Contact Roles

Contact roles categorize stakeholders in your deals. Unlike organization and team roles, contact roles don't control permissions - they affect analytics and Deal Pulse scoring.

Two Primary Categories

BUYER - External Stakeholders

Who gets this: External stakeholders on the buying side (customers, prospects)

What it affects:

• Deal Pulse scoring: Buyer activity counts 1.5x (50% bonus)
• Analytics: Tracked as buyer-side engagement
• Stakeholder tracking: Identifies external participants

What it DOESN'T affect:

• Permissions (controlled by organization role)
• What they can see or edit
• Navigation or features

When to use:

• External customer stakeholders
• Buyer company employees
• Anyone on the buying side of the deal

Example:

John from customer company viewing Decision Site:
- Organization Role: GUEST (view-only permissions)
- Contact Role: BUYER (1.5x scoring weight)

Important: Even though John is BUYER, his permissions come from GUEST role (view-only).

SELLER - Internal Stakeholders

Who gets this: Internal stakeholders on the selling side (your team)

What it affects:

• Deal Pulse scoring: Seller activity counts 1.0x (standard weight)
• Analytics: Tracked as seller-side engagement
• Stakeholder tracking: Identifies internal participants

What it DOESN'T affect:

• Permissions (controlled by organization role)
• What they can see or edit
• Navigation or features

When to use:

• Internal sales team members
• Your company employees
• Anyone on the selling side of the deal

Example:

Sarah from your company working on deal:
- Organization Role: CREATOR (can create/edit)
- Contact Role: SELLER (1.0x scoring weight)

Important: Sarah's permissions come from CREATOR role. SELLER role just categorizes her for analytics.

Stakeholder Type Roles

These roles categorize buyers by their role in the decision. They're used alongside BUYER role, not instead of it.

DECISION_MAKER

Who: Person with final approval authority

Typical titles: CEO, CFO, VP, Director

Purpose:

• Tracks who has final say
• Helps measure stakeholder diversity
• Identifies key decision influencers

Example: CFO who must approve purchase

INFLUENCER

Who: Person who affects the decision but doesn't have final approval

Typical roles: Department heads, managers, technical leads

Purpose:

• Tracks people affecting the decision
• Measures stakeholder breadth
• Identifies evaluation team

Example: IT Manager evaluating technical requirements

CHAMPION

Who: Internal advocate for your solution at the buyer company

Typical behavior: Actively promotes your solution internally

Purpose:

• Identifies your advocates
• Tracks champion engagement
• Measures champion strength

Example: Project lead who wants to buy your solution

GATEKEEPER

Who: Person who controls access to decision makers

Typical roles: Executive assistant, procurement, IT security

Purpose:

• Identifies access barriers
• Tracks gatekeeper engagement
• Plans access strategy

Example: Procurement person managing vendor evaluation

Buyer-Specific Roles

These roles provide finer categorization for buyer-side participants.

BUYER_ADMIN

Who: Buyer-side administrator managing the Decision Site

Purpose: Tracks buyer-side ownership

Example: Buyer project manager coordinating evaluation

BUYER_CONTRIBUTOR

Who: Buyer-side person contributing to evaluation

Purpose: Tracks active participation

Example: Buyer team member adding requirements

BUYER_REVIEWER

Who: Buyer-side person reviewing materials

Purpose: Tracks review and approval process

Example: Legal team reviewing contract terms

Combining Roles

Contact roles can be combined:

Common combinations:

• BUYER + DECISION_MAKER
• BUYER + INFLUENCER
• BUYER + CHAMPION
• BUYER + GATEKEEPER

Example:

Jane (CFO at customer company):
- Organization Role: GUEST
- Contact Roles: BUYER + DECISION_MAKER

Result:
- Permissions: View-only (from GUEST)
- Scoring: 1.5x weight (from BUYER)
- Tracking: Identified as decision maker

How Contact Roles Affect Deal Pulse

Scoring Weight

BUYER activity: 1.5x multiplier

• Logins count 50% more
• Comments count 50% more
• Completions count 50% more

SELLER activity: 1.0x standard weight

• No multiplier applied

Why: Buyer engagement is harder to get and more indicative of deal health.

Stakeholder Diversity

Different roles increase Diversity score:

• DECISION_MAKER presence tracked
• INFLUENCER count tracked
• CHAMPION engagement tracked

Why: Broad stakeholder involvement indicates healthy deal.

Role Assignment

Who Can Assign Contact Roles

Anyone who can edit the Decision Site can assign contact roles.

This includes:

• Organization ADMIN
• Organization CREATOR (for owned sites)
• Organization COLLABORATOR (for shared sites)

When to Assign

When adding contacts to Decision Site: → Assign BUYER or SELLER immediately → Add specific stakeholder type (DECISION_MAKER, etc.) if known

After initial addition: → Update stakeholder types as you learn more → Add additional categorizations (CHAMPION, INFLUENCER)

Contact Role Comparison

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Simple buyer engagement

Contact: John (customer IT lead)

Roles to assign:

• BUYER (for 1.5x scoring)
• INFLUENCER (affects technical decision)

Result: John's activity counts 1.5x, tracked as influencer

Scenario 2: Executive decision maker

Contact: Sarah (customer CFO)

Roles to assign:

• BUYER (for 1.5x scoring)
• DECISION_MAKER (has final approval)

Result: Sarah's activity counts 1.5x, tracked as decision maker

Scenario 3: Internal champion at buyer

Contact: Mike (customer project sponsor)

Roles to assign:

• BUYER (for 1.5x scoring)
• CHAMPION (advocates for your solution)

Result: Mike's activity counts 1.5x, tracked as champion

Scenario 4: Internal sales rep

Contact: Lisa (your sales rep)

Roles to assign:

• SELLER (standard scoring)

Result: Lisa's activity counts 1.0x, tracked as seller

Best Practices

Always mark buyer vs seller correctly → Critical for accurate Deal Pulse scoring → BUYER gets 1.5x weight, SELLER gets 1.0x

Add stakeholder types as you learn → Start with just BUYER or SELLER → Add DECISION_MAKER, INFLUENCER, etc. as roles become clear

Use CHAMPION to track advocates → Helps measure deal strength → Identifies your supporters

Mark DECISION_MAKER early → Helps focus engagement efforts → Tracks executive involvement

Don't over-categorize → Not everyone needs multiple roles → BUYER alone is sufficient for many contacts

Common Misunderstandings

"BUYER role gives buyers more permissions" → Wrong. BUYER is for analytics only. Permissions come from organization role (GUEST).

"I should mark everyone as DECISION_MAKER" → Wrong. Only mark people with actual final approval authority.

"Internal people can't be BUYER" → Wrong. But rare. Use BUYER for buying side, even if internal partnership.

"SELLER is less important than BUYER" → Wrong. Both are equally important for tracking. BUYER just gets higher scoring weight.

"Contact roles affect what people can access" → Wrong. Organization role controls access. Contact role is for categorization.

Troubleshooting

"Buyer activity isn't boosting my score" → Check contact is marked as BUYER (not just GUEST)

"I can't change contact role" → Check you can edit the Decision Site (need ADMIN, CREATOR owner, or COLLABORATOR on shared site)

"Multiple roles not working" → You can assign multiple roles - BUYER + DECISION_MAKER is valid

"Stakeholder diversity score low despite many contacts" → Check contacts have different roles (DECISION_MAKER, INFLUENCER, etc.)

Next Steps

• Understand Deal Pulse scoring: Deal Pulse Documentation
• Learn about organization roles: Organization Roles
• See all permissions: Permissions Matrix