Selling in the C-Suite

Winning friends and influencing the uppermost echelons of the corporate boards has
always been a challenging job for salespeople. Selling in the C-Suite forces you to
think outside the conventional sales tactics and engage CXOs beyond the usual
channels. With C-Suite sales becoming a high stakes game, particularly among B-to-B
and niche technology businesses, it is very crucial to align your sales force and selling
strategies to C-Suite reality.

Cultivate Relationships with the Real Power Centers

Selling to people at operations level is a child’s play when compared to selling in the
C-Suite. Here the deals are much bigger and stakes are higher. Most of the enterprise-
wide deals and landmark projects get closed at the board level. Sometimes, a deal is
made even before you get to know of its existence.

Getting to the upper echelons of power and cultivating relationships is what gets you
the big deals. If the CXO likes it, so will everyone else in the organization. Closing a
deal in the C-Suite is often equivalent to dozens of lower level deals.

Cold calls and elevator pitches do not take you far when it comes to reaching the big
bosses. To engage them, you need to think outside the conventional sales channels.
Executive events, high profile customary advisory boards, and industry-level events
are few places where you can forge such relationships.

Know How the CXOs Work

Gather competitive intelligence about how the top level CXOs of your target
companies work. Know how decisions actually get made and who calls the shots.
Identify their thinking patterns from the open source intelligence sources and other
less formal sources.

Having an idea of C-Suite priorities is important to understand their needs and align
your sales approach to suit their requirements. Find common topics that interest and
impact both the organizations and engage C-Suite people at various executive expos
and other high profile events. Inviting the board members of your target companies to
your board functions is also a great way to understand C-Suite priorities.

Think Strategic

Whatever it is you are trying to sell, make sure it addresses the strategic goals, needs,
and long term priorities of the target organization. C-Suite people are the ones who are
involved in the strategy formulation and overall management of the company. They
think and worry about the strategic issues that concern the organization than
operational issues. Increasing the market share, countering the competitive threats,
creating sustainable growth, acquiring new customers, improving sales force
productivity are some examples of wider-level issues that are likely to be discussed
more in the corporate board rooms.

Linking your proposals to their strategic concerns is the shortest way to capture their
attention. Stop thinking in terms of selling a product and begin to think yourself as
someone who offers strategic advice and solutions. That way you resonate more with
C-Suite level happenings.

Understand the Buyer’s Processes

All major purchase decisions follow predictable patterns. The patterns might vary
from one firm to another but there usually is a predictable element in it. Recognition
of needs, evaluation of various options which seem to satisfy those needs, resolution
of concerns by the major decision-makers of the board, the actual decision, its
implementation and evaluation of the implemented solution are some of the most
recognizable steps in the purchase decision making process employed by almost all
corporate firms.

The interval before the recognition of needs and between the recognition of needs and
evaluation of the options is the most important time to engage C-Suite level sales
opportunities. Beyond this stage, the chances of success decrease dramatically.

Offer Diagnosis and Solutions rather than Products and Services

C-Suite executives are interested in diagnosis (particularly before recognition of needs

and between recognition of needs and evaluation of options) than products and
services. Buying products is usually the prerogative of middle level and lower level
management.

Offer diagnosis of what’s wrong or what can be made better in the buyer’s
organization and repackage your offering as the ideal solution to their concerns. By
engaging your client at this very beginning stage of the buyer process, you will gain
more latitude and freedom to present your expertise. On the other hand, when you
engage the middle level management and try to sell products, various rules, processes
and access come into play and the whole process of selling becomes reactive.

Know Where to Focus

If you are engaging your audience when he or she is in the stage of recognizing the
organizational needs, then it is best to focus on diagnosis than on your solutions.
Focus on determining the causes of their concerns or the opportunities for further
improvement. Discuss why it is important to change their status-quo and how it can
help their organization. Address the organization’s strategy concerns, challenges and
opportunities. Know who is involved in the decision-making and what timeframe they
have in mind to make to a decision. Use this vital piece of information to follow up
later.

If the C-Suite is in the stage of evaluation of options, then focus on how your solution
can address their source of dissatisfaction. Since by this stage they would have already
gone through diagnosis issues, most likely they would be interested in listening to
solutions.

After the end of the meeting, always ask for more information on who might be
involved in the decision-making. It’s completely normal that advisors or consultants
might be included in such important decisions. They may not be present there in the
initial stages but will come into the picture later. By knowing who else will be
involved in the process, you get an opportunity to engage them early.

Know What to Focus on

The overall business strategy of the buyer’s organization, potential challenges faced
by the firm, opportunities waiting to be explored, understanding of the most urgent
and important problems plaguing the company, repercussions of not solving the
problem, the costs and issues involved in implementing a new solution or process are
some of the obvious issues you need to focus on in C-Suite selling.

Your diagnosis should give them a clear understanding of the causes of the problems
they are facing, the capabilities required to implement the new systems or processes
and your ability to apply your expertise to solve the issues.

Summary

Make sure that your presentation demonstrates your expertise in devising solutions to
their problems. Display a deeper understanding of their business processes and
strategic goals. This gives them the impression that you have done your homework
and you are not there simply to sell some stuff.

By adapting your approach according to their decision-making cycle, you can

maximize the impact of your presentation. Provide insights into their businesses which
they themselves have missed or overlooked and you can gain their respect and make
them take your presentation seriously. Keep getting feedback from C-Suite level
executives so that you can fine-tune your presentation skills and make a killing in the
next presentation.