Posted by Jim Lee September 1, 2009 @ 3:35 p.m.
Have you ever been short-circuited by a buyer with a very narrow business perspective or who’s driven more by emotion than data? If so, you know the importance of gaining access to decision makers beyond the person you deal with on a regular basis. One of the most challenging aspects of truly penetrating any potential or actual customer is developing selling relationships with senior-level managers, including C-level executives. However, these can be the most productive relationships any sales person will foster.
So how does a sales person establish and then build that relationship without burning bridges or bruising egos? One way is to network throughout the organization. You are probably already working with other functions (e.g. accounting, marketing, legal, logistics, receiving/shipping, advertising) within a business. Leverage these relationships to gain access to more senior-level executives. And if you’re not already working with those representing other aspects of the business, use this as a reason to start. Is there a billing issue? Don’t simply handle it over the phone, schedule time with the key person in accounting. Is there a problem in the warehouse? Don’t just talk to the shipping or receiving clerk, schedule time with a supervisor in the warehouse.
Another option is to seek non-competitor sales reps, especially those with more years of experience with the customer. They can often share tips that would otherwise take years to learn first-hand, including who are the most important decision makers.
Yet another approach is for you to get senior level executives from your company involved. Even the most unreasonable buyer would have difficulty denying his CIO time with his vendor’s CIO. If you can’t get your CIO to town, get your boss’s boss’s boss in town and tell your buyer he wants to take his CIO out to lunch. Or schedule a business review that includes those other functions (marketing, logistics, advertising) and add the person you need to see in the invitation. Another tactic I’ve employed more than once is to schedule something offsite, be it a restaurant, hotel meeting room, or possibly a manufacturing facility. I’ve even asked my senior manager to call my buyer’s senior management directly to schedule something.
Once contact has been established, how does a sales person ensure the very important executive views it as time well spent? I’ll discuss this in more detail in my next blog entry, but the top line is for any sales person to establish himself as a dispassionate consultant, somebody who’s just as concerned with his customer’s business as his own. He should develop a thorough understanding of big-picture industry trends. If he’s able to provide information or perspective that can be consistently found from only one source, the senior-level executive will always view time with him as time well spent. The most valuable commodity for all top officers is their time, so being viewed as the go-to consultant ought to be the goal.
The importance of building solid business relationships with C-level executives cannot be overstated. These relationships take time to develop, but they are worth the investment.