How to sell to Senior Executives?

Having met multiple senior executives including C-level leadership during my career, I can tell you with certainty that there’s a different way to approach and sell your proposition to them.

Firstly, what do I mean by ‘Senior Executives’? These are people who are in the leadership positions of companies, mostly C-level professionals with companies typically more than $1 Billion in value.

Do remember that you are still dealing with human beings, hence they do not have entirely different priorities on a personal front. These priorities are common across the board and can be seem on my previous blog. But beyond that, there’s a different way they approach professional responsibilities. That’s mostly to do with the portfolios they manage, which is well in excess of a few hundred million dollars. Hence their thinking is not limited to smaller transactions but is continuously about the big picture.

Here are some points to consider before you go meet your next C-level executive of a Fortune 1000 company.

1. Industry Knowledge: This seems like a no-brainer, but can save you severe embarrassment if done properly. Not to mention the flip side, which is, all doors from this company closing on you if you get it wrong. 

Before you are in front of the executive, ensure that you have considerable knowledge about the industry or domain that this company is in, be it Telecom, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Logistics etc. What this also means is that you should have a fairly good idea of the problems that are faced by this industry. It’ll help if you have some well curated talking points about how other companies in this space are dealing with their issues. 

2. Speaking their language: This can happen if you have previously interacted with this person, have seen or heard them either via media or through someone you know at the company who has interacted with this executive. Speaking their language can be an added advantage you’ll get compared to any other salesperson without this knowledge. Using terms and phrases that are used by the company and propagated by the executive can get you the attention that you need from this executive.

3. Keep it concise: When you are starting in your sales career, you’ll meet a lot of prospects beginning with customers who are at the lower rung of the organization. These folks are willing to spend some time with you to let you understand the problems they are plagued with. But as you keep interacting and talking to people who are higher in the organizational chain of command, you’ll realize that the amount of time they are willing to spend with you keeps diminishing. Extend that to an executive at the highest level of organization and you’ll get a fair idea of how much time you have to put your thoughts across. The proverbial ‘elevator pitch’ has been derived from such a situation.

Some bonus pointers to approach this high profile meeting:

The start: As soon as you meet the executive and greet them with a handshake, begin by saying that you know that the time you have with them is limited, so you’ll briefly talk about the points that you’d like their engagement on. Stating this early on in the conversation (even before the small talk) will give the required confidence to the executive that you’ll not be wasting their time and instead have your talking points ready which are brief and important.

Propose multiple solutions: You might have seen in movies that the sales person (the enthusiastic extrovert) steps in front of an executive and starts rattling out facts and figures and then proposes a solution all in one breath. And to all of these antics, the executive is thoroughly impressed and hands over the contract. Well, let’s just say that reel life is different from real life. Executives hold immense power in their organizations and have the last work on most of the directives issued within the company. So if you are banking on the fact that you’ll present one solution and the executive will happily go along with it, you’d be in for a surprise (shock rather). Instead present two or three solutions to the problem they are dealing with, to give the opportunity to the executive to pick one. This helps you in a couple of ways (a) it gives you the ability to lay down multiple solutions, showing the productive impact of hiring your company for the job (b) the executive is happy in making the decision and not having to give away the control to someone else.

Ways to cement the relationship

(a) Leverage existing connections: Linkedin is a good medium to find this out. Find out mutual connections between you and the executive to secure that first meeting or to build the relationship further. Social Media doesn’t necessarily have to be your only medium though. Prior connections in this organizations is a good start too.

(b) Get them involved from the start: Executives are the ones who control the budget and are therefore the signing authority for the deal that you’d like to execute. It’s imperative that they’ll get to know about this project eventually. Hence keeping them involved from the beginning of your deal can be quite important so as to not have a surprise at the end.

(c) Not comfortable? Bring your own executives: Unless you are a founder of a startup or a the executive of your own small company, chances are that you have superiors looking after the work that you do. If you are uncomfortable meeting high level executives on your own, it can be a good idea to bring along senior executives from your side. This gives both the parties the added comfort that the adequate attention is being given to the meeting and the opportunity.

(d) Be prepared for all eventualities: As mentioned a little earlier. Meetings with executives if handled poorly can result in losing the business that you have from the company currently. It can also lead to a great start of a new relationship between the two organizations. But it isn’t going to come easily. If the executive has to put trust in you, he/she has to be absolutely sure that you are the right partner for their company, and the way to do that is to test you out. This can be through a question to gauge your knowledge/ability or by giving you a time bound activity to solve.

CONCLUSION:

Meetings with senior executives of an organization can be a make or break sales call. The prospecting approach and the meeting style for these company leaders is quite different from a regular prospecting call. The above listed tips will help you prepare for the big meetings of your career.