Sales professionals today have a multitude of communication mediums to choose from when reaching out to prospective customers: email, text, phone and LinkedIn are all methods that can be utilised to their advantage. But establishing contact with C-Suite executives requires a higher level of strategic thinking.
Conversations with senior executives require a completely different approach and skill set compared to buyers at other levels of an organisation.
One of the parts of my job I find most satisfying is watching adult learners move from resistance to willingness to change. I enjoy it when they raise particularly challenging sales scenarios and through the consultative process begin to completely transform their way of thinking to come up with an unorthodox solution to solving the problem.
Many sales professionals find it particularly challenging to get time with C-Suite executives, but getting to this stage takes patience and research. The best way to overcome the hurdle is to start by understanding the levels of hierarchy within the client’s organisation.
Firstly, the decision-making roadmap needs to be explored. When a sales proposal is presented at a lower level of a client organisation, what journey does it take to get to the C-Suite? What happens after that? It’s a matter of uncovering and working through the different critical success factors at every level of the company.
Once a pathway has been mapped, Martin recommends attending the company’s AGM and talking to a board member or executive who has been with the company for a long time to gain more insight into the longer-term vision of the company.
‘What’s in it for me?’
A key part of engaging at the C-Suite is the ability to position yourself as someone who is not trying to sell something, but rather to find out exactly how you can add value to their organisation. For example, a critical success factor a salesperson might uncover is that the organisation has brought forward its sustainability targets by three years.
This sort of information gives the sales professional direction as to where to take the conversations and find the opportunities that will contribute to achieving that objective.
To move their sales strategy from a conversation to a partnership, sales professionals must draw on the research they did on the company’s decision-making processes.
At the lower levels, sales conversations generally focus on customer wants and needs, sometimes price negotiation and then the productivity gains they want to achieve. As conversations progress through the higher levels of the organisation themes such as innovation, sustainability and long-term growth and profitability emerge.
Therefore, it is critical that the salesperson understands the direct connection between their own company’s offering and how it could contribute to their client company’s profitability and revenue growth. This comes back to the sales professional’s need to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” (from the client’s perspective) at every level.
If a sales professional wants to engage with the C-Suite at a major corporation, they must expect to have multiple preliminary conversations and understand that the customer’s vision will evolve at every touch point as they reach higher within the company. The whole process will probably take about 18 months.
An expert guide to dos and don’ts for C-Suite selling success
At the C-Suite level, it’s typical for executives to have 40-50 people (internal and external) wanting direction and input on any one day.
As the different levels of the company are navigated, the bandwidth of attention narrows dramatically so all conversations must be relevant and engaging.
Tips for effective selling to the C-Suite:
Do:
Do your research and design your approach to your audience: Determine the C-Suite executives’ personal decision-making style, how they prefer to process information and the company culture before you even consider trying to engage with them.
Send a preview of the meeting agenda: Send a sample of the type of questions you want to ask to show your clear intention. Tailor these to the company’s vision and goals, which you can usually find in their Annual Report.
Give a little to gain a lot: Executives may test your credibility so be prepared to share insights you have gained from your research and examples of what you have helped similar organisations to achieve.
Develop a call to action: At the end of your meeting, propose a specific call to action that moves the conversation forward and gain the executive’s agreement.
Build a relationship with administrative assistants: They are the gatekeepers, and you won’t get access without them. Be friendly, business-like and relevant.
Don’t:
Ask low-level questions: Time with C-Suite executives is precious, and you have one shot to convince them of the value you can add.
Focus on the short-term: Your questions must be targeted at their horizon – what is their vision for the future?
Advocate solutions: You are not there to make a sale; you are there to conduct a strategic business conversation.
And finally, you may only get one chance to meet with someone at this level, so ensure you have done your research and prepared for all contingencies.
Martin Noonan is a learning and development consultant, facilitator and coach at Innovate Learn, a Melbourne-based training company. He has more than 20 years experience providing targeted solutions that support strategic initiatives, that help create productive and engaging work cultures and drive business outcomes.
