Getting those critical meetings with the people that can make to influence decisions on your product, solution or service.
Senior-level customers expect salespeople to know, in advance, the basics of their business; and to be ready for such a conversation, you need to know the answers to the following questions:
- What products and or services does the organization offer?
- What are its major markets and/or customers?
- What are the most important issues or trends in its industry?
- Who are its major competitors?
- Who are its top managers?
- What strategies are key to its long-term success?
- What important initiatives is it implementing now?
- What has been the organization’s performance in the past 1 to 2 years?
Know Your Audience
High performers who succeed in building relationships with senior execs do three things very well:
- Treat initial talks with the customer as if it were an interview for the job of business partner.
- They prepare a questioning strategy tailored to the organization and customer.
- They offer information and insights oriented toward the future.
Superior execution in these three areas yields great advantage but requires much work(free “gifts of Knowledge”). The salesperson must develop a deep understanding of the customer’s company; its products, services, and markets; and its organizational strategy, mission, and structure. They must learn the industry issues and trends affecting the company, as well as the profile of the customer’s competitors.
And they must learn the major problems and issues facing the customer today and in the immediate future. Are margins healthy? Are sales strong? With other customers, those questions might form the basis for conversation. At the senior-customer level, knowing the answers to those questions before the conversation begins is the price of admission. It demonstrates credibility and insight, and builds confidence and trust.
What do you do next? Send us an email and we’ll arrange for you to speak with Ed to chat about how these learnings can help build more sales just for your business.