The Executive Conversation

Talking to senior level corporate decision makers is a challenge for many sellers. What do you say? What's of interest to them? What works and what doesn't work.

That's why I thought you'd be interested in my interview with Eric Beckman, EVP of Marketing and Strategy at Executive Conversation, Inc. He's helped 12 of the Fortune 100 and scores of mid-sized firms sell what clients want to buy.

During today's economic crises, what's of most interest to executives? How has it changed?

Amid the economic uncertainty, the way customers now evaluate investments has fundamentally changed. Smart sales professionals indeed should be asking themselves 'How have I changed my selling motion in response?

Some changes are obvious, such as CFOs requiring a lower sign-off threshold.  However, the not so obvious changes harbor the most profound implications to sellers. 

Foremost, the shift toward risk mitigation and cost reduction relative to maximizing return and growing revenue which are commonly favored in healthier markets.

Customers now weight short-term results over long-term strategy, demanding much quicker paybacks in the process.  Vendor financing and leasing options that address cash flow challenges are entering the decision process much earlier. 

We're also seeing heightened interest in shared risk partnerships and reducing the number of vendors to a trusted few to help manage risk.

Today, to prepare for credible executive conversation, we suggest sales professionals enter executive calls prepared to answer these 3 questions: 1) What's my ROI?  2) How is Cash Flow impacted?  3) How are you minimizing my risk?

How do executives decide which sales professionals they meet with or sponsor?

This is perhaps the most commonly asked question we receive.  And why the buyer's side perspective we deliver is so valuable. The short answer: Why an executive is buying is more important than what you're selling.

Without understanding how what you're selling fits into, and improves, your customer's operations, don't bother calling.

To establish credibility, you must demonstrate you understand their business.  This is really no different than a job interview.  You wouldn't go into a job interview knowing little about the company with whom you're interviewing.

Executives want you to show them how you'll change their business. Provoke business curiosity by painting a before and after picture of the results they should expect after investing in your solutions.  Also, prove you're not exaggerating. Include some evidence that your assumptions are reasonable and enable the executive to make a quick preliminary judgment about your potential impact.

What are the biggest mistakes sellers make when calling at the C-Level?

Most executives, when asked about their experience with sales professionals, say that the majority of calls were a waste of time. Why? Because the seller wasn't prepared to have the right conversation with the right person. 

Sellers also fail to gain credibility because they're unable to demonstrate their understanding of the customer's business. For example, they quantify the solution value using metrics meaningful to them, but not the customer. Or they use a project-level metric such as 'reducing scrap' when calling on a CXO versus a corporate-level metric like Return on Assets that's on their radar screen.

You only get one shot at the executive suite, make it count. Arrive prepared, orient the conversation around the customer's key initiatives and understand the metrics they use to measure business performance.

Credible executive engagement demands being prepared to nimbly navigate the twists and turns that can unexpectedly arise. Remember, this is the executive's meeting, not yours.

What are the 3-4 things that sellers should focus on to get rapid customer insights?

This depends on whether the customer is publicly traded or privately held.  Different paths, same destination.

For publicly traded accounts, start with the Investor Relations section of their website.  Read the Annual Report to understand the external factors influencing their markets and the business initiatives they've adopted in response. 

Stay current by with quarterly 10-Qs and listening to earnings calls.  And by reviewing the Proxy Statement DEF-14A, you can even find the incentive compensation metrics for a specific target customer executive to serve as the business metrics for justifying investment in your solution.

For privately held accounts, execute similar steps on an important, publicly-traded competitor.  External market factors and key business metrics will likely be quite similar.  Also consider gaining insight from an industry perspective.  Analyst reports and trade publications are great resources for doing so.

What do you suggest sellers do to get the financial acumen they need for selling to high level executives?

Naturally Executive Conversation's time proven curriculum of face-to-face and online sales training comes to mind!  Over the past 20 years we've found that learning how to effectively sell to executives is a journey, not an event. 

Finance is the language of business; so if you're not comfortable presenting proposals linked to measurable financial return, begin with training in that area. 

To assess progress, consider adding role playing to your preparation process.  Role playing with a manager or peer can help ready you to manage the conversational pitfalls that may take you off message as well as develop the ability to deviate from your plan yet still have a successful executive conversation.

Conclude by ask your colleagues to share their candid impression: 'would they buy from you?'

For more insights on executive-level selling:

•   Check out the free webinars.
•   Read the Executive Selling blog. 

Comments

[Stone Payton]

Jill,

This topic is so critical, I hope you choose to expand it into a series -- interviewing other smart folks like Beckman.

If you choose to do so, a recommendation (someone we recently had on our show and have invited back for our Special Edition Broadcast):

Dr. Steve Bistritz - co-author of the recently released "Selling To The C-Suite" (Foreword by Neil Rackham.)

Steve should be easy enough to track down, but let me know if you need / want an introduction . . . And Keep Up The Great Work !!!

- Stone

[Jill Konrath]

Thanks so much for the great idea, Stone. I will keep doing this. And I'd like to connect with Dr. Steve Bistritz.

Jill

[Silvia Quintanilla]

Great post and great article. The mini summaries in italics were especially helpful in capturing main ideas. By the way, at my company, we always learn so much from reading the earnings call transcripts for public co's. They contain invaluable information for sellers. Great advice! Silvia

[Rick Venet]

Jill,

Excellent article. This is similar to what I use on a daily basis. One key component of my research on a company is understanding where the executives meet and which boards they sit on. I, and our clients, leverage executive luncheons and meetings by doing research on the companies and executive backgrounds before attending. It's significantly easier to meet them at an event that they support compared with traditional methods. However, sellers MUST prepare for the face-to-face opportunities and Eric's thoughts are an excellent outline.

Seller's should put themselves in the buyer's position and ask "Why Buy". In other words, what are the business issues that the customer is trying to resolve, and how would their products and service provide short & long-term solutions?

Best regards,
Rick Venet
ROI Strategic Business Solutions

[Nic Read]

As co-author of "Selling to the C-Suite", I'd love to share more info on the 10-year research project behind this, and invite your readers to use the resources at www.cxo-selling.com.

I know Steve and I would love to do a blog or podcast for you on this topic anytime.

I had a very interesting afternoon with Neil Rackham recently (who wrote the Foreword for "Selling to the C-Suite"), where we discussed how executives are increasing their exposure to buying decisions as a result of the economy and their need to mitigate risk. It has massive ramifications for sellers everywhere over the next few years.

Keep up the good work!

Nic Read,
co-author, Selling to the C-Suite
president, SalesLabs Inc

[Andy Rudin]

Great points. I'm glad to see "thought convergence" on how important it is for salespeople to have competency in strategy and finance--not just in product features/functions/benefits. A recent blog I wrote on this topic related how an IT sales team was vexed because they were confronted with a COO's question: "how will your solution help me sell more pizza?" The team comprised of bright individuals were unprepared for that question. The article link describes how they responded, and the outcome of their sales effort: "Strategic Questions Will Uncover Strategic Opportunities," http://www.customerthink.com/blog/strategic_questions_strategic_opportunities