How Your Reputation Moves Deals Before You Enter the Room
In enterprise health care, reputation moves faster than your sales team.
The Real Sales Process Starts Earlier Than You Think
Most teams assume reputation checks happen late in the process, perhaps during diligence or just before a decision. But in practice, buyers ask around earlier and more casually than most vendors realize.
They check in with someone they trust. Not to run a full evaluation, but just to get a read. And what gets said in those moments often determines how seriously the deal moves forward. To be clear, this behind-the-scenes layer doesn’t replace execution. But it often decides whether buyers ever get far enough to see it.
Before they review your deck or sit through a demo, someone they trust gets a message:
“Have you worked with them?”
“Are they solid?”
“Would you bring them in?”
The answers to those questions don’t need to be negative to hurt you. Even a mild response like “I’ve seen their name, but I’m not sure where they’re strong,” can be enough to delay a decision, bump you down the priority list, or push the buyer toward a safer option.
Because that exchange happens out of view, most vendors chase the wrong problem. They rework messaging, press harder on follow-up, or try to sweeten the deal, thinking the buyer just needs more convincing. But the hesitation didn’t start with the pitch. It started when someone trusted was asked about the company and didn’t have a strong answer.
This piece breaks down how reputation shapes buyer behavior, why most vendors overlook it, and how to build the kind of credibility that moves deals forward without you in the room.
Why Visibility Isn’t Enough to Build Trust
Most health tech vendors assume the goal is visibility and to show up in more conversations. But buyers don’t need you to be widely known across the market. They need your reputation to be clear enough that someone they trust can explain what you do, and confident enough that they don’t feel exposed for doing so.
Oddly, teams will spend months refining how they present themselves live, but almost no time shaping how they’re described without context. They assume clarity travels, but it often doesn’t.
Messaging can explain what you do, but it doesn’t guarantee that others will say it the same way.
What’s often missing is a system to ensure your reputation holds up when you’re not in the conversation.
There are a few ways to tell if that system exists for your company, such as:
Can your company be endorsed without hesitation by someone adjacent to the deal?
Does your name carry weight when it surfaces during internal review?
Can champions and consultants describe your value without overselling or hedging?
When that risk goes unaddressed, the deal slows down (or disappears), and the vendor keeps chasing, unaware that credibility was the blocker. That misread is common and here’s why it happens.
By the way, if the way you’re being described isn’t matching how you want to be positioned, it may be a sign your value prop isn’t landing in the first place. Here’s how to fix that: Why Your Value Prop Isn’t Landing with Health Plans.
The Companies That Win Build Credibility on Purpose
Most vendors assume reputation builds itself as a byproduct of traction, capital, or time in market. But buyers don’t reward potential. They default to what’s safe, repeatable, and already trusted.
The companies that compound fastest don’t just execute well. They manage how they’re perceived. Intentionally, early, and often. They design for credibility the same way they design a product: with clear signals, durable proof, and enough consistency that the story doesn’t change depending on who tells it.
This isn’t about bypassing due diligence or winning on reputation alone. A strong sales motion, clear positioning, and real results still have to do the work. What reputation does is reduce friction. It gives buyers a reason to trust the process, move faster, and take the second meeting more seriously, because someone they trust already believes you can deliver what you say you can.
That foundation (not visibility or charm) is what makes the next stage of growth easier to reach and faster to win.
Five Ways to Build a Reputation That Sells Without You
When deals move efficiently, it’s rarely because the pitch did all the work. More often, someone outside the meeting already knew what the company did, believed it was relevant, and felt comfortable backing it.
That confidence doesn’t form by accident. The companies that scale with less effort build reputation into their go-to-market motion. Here’s how:
1. Make sure someone outside your company can describe what you do
You don’t need every prospect to memorize your pitch. But someone adjacent to the deal (an advisor, a board member, a peer at another health plan) should be able to describe your offering clearly, without guessing. If your narrative only makes sense when you’re the one explaining it, it won’t hold up when buyers ask around.
2. Build sales materials that work when forwarded
Most decks and one-pagers are designed to be presented. But buyers don’t sell internally by replaying your meeting. They forward your materials. Your content should stand on its own and make the reader feel smart (not confused) for sharing it.
3. Equip people who are likely to get asked about you
Former clients, partners, consultants, and investors are often the first people buyers turn to for a gut check. Don't assume they know what to say. Give them short, specific ways to describe your value. They don’t need a script. They need a clear answer they can confidently stand behind when asked.
4. Highlight real outcomes that match how your buyer thinks
Your best proof points are short, recent, and buyer-aligned. Skip the marketing case studies. Find the two-sentence results that actually change minds. Tie them to business goals like cost, quality, satisfaction, and risk, instead of feature usage.
5. Actively monitor how your company is being described
Your reputation shows up in places you’re not invited to join: conference side conversations, partner sales calls, investor discussions, and internal buyer meetings. You should know what people are saying when your name comes up. Ask for feedback after meetings. Pay attention to how partners introduce you. Look for patterns in how others frame your company. If it doesn’t match how you want to be positioned, fix it directly.
Final Thought
If your team is doing the right things but deals still drag, the problem may not be the pitch or the product. It may be what people say about you when you're not in the room.
Strong positioning, clear messaging, and real results still matter. But they can’t do their job if no one feels confident repeating them. Reputation doesn’t replace the fundamentals. But without it, they often never get a chance to work.
You can’t control who gets asked about your company. But you can influence what they say.
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About the Author
Ryan Peterson writes Upward Growth, where he shares practical insights on selling health tech into the payor market. With 15+ years in healthcare growth leadership, he focuses on helping vendors translate their value into traction with health plans.
🟦 Connect with him on LinkedIn.