> SALES PITCH
On blog sites and discussion forums sales staff should be as proactive as possible. That means putting forward new ideas, challenging conventional thinking and not being afraid of having an opinion’
chief amongst which is the debunking of that well-worn mantra of ‘sell to the top’. Now it’s all about building relationships from the bottom up – aim high, start low.
Aiming at the top Gaining access to top-level executives is a long journey that begins much further down the pecking order, often at middle management or even at operational level. These ‘gatekeepers’ are the people who, ultimately, are the ones directly affected by top executive decisions. They may not make these decisions themselves but they do have a significant influence on the out- come, so it is important to engage with them initially and build a relationship from there, according to Read. “People are essentially tribal – they prefer to deal with people
“However, if they have some kind of endorsement or recommen-
dation from within the client company, their chances suddenly increase to 84pc. The 4pc success figure for cold calls is despite the fact that top executives actually want to be called on. They want to be surprised. They need fresh ideas from outside their companies, but they only want to deal with people they trust and who they believe can solve their problems and have a positive impact on their business,” says Read. Top-level executives want to be involved in the buying process
when a problem or opportunity is initially identified, he explains. They do research into their options – they first delve into their own organisations for a solution and, if that doesn’t work, they go out into the marketplace. For salespeople this means that these decision-makers already know what they do, what their customers say about them and how their business compares with the competition even before they pick up the phone. Selling to the C-Suite is based on the results of 527 interviews
with top executives across the US, Asia, Australia and Europe, and is the largest study ever carried out into executive buying behaviour, according to Read. Based on empirical rather than anecdotal data, it presents a number of very interesting findings,
48 Marketing Age Volume 4 Issue 3 2010
they know and trust. For sales staff, engagement within the gate- keeper tribe is vital if they are to gain access to the C-suite. You have to be on their radar or else it won’t work,” he says, citing the case of a well-known Finnish company where the sales team’s main job was to be in the loop when clients were discussing new ideas or upcoming purchasing decisions. “For most sales teams, unfortunately, their sales cycles tend
to begin when they receive a request for tender,” he continues. “At that stage it’s already too late and the best they can look forward to is a price-driven dogfight with their competitors in which they have little or no guarantee of success. The key is to build a relationship with the client beforehand, to understand their business triggers and to identify the people most affected and effective in the decision-making process. This will help them to anticipate customer requirements and offer potential solutions which will give them a major advantage over their competition.” This initial engagement with the tribe can be achieved in a num-
ber of ways. Conferences and trade events are great ways of making contact as are blogs, discussion forums, business net- working sites and even social media. However, once the contact is made, how salespeople position themselves is vitally important. “They need to bring something new to the equation, to demon-
strate some kind of added value or potential solution that isn’t available elsewhere,” Read says. “On blog sites and discussion forums sales staff should be as proactive as possible. That means putting forward new ideas, challenging conventional thinking and
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