Placeholders for Unknown Stakeholders

Early in the sales cycle, you may not have complete visibility into the full buying committee. Use placeholders in your stakeholder map to mark roles you know exist but haven't identified yet (e.g., "CFO - TBD," "IT Lead - TBD"). As you gather more information, replace placeholders with actual names and details.

Why this matters: Placeholders ensure you're thinking about the full buying committee from day one, even if you don't have all the details yet. They also create a clear action item: identify and engage with these stakeholders before the deal progresses.

3. Revisit Your Stakeholder Map at Key Deal Milestones

At each stage of the sales cycle—discovery, technical evaluation, business case development, final approval—revisit your stakeholder map and ask:

• Are there new stakeholders involved?
• Has anyone's sentiment or engagement level changed?
• Are there gaps in coverage (e.g., high-power stakeholders we haven't engaged yet)?
• Do we need to adjust our engagement strategy based on new information?

4. Leverage Accord's Stakeholder Mapping to Automate Maintenance

Rather than manually updating spreadsheets or CRM fields, use to maintain a live, visual view of the buying committee for every deal. Accord automatically tracks stakeholder engagement, sentiment, and activity, giving you real-time visibility into who's covered and who's missing—without manual data entry.

Key benefits:

• Visual org charts that show reporting lines, influence, and sentiment at a glance.
• Automatic activity tracking that logs every interaction with each stakeholder.
• Guided workflows that prompt reps to identify and engage missing stakeholders before deals progress.
• Real-time visibility for leaders into stakeholder coverage across the full pipeline.

What a Well-Maintained Stakeholder Map Enables

When you maintain your stakeholder map throughout the sales cycle, you unlock several critical capabilities:

• Objective deal reviews: Leaders can assess deal health based on stakeholder coverage, engagement, and sentiment—not just rep intuition.
• Proactive risk mitigation: Identify blockers and skeptical stakeholders early, so you can address concerns before they derail the deal.
• Improved forecast accuracy: Deals with complete stakeholder coverage and high engagement are more likely to close—giving you a reliable signal for forecasting.
• Targeted coaching: Leaders can coach reps on specific gaps in stakeholder coverage or engagement, rather than generic advice like "multi-thread more."

The goal is to make stakeholder mapping a living, breathing part of your deal execution process—not a static document that gets created once and forgotten.

Conclusion

Stakeholder mapping in B2B sales isn't optional—it's the foundation of consistent, repeatable deal execution. When you systematically identify, map, engage, and track every member of the buying committee, you eliminate blind spots, build consensus across complex organizations, and close larger deals with predictable velocity.

Here's what effective stakeholder mapping requires:

1. Identify key stakeholders across all roles—economic buyers, technical evaluators, champions, influencers, blockers, and decision makers.
2. Understand their motivations by researching their priorities, concerns, and decision-making criteria.
3. Map influence and relationships to prioritize outreach and navigate internal dynamics.
4. Develop targeted engagement plans that deliver personalized messaging to each stakeholder based on their role and priorities.
5. Maintain your stakeholder map throughout the sales cycle, updating it after every interaction and at key deal milestones.

The revenue teams that win consistently don't rely on single-threaded deals or hope that the right stakeholders surface on their own. They enforce stakeholder mapping as a core part of their sales process—making it the workspace where deals actually happen.

Ready to make stakeholder mapping enforceable across your team? Accord's Stakeholder Mapping gives you the tools to set standards, enforce coverage, and score execution—so every rep multi-threads every deal, and no critical stakeholder falls through the cracks. Book a demo to see how it works.

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