Getting to the C-Suite

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Getting to the C-Suite
By Sam Reese, President and CEO, .

You really only get one chance to get to a C-level executive. Make it count!

In today's economy, C-level executives (CEOs, COOs, CIOs, CFOs, etc.) are getting increasingly more involved in buying decisions - they want to figure out what is going on in their businesses. This creates a real opportunity for salespeople: access to senior-level decision makers. But senior executives expect a salesperson to create value, not just communicate value. They are not buying "product." What they are buying is something that will help them with the Concept that they have formulated.

What they expect is for you to take the combination of your company's products and services and your individual know-how to craft a solution for them. But the solution has to be attached to their problem; it does not start with your product. As good as your products and services are…CEOs are not lying awake at night worried that they are not doing business with you. They're losing sleep over their own company problems. If you can provide a solution to these problems, then you are in a great position. This is the key to understanding them. Education and influence, the old way of selling, has been replaced by listen, understand, and solve when dealing with senior executives.

One reason that salespeople are failing when selling to senior executives is that they are not really selling a solution to the problem. You really only get one chance to get to a C-level executive, so you have to make it count.

Remember, their time is valuable. If you waste their time, they'll gladly say goodbye and then tell their assistant to never let you get back in the door. They need things organized for them and they need you to build a foundation for every meeting. So in less than ten minutes, they expect you to "pass the test" before they tell you much about their business and what they're trying to fix, accomplish or avoid. Do you create value or do you just communicate value? And this is what they are after to see if they are going to spend time with you…whether it's in a phone call, a meeting or anywhere else. But, in ten minutes (at most) you need to answer these questions when you meet with a C-level executive:

Who is your company?
What is the history of your company? (Always ask yourself the "Who cares?" question.)
How do you provide value to your clients?
How are you different from your competition?
What do you know about the C-level executive's business?
And, finally, what does it cost to do business with you and how will that C-suite exec get a return on their investment? Discussing return on investment up front helps avoid the "not budgeted" obstacle.

And this isn't something to improvise. These are answers that salespeople should rehearse. Naturally, the answers must be tailored for each client, so they apply to them. But salespeople must rehearse and get them nailed down for that "one shot."

Any C-level executive - all day, every day - is dealing with other people who respect their time. And when we talk to them we have to give them the flexibility to create whatever level of formality or informality they want. So, salespeople must always start with "The purpose of my call…" or "The purpose of my meeting…" For example, "Mr. Jones, the purpose of my call today is to tell you a little bit about our company. I wanted to get ten minutes of your time and my intent is…" Your intent is the key - what you specifically want to accomplish in the call. Remember what that C-level executive is thinking is "how is this person going to help me with my Concept (what I'm trying to fix, accomplish or avoid) and, even more important, how can I do this without having to spend a lot of time?"

Some of the best words a C-level person can ever hear from a salesperson are "My intent is to connect with you on what your issues and challenges are and get you confident in believing that we have some solutions that can help you meet those challenges. Then what I would do is work with whatever team you designate to help bring this solution to fruition." So all they have to do is listen, give you a few ideas, and then they don't have to keep working with you. C-suite executives like that.

Today, we understand that a lot of salespeople are involved in major opportunities and you don't have access to the Economic Buyer. You need to get access. It doesn't mean that you don't deal with the other people that they've delegated to you. But you've got to have access and you have to a connection with them so they know that you comprehend their problems.

If all else fails and you can't get in to see them; call them and ask them to make sure their evaluation process is fair to everyone. Let them know that you'll continue to work with the team that they have designated. In fact, make sure to point out how great the team is that you're working with. But ask for the Economic Buyer's commitment (and you can do this via voicemail) that if you win and you get the recommendation from their people, that he or she will not veto this decision. If your competition is selling reactively, this is how you're going to outflank them. Your message is pretty simple here. "My company and myself are spending a lot of time and resources in pursuit of this opportunity and we think we're the best solution for your company. If your team gives me their recommendation, I want to make sure you'll sign off. If you feel you need to know more about my company so you can do just that, why don't we set up an opportunity to meet." You won't Win unless you have some kind of access to the Economic Buyer.

The best time to talk to C-level executives, CEOs, COOs, CFOs, is now. Today, before they have any preconceived notions about your company or about your competition. Their job is to understand the key opportunities, issues, and problems in their company. They've got a problem, so they ask themselves "what does 'better' look like?" From there they work with their teams and suppliers to generate new ideas to solve their problems. Finally they have their team select the best alternative to solve their problem. As a sales professional, what you need to do is make contact with the C-suite at the earliest part of their decision process as possible. That means today.

Miller Heiman CEO Sam Reese recently delivered a webcast on . This topic is top of mind for many sales executives, and we received several questions regarding the challenges of reaching the C-suite executive. If you would like to receive a copy of the Q&A from this webcast (or an email link to the archived webcast), or if you have questions of your own, please contact us at 877 678-3382 or email us at .