“Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator
of leadership failure”.
Ok, you finally have secured the meeting with the decision maker or key influencer. What is the #1 thing you need to do? First, stop being a salesperson! That person has no place in the meeting. The executive has granted you a meeting because they believe you will bring some insight or guidance on how they can do a better job in dealing with their top issues or initiatives. Plain and simple! You have to be a consultative resource.
You can take all your research that you have done on their company and themselves, their industry, competitors and industry associations, and ask if you can answer these questions in conjunction with your new knowledge? This is WHAT your prospect is thinking about and every day. It helps them do their job and more so, preserve their existence in the company.
Be an advisor DON’T be a salesperson (free “gifts of Knowledge”).
So, before you start writing down all the things you need to say ask:
- What metrics are they responsible for, and what targets associated with those metrics do they need to hit?
- What happens to these targets if they do nothing?
- What are their major obstacles to achieving these targets (i.e. what is their #1 core problem)?
- What have they done in the past to try and solve this problem?
- What worked? What didn’t?
- If they solve this problem, what does it mean for their professional career, their standing at the company, or their professional reputation?
- What’s at stake for them if they fail to solve it?
Once you have taken the time to answer these as if you were the prospect, you will be very confident and prepared to have a terrific and productive meeting.
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.