How to Sell to the Person You Will Never Meet (The "Ghost" Stakeholder)

Your champion loves your product. But can they explain it to their CFO? Here is how to control the pitch when you aren't in the room.

It's the most frustrating moment in sales.

You run a perfect process. You did the discovery, you built rapport with your main contact (your champion), and they are fully bought in. You send them the final proposal and they say, "Great, I just need to run this by my VPs and the finance team for sign-off."

And then... darkness.

A week goes by. "Still working on it." Two weeks. "They had some questions on pricing."

The deal stalls, not because your product is bad, but because your champion is bad at selling it. They took your complex, value-driven pitch and distilled it down to, "Hey, can we spend $50k on this software?"

You are trying to sell to a "Ghost Stakeholder"—the person with the budget authority whom you will never meet on a Zoom call.

If you arm your champion with nothing but a PDF attachment, you are setting them up to fail.

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The Problem: The Game of "Telephone"

When you are on a call, you control the narrative. You can handle objections, explain nuances, and show passion.

When your champion tries to repeat your pitch to their boss, that nuance is lost. It's a business version of the game "Telephone." Your value proposition gets watered down to a feature list, and then to a price tag.

You are relying on someone else to do your job, without giving them the tools to do it.

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The Pivot: Arming Your Champion with a "Virtual You"

You can't be in every internal meeting. But your sales materials can be.

A Digital Sales Room (like Distribute) doesn't just store files; it acts as a proxy for your sales team.

When your champion forwards the DSR link to their CFO, they aren't just sending a document. They are sending a guided experience that pitches for you.

Here is how a DSR controls the internal sell:

1. The "Executive Summary" Video

Instead of hoping the Ghost Stakeholder reads page 3 of the PDF, put a 90-second video at the very top of your DSR.

The Content: "Hi [Company Name] team, I'm [Your Name]. This room contains the proposal for reducing your [Problem] by [X%]. The key business case is highlighted in section two..."

The Effect: You get face time with the decision-maker without actually being there. You frame the value before they see the price.

2. Guiding the Narrative

A DSR allows you to structure the information logically. You force the Ghost Stakeholder to consume the content in the right order:

• Tab 1: The Business Case (Why do this?)
• Tab 2: The Solution (How it works)
• Tab 3: Social Proof (Who else does this?)
• Tab 4: Investment (The price)

You ensure they see the value before they see the cost.

3. Revealing the Ghost

Here is the best part. When your champion forwards the DSR link to their boss, and the boss requires an email to log in to see the pricing, you get a notification.

"New user: Sarah.Jenkins@AcmeCorp.com is viewing the Pricing page."

Suddenly, the ghost has a name. You can now research Sarah on LinkedIn, understand her role, and coach your champion on exactly what matters to her.

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Summary: Stop Hoping, Start Controlling

You spend hours perfecting your pitch. Don't throw it all away at the finish line by trusting a PDF to do the closing for you.

Arm your champion with a Digital Sales Room. It ensures that even when you aren't in the room, your message is delivered clearly, persuasively, and in the exact order you intended.

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Ready to stop losing deals to internal selling? Distribute gives your champions the tools they need to pitch for you when you're not in the room. Start your free trial today and take control of the internal sell.