Relationship Selling Articles

Selling at the Executive Level-The 5 Elements:
Part II - Focus
 

Everyone knows that “Those with the In, Win”. Sales people want to be connected at the top, but usually struggle. Sales managers to presidents wish their sales people could get connected and were schmoozing with the top executives.

So this five part series is intended to help easily and naturally sell at the executive level, and for more C-Suite Selling details, I will refer to specific articles at http://www.sammanfer.com.


Part II - Focus

Getting to the top requires focus. Once you realize the purpose to sell at the executive level, you must change your mindset when approaching sales opportunities. You must believe your mission is to eventually meet with the top relevant executives in order for you to make a sale. And if you don’t, you must believe there is a significant risk a competitor will win it or it won’t happen. These beliefs will set a nagging red flag in your head that will give you the desire to not stop with the subordinate, but to keep pushing for higher level meetings.

Now you may not get those higher level meetings, and if you don’t you should be worried, which should give you incentive to keep trying. One of my favorite anecdotes is about sales people claiming they can’t get higher - until they learn they are going to lose the sale. Then somehow magically they conjure all the creative ways to make contact with higher level people. So if it helps your thinking, assume you’ve heard the competition is being awarded the sale. What would you do? For ideas see below.

Caution: Do not ignore the subordinates on your way to the top. They have to be covered, but realize the job is not finished with subordinates. Set the stage with subordinates right from the beginning that you will have to speak to others, including their bosses before you can create a proposal. Say that you need to know all the decision makers’ expectations in order to present a good offer. However, it is a big red flag for you if the person tells you s/he knows what everybody wants, and/or the executives are too busy, so stick only with him or her.

The relevant executives you should target are those with P/L responsibility and their direct reports for the division, region, company, etc. where your products/services are used. Never ever believe that purchasing or the purchasing manager make final decisions. They are administrators directed by others. Engineers, operations and other functional people are influential but not the final finals. Another administrator, although very powerful, is the CFO. S/he can only advise the CEO, GM or P/L executive. Now anyone has the power to can kick you out and you’re out - no matter the level, but there is only one who can say yes and it’s a done deal. So focus on the P/L executive. He is the one responsible and will be in it a little or a lot, but he will be involved.

Set your focus upward towards senior managers. Make it known to others it is necessary for you to meet with them and you’ll get there. Now this will take Confidence, and Credibility and developing these is what I’ll discuss in Parts II I- V.

To summarize, set your focus on selling at the executive level and you’ll figure way to get there. For more on the details of getting these meetings, see my article 5 Tips for Getting C-Level Executives Meetings . You can also get a free e-book on Getting Past Gatekeepers at my website.

 

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