What do Decision Makers want? Selling to the C-Suite

[CLAIRE BROOME]

“It’s the goal of every salesperson: getting access to senior client executives—the C-Level decision makers responsible for approving top-dollar deals. Selling to the C-Suite
is the first book that reveals how to land those career-making sales in the
words of CEOs themselves!”  from
Bistritz & Read’s “Selling to the C-Suite”

 

I’ve recommended this book countless times to colleagues and friends and a link to it is on my website  (http://bit.ly/dfa34V).  
In my opinion it’s like the bible on getting that initial meeting with
the ultimate decision maker and how to ensure that meeting doesn’t turn into a
‘one-hit-wonder’.

 

Throughout this book I found myself asking:  how do we support our salespeople when they’re selling to the C-Suite?   

 

We continuously tell them they need to call higher…. but executives ourselves what do we really do to support them in their mission? 

 

As the book states, there are many things executives expect and need for you to get the initial meeting and certainly there’s more they expect and need to secure subsequent meetings.  Per the book, it is imperative that salespeople become the ‘trusted
advisor’.   

 

Yes, the old adage of becoming the ‘trusted advisor’ is still alive and well. I don’t care what you sell, from minutes to bits and bytes to toilet paper, if you have that relationship with the “(WO)MAN”, the
one who can make the decision and dial in the dollars, you need to be one of
their ‘trusted advisors’.  This is
when they pick up the phone and seek your counsel on issues that are important
to them.  They want to discuss the
pressures they are under.  They
call you when they need another opinion and it might not even be in your
company’s area of expertise. 

 

So back to the question:  how do we support our salespeople in becoming that trusted advisor?

 

Bistritz and Read state the top 4 things that executives are looking for are:

 

1.  Ability to marshal resources

2.  Understand their business goals

3.  Responsiveness their requests

4.  Willingness to be held accountable

 

How many of you can honestly say that you enable your salespeople to act in a way their customer executives are expecting them to act?  To give them what they need?

 

There are many, many obstacles we put in the way of our salespeople.  If you conducted an assessment of your ‘sales to cash process’ what obstacles would you find?   What tools do you give your
salespeople so that they can give the executives what they are looking for?

 

I’ve said it before and I will say it again:  refocus your sales organization to allow them to focus on the customer.

 

Let’s put it this way:  as an executive in your company wouldn’t you expect a sales person who’s knocking at your door to have the ability to, at least, marshal resources and
be responsive to your requests?

 

I think there are upwards of 30 obstacles we put in the way of our sales people, I’d like to discuss them with you and discuss potential solutions.

 

Let’s put it this way:  as an executive in your company wouldn’t you expect a sales person who’s knocking at your door to have the ability to, at least, marshal resources and
be responsive to your requests?

 

Cheers,

Claire Broome
President & Chief Sales Enabler
Complectus Consulting, LLC
E: [e-mail]
T: 404-556-7023
www.complectusconsulting.com