The ring around each face

An account can be hot and the person in front of you can still be the wrong one. A director three levels from the budget. A title that sounds right and owns nothing you sell. You find out after the message goes, and the account has already heard from you once.

Stage 1 shows fit on each person before you approve. Four ring segments around their photo, and the reasons one tap away.

What the ring shows

Every person on the buying committee gets a ring around their photo. Four segments in Stage 1 blue. More blue is a better fit.

Four segments is a strong fit. Three is good. Two is fair. One is weak.

Under the person's title, the same word appears. Strong fit, Good fit, Fair fit, Weak fit. Tap it and the reasons open underneath.

What goes into it

The ring answers four questions about one person and your offer.

Are they in a buying seat? The economic buyer, the champion and the technical lead score highest. A title that matches the buyer titles in your Brain comes next. A senior title outside those seats counts for less.

Are they senior enough to move budget? A C-level or VP title scores more than a director, and a director more than a manager.

Does the account fit? An account that meets every rule you set under Brain, Scoring rules gets full credit. Miss one rule and the credit drops. Miss more and it's gone.

Do they work on what you sell? When their title carries words from your buyer titles or the triggers in your Brain, it adds a little more.

The reasons you see when you tap are the ones that applied. In a buying seat. Matches your buyer titles. Senior enough to own budget. Director level. Account fits your ideal customer, or how many of your fit rules it misses. Works on what you sell.

What it doesn't show

Fit isn't access. The ring says nothing about whether you know the person or can get an introduction. Warm paths are separate, on the line under each person, with who can introduce you and how strong that path is.

Keep the two apart in your head. A strong fit with no path is a cold door worth working. A weak fit with a great path is a favor you might not want to spend.

Where you find it

Open any account on the Board. The people are under Who to thread, and the way in. Every person carries a ring. On a free trial, the top 15 accounts show full research, and that's where you'll see rings during the trial.

Why it matters for services

Plenty of services deals go wrong at the very start. You spend three meetings with a person who likes the idea and can't buy it. Or you reach the right seat at an account that was never going to sign a $300K engagement with a firm your size.

The ring is a quick check against both. Seat, level, account and topic, in one glance, before you put your name on a message. When it's weak, the reasons tell you which part is off, so you can decide whether to go anyway, add someone better or pass.

For how the Board ranks the accounts themselves, see how Stage 1 ranks accounts on the Board. For the thinking behind fit, see the ideal customer profile most firms skip and sell to the committee, not the contact.

The point

Every person on the Board shows how well they fit your offer, and why. You see it before you approve, not after the first message misses.