***C-Level Selling: Executive Relationships - The Primer

For people new to C-Level Selling getting to executives, knowing who the right executives are is a problem. This is followed by getting to the executives and then developing professional relationships with them.
The right executives are the profit-center leader and his or her staff. These ...For people new to C-Level Selling getting to executives, knowing who the right executives are is a problem. This is followed by getting to the executives and then developing professional relationships with them.
The right executives are the profit-center leader and his or her staff. These are the people that create and/or sanction changes that purchases / projects make to their organization. These are the people that discuss capital authorizations and budgets and pass their recommendations to the profit-center leader for approval.
Now there are many others involved in the decision to buy your products and services. They are anyone who has direct responsibility for an area, department, or process in the company that your product/service touches and/or significantly impacts.

In the past one would sell up the chain of command. Now it is a matrix approach. Other functions and people are affected by one department’s decisions. Therefore, the buy-offs from others in the organization have to be obtained. These are areas of hidden buyers. Now you can’t cover everyone that could be affected, but you must be conscious of the other department’s executives who all those affected report to. If you’re selling software and your focus is up the IT hierarchy, you’ll be in for a surprise when operations, sales and HR also get involved. You must consider the other groups affected and their managers. Who touches and who’s impacted are the key questions to ask when considering the decision making process.
The above definition also applies to the ultimate decision-maker or the power person as I like to call him or her. This is usually the profit-center leader, because s/he will be touched by how the organization is impacted by this investment or purchase. Decisions are discussed in staff meetings and the power person will be influenced by subordinates and other executives. This is why you need to at least interview the other managers.
Now supervisors, purchasing people and a host of others have power. You usually have to get their buy-in to move up and out. They can veto or keep you out by saying you don’t fit some specification. Therefore, you can’t ignore or blow-off these people. However, you can not leave the fate of your sale in their hands. They can not say yes and your sale happens. They have to take it to the next level and this is fraught with many issues for you. It requires effort and risks. They fear their bosses. They have other things to do and they exert power over you for better pricing and positioning you against competition. These people are definite barriers for your success and if you hang with them alone, your sales will stall, your pricing will suffer, and your competition with be horrendous.
This is why you have to get their approval and move up and out beyond them as quickly as possible. This is also why you have to approach various people in your initial attempt to penetrate an account. If one doesn’t buy-in, you will then have others you can use to network you up and out. If you only have one contact, you’re stuck in the trenches.
As for getting to the executive, two elements are required for success. The first is realizing you need to get to the top people. That is, you have to truly believe there is a big advantage to doing it. Mine reasoning is that if I don’t get there and my competition does, I’m at a severe disadvantage.

The other element is becoming consciously aware of why you don’t aggressively pursue the top people. Once you determine the reasons, obstacles or rationalizations, you can develop strategies to deal with them. See which of these fits you. Then refer to my articles and my reference manual for strategies to handle it or them.

1. Can’t get to executives. There are many obstacles that stand in the way – people, competitors, subordinates, agents, administrators. Executives don’t answer their phones. They don’t return phone calls. I can’t get an appointment and they don’t see me when I show up.

2. Executives are very busy. They are not interested in what I’m selling. They have people to do this work for them. Besides, executives don’t like talking to sales people.

3. The executive already has a good relationship with a competitor.

4. There is no need to see the executives. The subordinate or committee will make the decision, and the subordinate will take the message to the executive for a rubber stam approval. Besides if I go past the lower levels, they will get angry and kill any chances for future business.

5. I really don’t feel comfortable trying to get to executives and I’m uncomfortable talking to them if I do get there.

6. I don’t know who the executive in charge of the decision is nor do I know any of the other executives. Besides, once again, even if I knew, I can I get there. The person I’m talking with will get angry if I go around him.
All of these reasons are very real and very common. This is not just about you. These reasons have basis. People in buying positions have developed approaches that reinforce all of the above and for good reasons. To get the edge over competition, or to determine whether this sale will ever happen, you will have to learn how to slay the dragons, cross the cave
s, solve the riddles, and wrestle you own demons. Actually it’s a lot simpler than that, if you know how.
Finally winning over executives and forming relationships is easy if you make it all about them. Most people want to approach subordinates and executives and tell what they have to offer or how they can help executives do their business better. This is a disaster especially when it comes to high level people. These movers and shakers don’t need you to tell them how to run their business. This is not to say they don’t have problems that you can solve. However, they have priorities of which problems they want to solve and they have ideas of how they want to solve them.
The whole key to executive conversation and developing relationships is let them tell you what issues they feel are important to them and what they want to do about them. If they don’t mention what you think should be important, you can ask if those areas are of concern. If not, you’ve got to drop it and move on. Once you know what the executive wants, you’ve got to show how s/he can get it with you better than any alte
ative. Do this and you’ll win the sale.
As for the developing an ongoing professional relationship, that’s easy. If you deliver the expectations of the executive and s/he gets the benefits desired, you will be in a position to establish a relationship. However, you’ve got to ask for it. You do this by associating yourself with the solution. That is, make the executive realize it was through the efforts of you and your company that the project succeeded. Don’t assume high level people know what a good job you did. You have to tell them. If they agree you did a good job, you now have the right to ask for more business and/or referrals. If they don’t agree, ask them to help you with the solution. Problem solving together is a great way to bond.
This is the essence of C-Level selling. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say it’s not as easy as it reads. But you can begin to build your skills. However you have to invest by reading C-Level Selling blogs, books and articles. Listen to CDs and attend seminars. With some investment of time and a little money you’ll be more confident and more successful very quickly. And then all the benefits of being connected to top people will be yours to reap.

And now I invite you to learn more.