Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with a Sr Level Executive with a mid-size company and I realized I made a major mistake during the meeting. This broke one of the major objectives for meeting Sr Executive Decision Makers. It hurt to realize I screwed up – not the executive.
So, I thought it would be a good idea to share this list of major objectives when meeting with Sr Executive Decision Makers in your b2b sales efforts. So here are the six major objectives you must think about before and during these meetings.
Six Major Objectives When Meeting Sr level Decision Makers…
- They Buy based upon What You Know About Them and Their Company – These high level people are more interested in what you know about them and their business. Things as simple as their history and recent events – including their financial results during the past three years (you’re looking for trends)
- Meeting with Them is the Single Most Important Meeting – Never take this meeting for granted, it is too important to gain a favorable rapport from the beginning. Focus upon business issues rather than other things that may be more comfortable for you – yet, damaging to the overall results of the meeting.
- You Get One Chance for a Good First Impression – Gaining rapport is important in this meeting and the faster you gain rapport, the faster there will be objective dialogue between you and the decision maker. Real information will be forth coming rather than smoke and mirror corporate speak.
- Early AND Continuous Access to Them is Important – When going after a significant piece of business or a major project with a potential customer, you must learn how to gain continuous access to the decision maker. Never accept being sent down into the organization. Always state your purpose is to assist the decision maker in making good on solving their issues and providing the results they need. If nothing else, ask to be able to check back with them to keep them informed on the progress on their objective.
- You Must Position Yourself as Knowledgeable – You are not selling any product, you are positioning yourself as a knowledgeable resource who can assist the senior decision maker to get results faster and with greater payback. Avoid being labeled as a know-it-all as this label is all about arrogance. You want to be a valuable asset who knows how to ask the good, tough questions when necessary to lead self-discovery to solutions.
- The Business Fit is More Important than Your Product Fit – This is never about you and what you do, it is all about a business fit. Meaning you can insure a solution in a timely and effective manner. It also means you will provide the financial reason to do business with you in the form of an ROI. This the key to repeatable business with a key executive decision maker.
There you have the big six objectives for you to think about before and during any meeting with a senior level executive. Their favorable decisions are dependent upon you handling the six major objectives successfully during every meeting – no excepts.
Why are there no exceptions? Because Senior level people do not have any time to waste of features and benefits selling. They are looking for knowledgeable b2b sales people who are capable of improving their business and providing a higher ROI than other solutions.
Take time to do your due diligence between getting in front of an executive.
Voss Graham
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