Selling to the C-Suite

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.

Most books about selling were written from the salesperson’s point of view – often containing anecdotal information about how those salespeople closed the big deals!  This book is different from most books on sales – because it was written based on research we conducted with CXO-level executives where we asked them about their relationships with professional salespeople.  Consequently, much of the content of this book about selling is presented from the perspective of the CXO-level executive.

“Accessing senior client executives is the goal of every sales professional,” said Bistritz. “These are the individuals in the ‘c-suite’ who are responsible for approving top-dollar deals. Selling to the C-Suite is the result of in-depth interviews with more than 500 senior-level executives around the world who reveal secrets of accessibility which can result in career-making sales.”

Among the book’s findings:

• To sell or not to sell. Leaders at the highest corporate levels do not always avoid sales pitches; in fact, they often welcome them – provided the sales professional uses the right approach. Selling to the C-Suite reveals the 21^st Century sales techniques CEOs react best to, as well as those that should be avoided.

• Selecting the right executive is key. The need to identify the relevant executive for each sales opportunity is essential, but in today’s complex organizations, how do you know who that is? The relevant client 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 the sales opportunity. Selling to the C-Suite provides details of how to identify and align with the appropriate decision maker.
• Executives want to understand the value that the salesperson delivers. Regardless of level,. client executives want to validate their buying decision and confirm the value that was delivered by the sales organization. Salespeople learn that it’s not only important to deliver value, but to communicate that value to executives in the client organization.

In the Foreword to the book, author Neil Rackham writes, “The new salespeople are highly skilled value creators, who live by ingeniously solving customer problems. The measure of these new salespeople is the value they create and, to create maximum value they must understand the issues and concerns of their C-suite customers. This book is timely and essential reading for them.”

A result of more than 10 years of research among Bistritz and co-author Nicholas A.C. Read, Selling to the C-Suite is closely aligned with the Selling at the Executive Level (SellXL) workshop that has been successfully used by professional salespeople in companies around the world ranging from start-ups to global leaders for the past six years.  More information about the workshop can be found at www.sellxl.com