Develop
professional relationships with
senior managers responsible for P/L
and competition will not exist,
price will be a benchmark only,
business you never thought existed
will surface, budgets will be
created, and you will increase your
sales and market share tremendously.
1. Use your Golden Network to Get to
the Top.
You have contacts that have
benefitted from you, your services,
and/or your company I call these
contacts your Golden Network of
relationships. Now if you ask these
contacts to introduce you to
higher-level people, and give them a
creditable reason why, they will do
it. You want these people to
transfer their credibility with
their bosses to you. This is the
easiest way for you to gain access
to a top level exec.
However, many sales people have
gotten to the leaders and blown the
opportunity by being product/service
focused. That is; they try to
convince or present why this upper
level person should be interested in
what they have to sell. So here are
some tips.
2. Meetings with leaders are not
about you or your company. They are
always about the senior exec where
s/he is giving you an opportunity to
listen and learn about her or him.
3. Your initial meeting is your best
and only opportunity for the senior
exec to open-up and explain his
situation to you. You may be
thinking just the opposite, but he
knows you don’t know him and he’s
willing to offer you some insights.
But he’ll have to be prompted.
4. Therefore you have to ask focused
questions to get this rightfully
self absorbed leader talking about
his issues, her environment, his
threats, and her opportunities as
they relate to your world.
5. If you try to make it about you
initially - talking about what
you’re selling, giving reasons why
s/he should listen to you, and/or
what others are doing with you,
you’ll be perceived as self serving
and a typical vendor that no high
level executive wants to spend time
with.
6. First meetings are not forums to
present, consult or pontificate.
Don’t be concerned that if you don’t
tell about what you offer, you may
never get another chance because if
you do, it’s a guarantee that you’ll
never get back.
7. So you have to set the stage for
this busy exec to want to see you
again and here is how it’s done.
Give him assurance that you
understand what he explained to you.
Tell him you need time and other
resources to prepare a response
targeted at correcting, solving
and/or improving what he told you
about. And then ask him if he would
be interested in meeting you again
to hear your ideas.
8. Even when senior managers ask you
to tell them about what you have,
you have to push back and ask them
what exactly they want to hear about
and how come. You’ve got to learn
where this individual is coming from
or else your presentation will be
weak and uneventful. Don’t be
anxious to let-out all you know and
don’t get intimidated into revealing
your information before you get his.
9. The higher the level of the
executive, the more the issues are
personal. You can’t think what you
have is good for his or her company.
That’s what they get paid to do. You
have to find out what is good for
him or her. So let them tell you
what they want and why.
10. When you do come back, it will
again be personal and about what you
can do for him - not his company or
her subordinates. These meetings
have to be one-on-one and carefully
rehearsed.
As simple as these steps seem, they
are really very difficult.
Developing the confidence and poise
to network, ask and listen - without
presenting, letting the exec say
whatever without getting defensive,
are all very difficult and seldom
practiced skills. However, once
mastered, the sales person’s closing
ratio and selling performance will
skyrocket.
More C-Level
Relationship Selling Articles
More Selling and
Sales Management Articles
Sam Manfer delivers
key note speeches
and in-depth
selling work shops
for those
anxious to increase sales. His hands-on coaching turns
individuals and sales organizations into selling whirlwinds.
Sam’s selling awards and $ Million sales recognitions support his
methods. His book, TAKE ME
TO YOUR LEADER$ along with his
Matching
Chemistry’s
CD and sales seminars replace selling myths and clichés that
frustrate decision makers with a proven approach that captures
their attention. Follow
Sam’s C-Level Selling Blog
for more insights. Sign-up for his
free Selling E-Zine.
Call Today for More
Information 1-866-Sam-Manfer or Send an E-mail Now!!
Just
click
mailto:sam@sammanfer.com
Check-Out Sam's Other Websites
TakeMeToyourLeaders.com
•
TakeMeToYourLeadersForEngineers.com
25scale.jpg)
