C-Level Sales Interaction |
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The CLE call is unlike any other you make and you must be prepared at a level that goes far beyond ordinary call-planning. Here is the critical knowledge you must have in advance of this meeting, and some of the sources that provide this information.
If you do not have a clear and concise understanding of the information listed above, then you are not ready for a meeting with a CLE. Some experienced sales professionals may be a bit alarmed at this point and wonder why you would ever want to engage in a dialogue with direct reports first. Wouldn’t they just try to block access to the CLE? The simple answer is no, with a caveat. If the CLE’s direct reports are strategic and talented then they will not block you. If they aren’t strategic and talented, then you may not want to do business with this executive anyway. Since a CLE is rarely, if ever, intimately involved in the implementation of any solution, you will have to rely on his direct reports for a successful implementation. If they are not talented and capable you are in trouble. Better to know this information sooner rather than later. Alright, you’re invited to meet with CLE and three VPs next week. Is there a successful road map and agenda for this type of meeting? Yes, always. In the first three minutes of the meeting, you must impress everyone in the room, especially the CLE, or you’re dead. It’s over, finito. A solid, strategic agenda delivered with poise and confidence will ensure that you get off to a smashing start. Here is the agenda you should follow for a meeting when a CLE is in the Recognition of Needs phase of the Buying Cycle:
The execution of this meeting is extraordinarily critical. Your Focus of Dissatisfaction should coach you on the development of key talking points, but he can’t let you move significantly from the agenda laid out above. Why, because Huthwaite’s research reveals that CLEs in Recognition of Needs want you to prove that you:
Success depends upon your ability to engage the CLE in a dialogue and gain additional insight and perspective that is resident only with and closely guarded by the CLE. Why do I say closely guarded? CLEs like to discuss success, results and strategy to drive more of the same. They do not like to discuss problems, implications and potential failure. If you arrive at this meeting ready to dig in and develop pain when this information was available through other sources (think Focus of Dissatisfaction), then you will most certainly not be asked to come back. However, if you arrive and already know the problems and opportunities and the resultant impact of not changing, then you are in absolutely outstanding shape and undoubtedly far ahead of your competition. It is in this portion of the call that you highlight your knowledge of your prospect’s problems/opportunities and can hopefully reveal something new, or shed a new light on something with which the CLE is familiar. Your mission now is to ask the CLE to react to your diagnosis of the business - to affirm or refute the problems/challenges he faces and expand upon the impact of those problems/challenges. If you gain agreement in this area and more than one problem/challenge exists then you must ask the CLE to rank them in order of importance. At this point, the CLE is confident that you know his business, you have developed a thorough understanding of the implications of not making any changes, and you have provided a non-threatening platform for the CLE to react to your diagnosis and add his extremely valuable perspective. Now we arrive at another critical juncture... To find out more about C-Suite Strategy download our latest sales strategy white paper "Selling to the C-Suite" below. Whitepaper: Selling to the C-Suite
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