Do you often see ghosting when pitching to the GCCs ?
Ghosting is a ghost that worries many people working hard to win business from the GCCs. Though, ghosting is common in sales, there are many reasons why ghosting does occur in the GCCs.
Your champion at the GCC might NOT be ghosting. Here are the scenarios i faced when i sold to Maersk Shipping Company in India. I sold them twice, failed in my pitch on other 3 times.
“If you’ve sold to the GCC, sell through the GCC.”
1. Most of the decisions related to software procurement, new initiatives, vendor empanelment are taken by the (your) champion in India and the “away” sponsor.
2. There are multiple business units, stakeholders who could fund your champion/your project. All of them show passive or active interest. Tough to get the first sponsor.
3. Products do satisfy MANY needs. Your Champion at GCC is trying to identify the sponsor who has the burning need.
4. Timezones of champions, buyers are very different. Your champion would have time getting hold of the buyer as well.
Communication juggernaut between your champion and “away” stakeholders take time. Headquarters have their own priorities, summer schedule, financial year ending, paternity/ maternity leaves, layoffs, funding frozen, or tariff uncertainty. I have seen all of those reasons cited as the reason for not making a decision. Technical fitment, credibility had never been the reasons given to get rejected.
Just a better picture of ghosting if you did not like the one above –
How to react to ghosting
1. Simple answer is: you cannot do much. You cannot expedite the process. Let your champion run his ship. The best you can do is to provide a well articulated differentiation, benefits, and ROI.
2. Put yourself in the shoe of the champion. ALWAYS.
3.Give him/her benefit of the doubt when you are about to send that email showing desperation.
4. Convince yourself that enterprises do take a long time to decide.
Learn from My Mistakes – Avoid “ghosting” scenarios
1. Mistake that i did and you could avoid is to missing on building a mutual success plan with my “champion”.
2. Mistake that i made was that i did not figure out early – What is in it for my champion ? How can i bring it win-win for him ? The other mistake i made is to not understand that “champions” can have corporate needs and personal needs such as need to get promotion, need to put a tick mark to “innovation” in your annual performance.
“Don’t fight ghosting — understand it and work through it.
Over the years, I call it the CAPTIVE.
Understand the champion’s motivations: career goals, influence, innovation pressure, etc.
<3 years: Still building org structure, slower procurement, highly dependent on HQ
3–7 years: Moderate autonomy, exploring innovation, open to new vendors
7+ years: Mature processes, local budgets, multiple BUs — easier to align with business impact.
Growth of the GCC can also be measured by annual expenditure.
<500: Centralized control, HQ-driven decisions
500–2000: BU-level autonomy starts showing
2000: Complex org, multiple champions/sponsors possible, focus on ROI and strategic impact
Factor in HQ vs GCC working hours, culture. Plan touch-points accordingly and equip the champion to operate asynchronously. As you may know, it is tough to find decision makers during European summers.
Map all stakeholders — decision-makers, blockers, influencers, and approvers — across India and HQ.
Present differentiated benefits and tailor ROI to local and global goals. Don’t just sell features — show strategic fit.
V is quite powerful. It has many different meanings also. Some champions need visibility. All champions need a victory plan. They also need evidence (validation) that this product works.
Co-create a Mutual Success Plan. Give your champion tools to win internal buy-in. Find if you have sold it to them in another geography. Leverage past wins with the same enterprise. Bring testimonials, successful onboarding to build trust.
“Nothing opens doors faster than already being inside the building.”
I moderate a Whatsapp group to discuss GCCs in detail. Please join ONLY if you are serious about selling to GCCs or do want to explore GCCs seriously.
Here is the link: WhatsApp Group Link
Please join only if you are targeting GCCs or intend to target or you are evaluating.
Episode 1: GCC 101
About OceanFrogs:
Well, I am building GCC Intel for last 7 years. Automation Anywhere (AA) had asked us to identify their technology usage for their Competitive Intelligence (CI) studies. Salesforce challenged us further by asking us to increase their coverage, get contacts in shared services, Center of Excellences (COEs). Infosys asked us to know their footprint (locations) in India. CSS asked us to provide their technology investment, hiring trends.
There are many marquee clients along the way (large and small). SaaS companies such as New Relic, LambdaTest, BrowserStack, Jombay. US Based Strategy departments of companies such as Deloitte, Accenture have also planned their strategies using OceanFrogs’ GCC Intelligence.
Still learning daily.
Are Intent and Technographics Data Complimentary? Table of Contents Intent data and technographics data are gaining acceptance and popularity amongst the marketing and sales community. Both are expensive and serve independent purposes, their sources and qualities can differ, so there seems to be an overlap. However, one must see the purpose of going for intent […]
Technographics Data – [Types] Table of Contents Technographics Data Types Technographics data is the data we provide when a company is using a particular software like X, Y or Z and: 1. They started using it on a specific date. 2. They have been using it for the last 3 years. 3. The amount of […]
Technographics Data – A Guide Table of Contents Using Technographics Data In Marketing Technographics data has become very popular in the last 15 years. It is as important and sought after as intent data. When it comes to lead generation and demand generation, some vendors and marketers claim that technographics data is more accurate and […]
