Hi,

Ever have that moment where you open your inbox, see a subject line from your main contact, and your stomach just drops?

I’ve been there. It’s that awful split second where you already know what the message is going to say… and you’re praying you’re wrong.

Spoiler: you’re not wrong. They’re leaving.

And then your brain just takes off:
Where are they going? Who replaces them? Are they going to fire us? Did I miss something? I mean, sure, I could’ve done more — but when you’re basically doing the job of two people, things slip.
Will my boss blame me?
Do I even know anyone else at that account?
Why didn’t I push harder to meet their boss?
Why did I let them cancel that last review?
I should’ve seen this coming.
I’m going for a cigarette—
…oh wait, I don’t smoke.

You get the idea.

The truth is, most of us lean way too hard on one champion because it feels safe… until it really, really isn’t. That’s why this week we’re talking about how to protect yourself before the plot twist hits — and how to stop one person’s exit from wrecking your quarter

When your main contact leaves, it can feel like the floor’s fallen out from under you. The champion who fought your battles, defended your pricing, and gave you access to the inner circle suddenly vanishes… and you’re left knocking on closed doors.

The Champion Continuity Plan is your safety net. It’s how you turn a “game over” moment into a fast restart.

Step 1. Expose the Dependency Trap
Start by admitting it: if 80% of your access runs through one person, you’re in the danger zone. Audit every key account and calculate your “champion dependency ratio.” It’s a humbling but essential way to spot where you’re exposed before anything breaks.

Step 2. Map the Whole Landscape
Don’t just rely on the familiar faces. Identify decision makers, influencers, technical evaluators, future leaders — the full ecosystem around your solution. When you can see the whole jungle, you’re not stuck clinging to one tree.

Step 3. Learn the Role Behind the Face
People come and go, but the job stays. Document what each critical function cares about: objectives, pressures, success metrics, and how they make decisions. That knowledge transfers instantly when someone new arrives, which means you’re not scrambling for context.

Step 4. Create a Bench of Champions
One champion is a liability; a network is insurance. Build advocates at different levels — strategic, operational, technical, and rising stars. You want multiple people who’d vouch for you even if your main contact vanished tomorrow.

Step 5. Make Your Value Structural, Not Social
Embed yourself in their workflows, reporting, planning cycles, and cross-functional reviews. When your value is baked into how the organisation operates, losing a single contact can’t derail the relationship. You’re not “Sarah’s vendor” — you’re part of the system.

(A.K.A. proof your account won’t collapse the second someone quits)

✓ Have I measured my champion dependency ratio for every key account?
✓ Do I have mapped contacts across all key functions, not just the familiar ones?
✓ Could I explain each role’s priorities and decision criteria without asking my champion?
✓ Do I have at least three advocates who’d still take my call if my main contact left tomorrow?
✓ Is my value embedded in their processes — not reliant on one person liking me?

Don’t wait for a surprise resignation to start protecting your accounts. Pick one of these options and make a point to do it this week.

👉 Option 1: Calculate the champion dependency ratio for your top three accounts — just a quick check of how much access runs through one person.

👉 Option 2: Map five additional stakeholders you should know but haven’t spoken to yet. Add them to your relationship plan.

👉 Option 3: Create a one-page “role knowledge snapshot” for a critical function (procurement, ops, finance) so you’re ready when the next new face shows up.

I’ve been there —that stomach-dropping moment when you find out your main contact has left and suddenly you’re sweating because you know you put all your eggs in that one relationship basket. And you can already hear it coming… the questions from your boss: “When did you last meet them?” and “Great, get us a meeting with their replacement.”

In this week’s episode of The KAM Club podcast, “Your Main Contact Leaves. Now What? Does Your Account Leave Too?”, I break down exactly how to stop that panic from happening — and what to do when it already has.

Inside the episode, I dig into:

If you’ve ever felt blindsided, embarrassed, or one step behind, this episode will help you steady the ship fast — and make sure you're never “the last to know” again.

You’ll find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to tune in.

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Here’s your weekly dose of “wait… what?” from the world of sales, CS, and AI. Three big ideas you’ll want in your back pocket.

Opportunities that close within 50 days have a 47% win rate. Stretch past that and win rates collapse to 20% or lower. Speed isn’t a nice-to-have. With AI agents cutting sales cycles by 11+ days, the orgs that move fastest keep the momentum… while everyone else gets buried under finance reviews and 12-person buying committees. Keep Reading ↗ 

My take: If your pipeline hygiene and lead qualification aren’t AI-assisted by now, you’re voluntarily playing the game on “hard mode.” The faster you move, the fewer stakeholders have time to slow you down.

Forrester predicts that poorly managed GenAI will wipe $10B+ in enterprise value by 2026. Not because of a single disaster — but a thousand tiny ones: shadow AI, hallucinated promises, bot-to-bot negotiations gone wild, and eroded buyer trust. Keep Reading ↗ 

My take: AI is powerful — but without guardrails it's a credibility time bomb. You’re the human operating system that keeps it honest.. I’ll be running the AI Account Growth Lab workshops in 2026 (Zagreb, London, Copenhagen and more), so keep an eye out or reply if you want in.

93.7% of companies that measure CS impact now tie it directly to revenue — GRR, NRR, expansion ARR. In SaaS companies above $50M ARR, more than 50% of new ARR now comes from expansion, not acquisition. Translation: the “commercial CSM” isn’t controversial anymore, it’s required. Keep Reading ↗ 

My take: If you’re a CSM who still believes “I’m not in sales,” you’re going to struggle to stay employable. The market has shifted. The teams who embrace commercial responsibility will be the ones still standing five years from now.

Champions will always come and go. New bosses appear, org charts reshuffle, someone gets poached — it never ends. But the more you spread your relationships and embed yourself into how the account actually runs, the less any of those plot twists can throw you.

If you’ve ever had a champion vanish and leave you in full internal meltdown mode, reply and tell me. Trust me you’re in very good company.

Until next time, stay Account Minded.

Best,

P.S. Want to level up your account strategy, build influence, and grow revenue without the panic? Come join The KAM Club — I’d love to see you inside.