Do you know what is keeping you from making a sale with a CEO?
Five simple truths stand between you and C-level sales, according to Steve W. Martin, author of “Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology: How to Penetrate the C-Level Executive Suite and Convince Company Leaders to Buy.”
Martin’s five C-Level sales truths and some possible solutions:
- Truth: C-Level executives are inundated by salespeople.
Solution: Do not use generic messages. Only a unique, individual messaging campaign has a fighting chance with C-level executives. - Truth: C-Level executives are generally NOT the real product decision makers.
Solution: Focus your efforts on senior and mid-level management (the real decision makers)and build a predisposition towards your product. - Truth: C-Level executives do not always feel the “pain” or sense of urgency.
Solution: Never assume that an executive knows how your solution applies to his business. Structure messages based on success at similar businesses to motivate further investigation. - Truth: Blind calling C-Level executives can damage your relationships with low and mid-level managers.
Solution: Execute a sales strategy that engages all levels the customer’s organization and influences them to promote you to the higher level. - Truth: You must know what to say when you do reach C-Level executives.
Solution: Learn sales linguistics (how a customer’s mind interprets language) or the call is doomed.