Selling to the C-Suite

The first gauntlet you run when trying to meet any executive is the system of roadblocks that are put in place to preserve their calendar or diary. You must find a path through these screens and filters, and then introduce yourself in a way that will persuade the executive to grant you a meeting.  Roadblocks don’t exist just to make life difficult for salespeople. Most of the time they’re a legitimate mechanism put in place to help the executive focus on important tasks rather than distractions.

In some companies, getting calendar time with a senior executive may only take place if you contact the executive assistant or the executive’s secretary. You simply can’t get on the executive’s calendar by contacting them directly. In that case, you may have to either use a sponsor or treat the gatekeeper as a resource to help you schedule a meeting with the executive.

The techniques that can be used to address them include:

• When there’s an organizational change in your company, suggest having a meeting to explain the new structure.
• Suggest a meeting with an equivalent level executive from your organization (like-rank selling).
• Accept redirections to meet other executives or people of lower rank, but always ask for an introduction. to be made and request a follow-up meeting to review the outcomes.
• Schedule a meeting with an executive to communicate past value delivered or to confirm your ongoing value.
• When there’s any significant event in the customer’s market unrelated to the current sales campaign. Executives like to know that you’re thinking about them, even if there’s nothing for you to sell.

The stakes are high if you cannot access the relevant executive for the sales opportunity. Some of the latest data from companies whose sales cycles are nine months or more indicates that it can cost more than $200,000 to pursue an opportunity, whether you win or not. That’s a significant sum to bet on selling to low-level managers. If you don’t have the chance to get past the gatekeepers and meet the relevant executive, it may be prudent to walk away, save the cost of sale and spend time on other opportunities where you have a better chance of winning the deal.

There’s one other word of caution that bears mentioning at this point. Don’t attempt to circumvent the gatekeeper unless you have a high degree of confidence that you can obtain the meeting with the executive. As one savvy salesperson put it: “Hell hath no fury like a gatekeeper scorned!” Once around a roadblock, a salesperson will be quickly tested. CXOs told us that salespeople who get past their roadblocks on a cold-call receive five minutes to show they can add value.
Here are some tips:

• Speak from a business perspective and don’t get caught up in the “bells and whistles” of product features.
• Raise relevant questions and share business perspectives that are new to the executive – getting credit for the homework you’ve done on their organization and the knowledge and experience you bring to them.
• If you’re an incumbent salesperson, point out potential limitations of your products in light of changing demands, with ideas to make improvements, thus enhancing your credibility.

Try treating gatekeepers as though they were the executive.  Explain your proposition and ask their opinions.   By nature, they like assisting.  The best Executive Assistants will be conversant with their boss’s business issues and immediately see your value. The poor ones won’t understand the discussion, but may pass you forward because you sound like you belong. If you are successful in obtaining a gatekeeper’s support, make certain you keep them in the loop – it will serve you well in the long term.

About the Author

Dr. Steve Bistritz has more than 40 years of high-tech sales, sales management and training management experience.  Steve co-authored the best-selling sales book, Selling to the C-Suite, which was published by McGraw-Hill in 2010. He is president and founder of SellXL.com, a global sales training and consulting firm, based in Atlanta. Visit his website at www.sellxl.com or contact him directly at steveb@sellxl.com.

Identifying the relevant executive for each sales opportunity may be the best use of your time in your next sales campaign.  In my Selling at the Executive Level (SellXL) workshop  the relevant executive is defined as the executive who stands to gain the most or lose the most as a result of the application or project associated with your sales opportunity.

Why is it so critical to identify the relevant executive?   Because that executive can often exert his/her informal influence to either proactively make a buying decision or usurp a  buying decision that was made as a result of the formal decision-making process.  Salespeople are usually very tuned to the formal decision-making process – it’s the one that is described in the RFP or articulated by those who actively participate in the formal decision-making process. But in nearly every sales opportunity there is an informal decision-making process in play.  Successful salespeople understand that But how do you identify the most powerful person in the client organization? Identifying the relevant executive for the sales opportunity may not be an easy task. It takes time, resources and a degree of energy; however, when you are able to identify that executive, your rewards can be great!  In order to begin to identify the relevant executive you should constantly be aware of what’s happening in the client organization.  Observe how major buying decisions are made, who wins when re-organizations take place and which executives receive the special assignments that are meaningful and significant. In addition, look for who’s connected to who within the client organization.  Notice which executives are tapped to lead the new projects of high importance.   Discuss these events with your supporters or mentors in the client organization – and then triangulate your information to develop your conclusions.

Then, if you can align with the relevant executive for the sales opportunity and spend some quality time with that person – you will significantly reduce the time you spend trying to close the deal. And guess what?  If you are not aligned with the relevant executive for the sales opportunity, your competitors probably are – and if that’s the case your odds of winning the sale are slim.

Most importantly, your objective is to get that relevant executive selling for you!  Salespeople are always talking about their coaches in the client organization and about the value of those people when buying decisions are about to be made.  I view the role of a coach as someone who is on the sidelines cheering you on and perhaps, even being very open about their support for you, your company and your solutions – when you are in their presence.  What I like to cultivate is someone in the client organization who becomes your mentor – and I define a mentor as someone who not only openly supports you in your presence – but someone who sells in your absence.  In other words, after your presentation is over and you’ve left the building, a mentor is someone who will stand up and openly support you and your solution.

If you can identify and align with the relevant executive for the sales opportunity and have that executive become your mentor – you will have positioned yourself  to win the deal!

About the Author

Dr. Steve Bistritz has more than 40 years of high-tech sales, sales management and training management experience.  Steve co-authored the best-selling sales book, Selling to the C-Suite, which was published by McGraw-Hill in 2010. He is president and founder of SellXL.com, a global sales training and consulting firm, based in Atlanta. Visit his website at www.sellxl.com or contact him directly at steveb@sellxl.com.

Over the last decade, I was involved with a research project involving CXO-level executives to learn about their relationships with professional salespeople. The research was conducted in North America, Asia and Europe and involved more than 500 interviews with C-level executives. The data gave birth to our new best-selling sales book, Selling to the C-Suite, published by McGraw-Hill in 2010.

Initial questions asked when and why executives get involved in the buying process for major purchases. Here’s what we discovered:

• Salespeople who want to build executive-level relationships must enter the picture early in the buying process because this is when 80% of executives get involved when major purchase decisions are being made. Their motivation at this stage is to understand current business issues, establish project objectives, and set overall project strategy.
• During the middle phase of the buying process, executives tend to reduce their involvement and delegate decisions to lower-level subordinates or committees.
• Those same senior executives said they get involved again late in the buying cycle, but this time they’re typically seeking to monitor implementation plans and measure results.

When these executives were asked what has to happen in meetings with salespeople for the executive to feel it was effective, they stated they want salespeople who are willing to be held accountable, provide value and deliver results. Also, they don’t want to educate salespeople about either their business or their industry – they expect salespeople to have that knowledge before making the first call. And most importantly, they want salespeople to listen before proposing a solution – not someone with a solution looking for a home!

When we asked those same executives what characteristics salespeople have to demonstrate to become perceived as trusted advisors to them, the answers were very similar:

• Ability to marshal resources
• Understood my business goals
• Responsive to my requests
• Willingness to be held accountable

The ability to marshal resources was the single most important factor cited for building credibility. What executives were saying is they want a single point of contact who has responsibility and accountability for the solution – even if multiple business partners are involved. With the complexity of today’s solutions potentially involving global partners, this was seen as an evolving issue.

The bottom line is that executives are looking to build relationships with salespeople who perceive they are involved for the long term, not just this particular buying decision. They also want to build relationships with salespeople who deliver significant business value and are responsive and accountable to them.

About the Author

Dr. Steve Bistritz has more than 40 years of high-tech sales, sales management and training management experience. Steve co-authored the best-selling sales book, Selling to the C-Suite, which was published by McGraw-Hill in 2010. He is president and founder of SellXL.com, a global sales training and consulting firm, based in Atlanta. Visit his website at www.sellxl.com or contact him directly at steveb@sellxl.com.

Neil Rackham’s Foreword to Selling to the C-Suite starts with some key points about this new book!

Sales has grown up a lot in the last ten years and this book is good example of just how far selling has come.  When the manuscript first landed on my desk I looked at the title, Selling to the C-Suite, and I couldn’t suppress a groan.   “Another collection of impractical advice about how to get in front of any key executive without even trying,” I thought.   And you can’t blame me for being skeptical.  Almost without exception, books on how to get access to “The Man”, “VITO”, “the fox” or a dozen other names for the top dog whose signature can change your life, have been mediocre and unrealistic.  So, I must admit, I started reading with very low expectations. 

By the time I reached the end of the first chapter, all that had changed.  Three things were immediately evident: (more…)

Identifying the relevant executive for the sales opportunity may represent the best way to spend your time in an initial approach to a sales opportunity.  In the book, Selling to the C-Suite, we clearly define the relevant executive as the executive who stands to gain the most or lose the most – as a result of the application or project associated with your sales opportunity.  (more…)

The last blog talked about the fact that executives want to understand the value that the salesperson delivers – particularly as a result of the implementation of a new solution.   This is true because regardless of level, executives want to validate their buying decision and confirm the value that the solution provider has delivered for the expenditure made. This is even true at the CEO level, where the CEO wants to show the Board that s/he made the right buying decision. (more…)

Selling to the C-Suite is a new book that reveals what CXO-level executives around the world divulged about their relationships with sales professionals. Co-authored by sales veteran Stephen Bistritz, Ed.D., founder of SellXL, the book provides readers with working solutions for connecting with senior-level decision makers. (more…)

We’re pleased to announce the availability of Selling to the C-Suite as a Kindle Book.

Click here to buy your copy of Selling to the C-Suite for Kindle