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Selling
at the Top
Article 1
 By
Terry Booton, President
Advanced Marketing Instruction
What is easier?
Starting at the top and climbing down a ladder, or starting at the bottom
and climbing up? Obviously, the former approach makes more sense. Yet,
many salespeople prefer to start at the bottom in client organizations
and try to fight their way up to the top decision maker.
Terry Booton,
president of Advanced Marketing Instruction (Marietta, GA) and author
of Cracking New Accounts, has been selling to presidents and CEOs for
20 years. And he’s a definite proponent of making your first sales
call at the top of the corporate ladder.
Are You Selling
Yourself Short?
Certainly, calling on the top decision maker in an organization may seem
intimidating. In fact, you may be able to offer any one of a number of
excuses:
"The presidents
don’t get involved in these decisions."
"I can’t get past their secretaries."
"They won’t talk to someone like me."
"What could I talk to a president about, anyway?"
"I feel more comfortable working with people in the lower levels
of the organization."
According to his experience and research conducted by Booton, however,
this intimidation is unfounded. "Company presidents are among the
easiest people to get through to," he asserts.
The Reason
- Like you, top decision makers are interested in making money. "If
you can show them ways to do that," Booton says, "they will
be very interested."
When Booton
conducted research among top decision makers on their attitudes toward
salespeople, the most common response was: "If salespeople can show
me new products or ideas that will help me run my business more effectively,
profitably, and productively, or help me gain marketshare or competitive
advantage, I will make the time to talk to them."
Research and
Preparation
While the good news so far is that presidents and CEOs are accessible,
it’s extremely important to understand that you must earn the right
to spend time with them. That requires two things:
You must have
a comprehensive knowledge of your product or service and your customer’s
business.
You must be able to use this knowledge to show decision makers how you
and your product/service can save them money or otherwise increase their
profits.
Bottom Line - If you plan to call on presidents and CEOs, you had better
be fully prepared. "You must have something of real value to offer
and know all about it,” Booton emphasizes. “CEO’s and presidents
will give you no time at all if you try to sell products or services without
knowing what specific benefits they will provide."
Recommendation - Don’t try to force-fit your product or service to
the customer. Think like the customer-learn about what he or she needs;
learn how your product or service can fill those needs and have a positive
impact on the decision maker’s income statement.
Five-Phase
Approach
Booton suggests a five-phase approach to your preliminary research-things
to do before you even attempt to set an appointment with a top decision
maker:
Understand
the customer’s industry in general and his or her business in specific.
Know your competitors for that business.
Be able to provide a cost justification for your product or service.
Be able to supply references-names and phone numbers of current satisfied
customers.
Identify an “earth-shattering” point about your product or service
to gain the decision maker’s immediate attention.
Making Contact
Your next step is to find innovative ways to make contact with presidents
and CEOs. Booton offers some strategies:
First Things
First - Start by being sure whom you want to contact in the first place:
In small to medium-sized companies, the top decision maker probably will
be the president or CEO.
In larger organizations, the person you want to see may be a vice president
or a director.
For remote locations (plants, distribution centers) or divisions, the
top decision maker may be a plant manager, division manager, or general
manager.
Once you have identified the person you want to meet, here are some ways
to do so:
Call and ask for an appointment. This is not a high-percentage strategy,
Booton concedes, but you should at least try it before spending time with
more creative and time-consuming strategies that might not even be necessary.
Request a telephone appointment, if the decision maker or his or her secretary
won’t set an in-person appointment for you. "Most secretaries
are willing to schedule a 10-minute phone call for their bosses,"
says Booton.
Try to get the decision maker’s direct-dial number if you’re
having trouble getting past the secretary, and try calling during the
times the secretary is probably out and the decision maker is probably
in. Such times are early in the morning, lunch time, and late afternoon.
It’s even worth trying in the evenings, Saturday mornings, or Sunday
evenings (when the decision maker may be in the office preparing for an
out-of-town trip).
Give the decision maker a reason to call back. Any time you call and leave
a message asking a decision maker to return your call, don’t just
say, "Call me," Booton stresses. "Give a reason why it’s
in the person’s best interest to return your call."
If you have
no success with the telephone, it’s time to utilize some more creative
strategies:
Take advantage
of networking. According to Booton, this is the best way to get introduced
to top decision makers. "Ask the top decision maker in one of your
current customer organizations to give you the names of some of his or
her friends," he advises. Ask that person to contact these associates
for you, introduce you, and arrange to have you set up an appointment.
If you live in the same town as the decision maker, visit the activities
and events where you’re likely to find him or her-children’s
sports, community fund-raisers and committees.
"If nothing else works, and it’s a public company, buy a share
of stock and show up at the next stockholder’s meeting," Booton
suggests.
Bottom Line - Never give up after the first try-unless you happen to make
contact with the decision maker and he or she tells you categorically
that the company is simply not interested. Keep trying to get appointments.
Why?
"Approximately
80 percent of all new sales are made after the fifth call," replies
Booton. "However, 48 percent of all salespeople give up after the
first call."
Now Hear This...
Know The Decision Maker’s ROI
"Few Salespeople have sufficient background in finance," points
out Terry Booton, elaborating on Point #3 of his preliminary approach
to contacting top decision makers. "Try to acquire a background in
basic finance so that you can discuss the financial benefits of you product
or service. If you want to keep the interest of a president or a CEO,
you must be able to talk finance."
According to
Booton within 5 minutes of talking with a top decision maker, you should
be able to justify why he or she should be interested in your product
or service for financial reasons.
What is in
it for Them - In interviewing presidents and CEOs, Booton found that their
main financial interest in buying decisions was return on investment (ROI)
or payback.
Given this,
Booton recommends that you quickly learn how to calculate ROI. To do this,
you need to know three things:
Product cost
Useful life
Potential customer benefit
How to calculate ROI
Before your meeting, try to determine your product’s cost and its
useful life in ballpark figures.
During the meeting, identify the potential benefit - breadth and depth
of the product or service application in that specific customer’s
organization.
"With this information, you can calculate ROI with paper and pencil
while you’re sitting in the decision maker’s office," says
Booton.
Copyrighted
material reprinted with the permission of the Bureau of Business Practice,
125 Eugene O'Neill Drive, Suite 103, New London, CT 06320. 800-876-9105
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