Nic Read’s Presentation

Selling to the C-Suite

Presentation overview and key highlights

As economies get tighter, how do we get the attention of clients and prospects? This was the focus of Nic Read’s presentation. He particularly focused on the fact that executives are becoming increasingly involved in the buying process, which means sales consultants need to not only be able to access the C-Suite, but engage them as well. Nic’s presentations, books and training programmes are based on interviews conducted with C-Suite executives across 500 companies. The research took ten years and three phases to compile.

How can sales consultants engage with C-Suite players?

They need to begin by asking the following questions:

• When and why do executives get involved in the decision process for major investments?
• What has to happen in meetings with salespeople for the executive to feel it was an effective use of their time?
• How do salespeople establish trust and credibility at the executive level, thereby securing return access?
• What are executives looking for in ‘strategic relationships’ with suppliers?
• Are the findings consistent across cultures?
• In a nutshell: What do sales people need to do to get through the door – and get invited back?

Why study executive buying?

• Buying has changed, but in many cases selling has not. It’s important to understand that buyers are behaving differently if you want to be able to sell to them.
• So, how are and why are they behaving differently? One of the biggest shifts has been the Internet. The democratisation of information means that customers can know everything about you before your sales execs arrive for a meeting. Even as you are selling to them, they have found out about you, your company, your competitors, what you have to offer them, pricing, even what your other clients think of you. Traditional sales reps arrived offering exactly that information. They were walking brochures – which was okay, because there wasn’t yet an ‘infoglut’ of information on you and your company, freely available for anyone to access. Now you are telling potential customers information they already know.
• The economy is down. Sales representatives are finding they need to make more calls – to more executives. The key skill they need in today’s selling landscape is the ability to build executive relationships.
• Lead-to-win ratios have dropped 78% since 2004.
• Every company has issues and problems that they are focusing on solving. You need to recognise these and help them get there.

When do C-Suite players get involved in the buying process?

• There are 8 basic steps to the buying process:

1. When a company wakes up to the problem
2. Doing research
3. Establishing a vision
4. Exploring options
5. Talking to suppliers
6. Selecting a solution
7. Engage
8. Measure an impact

• Executive involvement is strong at the beginning and end of this cycle, but handed over to others in the middle of the cycle. Reactive sales people who are trying to make contact while the steps of exploring options, talking to suppliers and selecting solutions are taking place will find that they either do not connect with C-suite players, or they do not manage repeat connections. Why? Because they are not engaging with the right people in an organisation at the right time.
• Key question to ask: are your sales executives value creators, or are they waiting to be invited to the discussion/opportunity?

How you talk is where you’ll walk

• Sales people need to enter an organisation, understand the customer and either recognise or create a compelling need and a reason to act. If you create the criteria, everyone will be following you, bidding on your criteria.

• Sales execs need to understand who they are talking to, to know what they should be talking about. For example, if you are too focused on sales (product, price, methodologies) when talking to an executive player, you will quickly be pushed down to lower levels of the organisation – and you’ve missed your opportunity.

• The management of an organisation can roughly be divided into three levels:

1. Executive
2. Management
3. Organisation

Each of these has a different role or view in the organisation:

• Company wide view
• Department/Function view
• Project view

And in each case it is necessary for the sales executive to not only have a different conversation, but be focusing on different things:

• Executive | Role: company wide view | Conversation: Impact
• Management | Department/Function overview | Conversation: Risk
• Organisation | Project view | Conversation: Budget

• It is critical to be able to sell at a decision-maker level. There are five levels of competency in sales executives – it is essential that you evaluate your sales people and identify which level they are at, and how they perform in each category, how they can help each other, and how you can assist in improving their skills.
• The five categories are:

1. Your (the salesperson’s) objective
2. Your contribution
3. Your relationship
4. Your status
5. Access to the C-Suite

• How a salesperson operates in each of these categories will determine their access to the C-Suite:

• NOTE:
  You want to be a resource. Executives are always looking for a resource outside of their specific organisation. People who they trust and can consult. You can actually become a problem solver, not just a provider of goods or services. Always go in to a sales call with something to share. If you come in with something the executive’s own team hasn’t thought of or recognised, you will be someone they want to see again. Why? Because you are offering real value.

• Level one offers no value to the executive: if you fall into this category you are little more than a stalker. Levels two – four offer value of varying degrees, but the truly successful sales people fall into level 4, because they will become part of the executive’s inner circle – someone the executive contacts, rather than the other way around.

Targeting the relevant executive

• When approaching a company, who do you target?
• This question might seem obvious, but if you do not really research the company and its dynamics, you might be speaking to the wrong person.
• Example: Imagine you are pitching for a project in the IT department of a major organisation. The obvious target is the IT department. But you should always ask yourself the question: why is the project happening? Who is the driving force behind it? It might be a project under the domain of the IT department, but spearheaded by sales and marketing. Speaking to the IT department will not win you the contract.
• You must always find out who the influencer is – in every deal, decision and company. Who really cares about this project or servicing this need?
• Do not make assumptions here: do your research. Ask yourself these questions: Who is more important, the formal authority or informal influence? Who are you in contact with? What is your path to the influencer? Always remember that the subject expert is generally a big influencer, and this is not necessarily the person at the top. The people who are called into meetings but you aren’t sure why they are there are people to watch – are they influencers? Why are they there? Don’t simply ignore them – do your research!
• And don’t make the assumption that authority and influence are always on par.

Understanding organisations

• There are three types of people in an organisation: people who decide what happens, people who make things happen and people who wonder what happened. The third type might even have a formal title. It’s your job to know who fits into which channel within an organisation.
• The inner circle vs formal authority: in some cases the inner circle and formal authority are the same, but not always! Job titles are one thing, levels of influence are another. Understand this dynamic. Your most powerful influencer might even be an external consultant.
• Many executives trust their lieutenants completely. They don’t want to be targeted. They actually follow their lieutenants’ advice. What would happen if you were running after the person with the right job title, trying to get a meeting, but your competitors had already made contact with the lieutenant?

Gaining access to the C-Suite

• Executives responded to the methods that sales consultants take to reach them in the following ways:

• A client’s value zone lies where integrity and capability meet – where sales consultants can become trusted advisors within a collaborative relationship.
• So, what do sales people need to do? They need to NOT talk about their capabilities. According to most executives, it’s a turn-off. This information is already on websites, in brochures etc. Sales consultants need to turn the conversation towards the client’s business.
• Executives are interested in: Integrity
• Sales consultants understanding their needs
• Whether the consultant can contribute to their business – and have a roadmap of how they will deliver value and keep their promises
• By keeping small promises they demonstrate that they will keep big promises.
• The key is relationships. If you add value, you will build a relationship.
• NOTE: It’s important that you understand the executive, their company and their industry: what is pertinent, what is currently happening, what will affect their business landscape. Speak in their jargon, not yours, and ask them questions. Be curious. Learn about their business
• Executives are busy – if you arrive understanding their business’s drivers, you will be able to add value without them needing to educate you on what they need – you will be able to educate them.
• In certain cases, you might get in once – ie get the meeting – but if you don’t add value, and only talk about yourself, you won’t get back in again.
• Roadblocks: You might find a particular person is blocking access to the executive. You have two options here, go over their heads, or convince them. \If you believe you have real value to offer the executive, it might be worthwhile going over their head, but be warned, this might burn bridges, and you have no idea how you might need that individual in the future.

The breakthrough initiative

• What is the breakthrough initiative? It is the most important initiative the client will act on, with a time window, high payback or consequences. It’s typically developed at the executive level…often it’s not even recognised at lower levels in the organisation.
• Drivers: The internal or external factors that cause the client to change or react.
• Initiatives: The projects the client puts in place to address the drivers.
• If you can anticipate drivers and suggest initiatives, you will become a trusted advisor. You’re selling what’s important to them, not simply what you have to offer.
• The value of doing your homework includes:
• Helps you gain knowledge of their business – this develops genuine and lasting rapport
• You identify people with different ‘breakthrough initiatives’ and add them to your Sponsor Pool.
• Generates the ultimate compliment: “You really understand our business!”
• Shortens your sales cycle by quickly differentiating you and your company from your competitors
• Allows you to serve as a consultant, contributing insights and creating the foundation for a collaborative relationship
• You can’t offer a solution without preparation
• To build a sponsor pool you need to :
• Provoke interest
• Persuade someone to act
• Propose an advance
• Ultimately, this will also help you to shorten your sales cycle, because you will have differentiated and added value, the sale will come to you – and you will recognise exactly where you are needed.
• Note: Tailor your pitch – be careful of ‘mass produced’ pitches. Executives respond to what you know about them and their business. Inside, they are all asking themselves “What have you done for me lately?”
• EXAMPLES:
• Provoke: “Good morning, John. Did you see the article in the WSJ this week that reported how mall traffic is down 17% compared to last year? I took a quick look at your company’s financials to see if your revenues had dropped to the same extent.”
• Persuade: “I also stopped by a few of your stores. The managers confirmed that they are feeling the effects on operating income and local ad budgets, and are concerned that less advertising could reduce foot traffic further.”
• Propose: “I’d like to explore whether similar banking strategies would have value for you. Could we get together for about 30 minutes on Tuesday to talk about your business challenges? From there we can mutually agree if my bank has the type of solutions that can help you.”

First face-to-face meeting

• Introduction
• Summarize your previous discussion(s)
• Briefly cite your credentials and purpose
• Issues
• Ask questions that confirm your level of preparation
• Discuss the issues and implications using their metrics
• Confirm the importance of their ‘breakthrough initiative’
• Options
• Explore potential solutions. Have a ‘grabber’ story prepared
• Jointly develop a vision of their optimal solution
• Confirm the value that the solution will mean to them & others
• Commitment
• Ask them for introductions to others and return access
• Plan an ‘advance’ that sees them do something for you

Brief Round-Up

• When dealing with executives make sure you do the following:
• Get passionate about approaching them
• Do your homework on their world and issues
• Plan and script facts, ‘grabbers’ and questions
• Focus on four key areas:
 1) Introduction
 2) Issues
 3) Options
 4) Commitment
• Ask and listen to their vision
• Relate to their personal agenda
• Agree the next steps
• Remember, building rapport does not necessarily mean a sale today – this is long term, sustainable relationship building. Executives are tribal, so if you become a member of their inner-circle they will ‘keep’ you, even if they move companies.
• You need to build credibility: be honest, small honesties denote larger honesties (ie, if they can trust you with little things, they can trust you with large things).
• Track value. Know what you promised you would do, know what you are actually doing, and follow the route of your product or service through your client’s company so that you can tell them what their people are experiencing. This is really building value beyond the sale, and getting to understand your customer’s business at an intimate level.

• REMEMBER: The best way to get another sale is to do the first sale well.

WORKSHOP

As a sales leader, you need to understand that your challenges in selling to the C-Suite are not unique. Ask yourself these two key questions, and then discuss them with other companies as well. Their experiences can help you as well.

1. In our business, what are the biggest challenges we face when engaging with C-Suite executives?
2. What ideas have we already developed that seem to work well (ie get our foot in the door, add value and get a relationship started)?

Key points to consider:

• Executive assistants are executive – emphasis on the executive instead of assistant. Don’t blow them off or miss how important and influential they are. They often have intimate knowledge of the company’s management and executive structure, are trusted by the executives and even make decisions on behalf of executives.
• If you take the measures of calls made, qualified leads achieved, conversation etc away (ie traditional sales measurements) how else would you measure your sales staff and decide who the best sales people are? What other measures are there that you could access earlier, so that you reward the right behaviour? Once you work that out, targets will take acre of themselves.
• Understand that a certain percentage of deals won’t be closed and don’t put energy into them.
• Sales people are easy to find – good sales people are hard to keep.
• If you sell the way they want to buy, they will buy!