Selling to the C-Suite

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.