Role Selection Guide

How to choose the right role for each person

Choose the right role for each person based on their responsibilities and needs.

Decision Framework

Step 1: Internal or External?

First question: Is this person part of your organization or external?

Internal (your company): → Choose organization role: ADMIN, CREATOR, or COLLABORATOR → Consider team membership and team role → Assign SELLER when added to Decision Sites

External (customer, partner): → Automatically GUEST (view-only) → Assign BUYER when added to Decision Sites → Categorize with stakeholder type

Step 2: What Do They Need To Do?

For internal team members:

Do they need to manage organization settings, billing, or all users? → ADMIN

Do they need to create and own Decision Sites? → CREATOR

Do they only need to edit Decision Sites others created? → COLLABORATOR

For external users: → GUEST (automatic, no choice needed)

Step 3: Team Role (Optional)

Are you adding them to a team?

Should they manage the team (add/remove members, change settings)? → Team OWNER

Should they just participate in the team? → Team MEMBER

Not adding to a team? → Skip this step

Step 4: Contact Role (When Adding to Decision Site)

Internal stakeholder: → SELLER

External stakeholder: → BUYER + categorize (DECISION_MAKER, INFLUENCER, CHAMPION, GATEKEEPER)

Role Selection by Job Function

Sales Roles

Account Executive / Sales Rep

Organization: CREATOR
Team: MEMBER
Contact: SELLER
Why: Creates Decision Sites for their deals, member of sales team

Sales Development Rep (SDR)

Organization: CREATOR or COLLABORATOR
Team: MEMBER
Contact: SELLER
Why: May create Decision Sites (CREATOR) or just support (COLLABORATOR)

Sales Engineer

Organization: COLLABORATOR
Team: MEMBER
Contact: SELLER
Why: Supports deals, edits shared Decision Sites, doesn't own deals

VP Sales / Sales Leader

Organization: ADMIN
Team: OWNER (multiple teams)
Contact: SELLER
Why: Needs org-wide visibility, manages teams and settings

Support Roles

Sales Operations

Organization: COLLABORATOR
Team: MEMBER or OWNER
Contact: SELLER
Why: Edits shared content, supports multiple deals, may manage ops team

Customer Success Manager

Organization: COLLABORATOR
Team: MEMBER
Contact: SELLER
Why: Supports onboarding, edits shared Decision Sites

Sales Enablement

Organization: ADMIN or COLLABORATOR
Team: OWNER
Contact: SELLER
Why: May need org-wide access (ADMIN) or just content editing (COLLABORATOR)

Marketing

Organization: COLLABORATOR
Team: MEMBER
Contact: SELLER
Why: Creates content for Decision Sites, supports sales team

Customer Roles

Executive Buyer (C-level)

Organization: GUEST
Team: None
Contact: BUYER + DECISION_MAKER
Why: Final approval authority, view-only access

Department Head

Organization: GUEST
Team: None
Contact: BUYER + INFLUENCER
Why: Affects decision, not final approver

Project Lead / Champion

Organization: GUEST
Team: None
Contact: BUYER + CHAMPION
Why: Internal advocate, drives evaluation

IT/Security Team

Organization: GUEST
Team: None
Contact: BUYER + GATEKEEPER or BUYER + INFLUENCER
Why: Controls access or affects technical decision

Procurement

Organization: GUEST
Team: None
Contact: BUYER + GATEKEEPER
Why: Manages vendor process, controls access

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Small Sales Team (5-10 people)

Setup:

1 ADMIN (sales leader)
4-9 CREATOR (sales reps)
All in one "Sales Team" as MEMBER
ADMIN is team OWNER

Why this works:

Simple structure
Everyone can create Decision Sites
Leader has full control

Pattern 2: Large Sales Organization (50+ people)

Setup:

2 ADMIN (VP Sales, Sales Ops Leader)
30 CREATOR (sales reps)
20 COLLABORATOR (sales ops, sales engineers, customer success)
Multiple teams (Enterprise, SMB, Customer Success)
Team leaders are OWNER, others are MEMBER

Why this works:

Scales with organization
Clear responsibilities
Appropriate access levels

Pattern 3: Enterprise Deal with Multiple Buyers

Setup: Internal team:

Sales rep (CREATOR, SELLER)
Sales engineer (COLLABORATOR, SELLER)

External buyers:

CFO (GUEST, BUYER + DECISION_MAKER)
IT Director (GUEST, BUYER + INFLUENCER)
Project Sponsor (GUEST, BUYER + CHAMPION)
Procurement (GUEST, BUYER + GATEKEEPER)

Why this works:

Appropriate access levels
Correct Deal Pulse scoring weights
Stakeholder diversity tracked

Decision Trees

Internal User Decision Tree

text

What do they primarily do?
│
├─ Manage organization settings?
│  └─ ADMIN
│
├─ Create and own deals?
│  └─ CREATOR
│
└─ Support others' deals?
   └─ COLLABORATOR

Team Role Decision Tree

text

Are they on a team?
│
├─ No → Skip team role
│
└─ Yes → Should they manage team?
   │
   ├─ Yes → OWNER
   │
   └─ No → MEMBER

External User Decision Tree

text

External user (customer/buyer)?
│
└─ Organization Role: GUEST (automatic)
   │
   └─ Contact Role when added to Decision Site:
      │
      └─ BUYER + categorize by role:
         │
         ├─ Final approver? → DECISION_MAKER
         ├─ Affects decision? → INFLUENCER
         ├─ Internal advocate? → CHAMPION
         └─ Controls access? → GATEKEEPER