Elevating Your Sales Conversations Consistently

level set is let's reframe this. For years, when we talked about calling higher or elevating your call, it was almost like an exercise and org chart exercise. I'm at this level. I want to get to this level. I got to get to this level, and sales managers and people would be chasing that holy grail of calling on that senior executive. But what we figured out is there's a lot of risk in that. We see it as there's risk in not getting there, and everybody understands that one.

But you know what, there is risk in getting there if you're unprepared. A lot of data has been written. You could get there and fail and guess what, you're never getting back. So it's not just call on someone, it's make sure that when we talk elevating your selling you're calling. I believe it's not as much about an org chart, Rachel, as it is about influence. Am I interacting with the people that influence the company's strategic priorities

executing their goals? And if I am, then what we've learned over the years is how do I position myself my company as relevant to their business issues. We've learned a lot over the years, Rachel, not only what works, but what does not. And I think what everybody understands is what does not is for me to give that senior level executive and overview my stuff, my product, that's irrelevant. But we haven't figured out why right. And then we say, well,

we've got to be more focused on business issues. Well what are the business issues? And they say, well, we can lower your costs and we think that's the message, right, But what we forget to do is figure out from their view, so why does that matter. I'm trying to grow my business. I'm trying to grow in new markets. I just did three acquisitions, so I appreciate the fact you're lowering my cost but that's not my issue right now.

And Ding, Ding, guess what you're not relevant to? Me. So at some point we get around one of the lower cost maybe I'll remember this, but right now, thank you very much, really appreciate it. I got a team over there that you got to go spend some time with to lower the cost. My focus is elsewhere. So let's level set on this, Rachel. It's not about calling on a level that's got a title. It's about calling on influence of the strategies and priorities of the business.

That's where we want to go with the discussion.

little bit more. But what's going to cause me to get return access, initial access and then return access to those that are influencing or dictating the strategic direction of their organization, Well, I better be relevant to whatever that strategic direction is aimed at. Are they finally at the point of their digital transformation journey that's been going on for twelve years already where they're now looking at AI and saying, is this the thing that we've been missing along?

I'm trying to figure out how I justify on my board that we spend all this money on this thing and I can't show a whole lot of results other than we've spent a lot of money on tools and systems and security and now maybe this can offer something different. Well, I better have some value relative to that. So when you talk about how do you find it? I think practically it's do our due diligence before we go into the call. We're singing you do is going to that

call and not be relevant to this person's priorities. So I might be able to find it just by doing research on the organization. I might understand it because we deal with other organizations that are similar, that are dealing with similar things, so we can interpret this organization has issues. But I think it's always best if we could find something specific. Do we have partners that understand what the

priorities of those executives are? And then Rachel, our old friend, the champion, can they give us some insights, not just about the company. I want to know about this person. What was she brought in to do, what is her focus? What is she making moves to do? That's what I want to understand. And then once I understand that, the next thing I could do to prepare to be relevant and compelling is to have a point of view tied

to that problem. See. One of the things I think we make a mistake in Rachel that we've learned over the years. We try and get access to the power the influencers, so that we could show them the value of our solutions. Let them know we're experts in our solution. What have we learned. They don't care about that. They expect it that we're going to talk about it. They've experienced a lot of bad selling, but that's not what they care about. They care about are you an expert

in my problem? So just the mental pivot of I'm not here to be an expert in my solution our industry. I'm here because we deal with the organizations that have your exact issue, and as a result, we have a point of view about that. It's not just this, it's this other thing. Now where do I get that point of view? Well, hopefully from your product team, your marketing team,

the founder, the innovators, whatever it was. But have a unique perspective that causes that customer to think, this is about my issue, but we hadn't thought about it that way, and that's actually rather interesting and compelling. Let's take your

point of view and apply it to my situation. Now, what you're doing is you're being relevant to them, and what makes you really compelling is if they get some insights about their business they didn't have before as a result of dealing with you on these podcasts, Rachel, you and I have talked many times about the metaphor of going to a specialist physician. Right. I don't expect them to go there and tell me what the other people

told me. I expect to get some expertise. And so when they start asking me questions, do an exam point things out, do tests. I'm learning some things about me and I am leaning in big time, right. And it's the same thing when we get to those folks that have power influence over the strategies. Do we position ourselves as experts on solving that problem? Do we have a compelling point of view that causes them to think a

little bit different? And then can we start to engage with them on how does that point of view play out in their world? And what insights are we trying to help them understand. And that's what that's what we're really looking for, their perspective on the point of view on the problem that's relevant to their world. Now, they're learning something, and if they learn something and it plays out, guess what's going to happen? They're going to ask you back in Yeah, that's where the return access.

many years ago. I was calling a Ford Motor company for my company and I was twenty eight years old, and I had this person that was great, definitely a champion, no question about it, But at the time I was frustrated with him because I was getting hammered by my management. Even back then, right early eighties. You're not calling high you ought to be calling on this person that person, and I'm like, yeah, I'm asking my guy, hey, can you give me an introduction there? And you know what,

he told me, Rachel, You're not ready yet. You're not ready yet. And I'm like, was because I'm twenty eight you know? No, no, no, you don't know the protocol, you don't know how to position when we do. And it took two years and finally, you know, he said, I'm going to bring into this meeting and you and I are going to prep for that. I said, does that mean I'm ready? He said, well, mostly, but I

want to make sure that you're ready. So a lot of preparation in the flow of the meeting, who was going to be there, how we were going to tee it up if I'm there with somebody else, almost orchestrating the roles to make sure that we're laying out the premise of why we're there and in that role that champion way back then told me, this person gets called on all the time by sales organizations. He takes about

ten percent of those meetings. He has an expectation of what will occur in the first five minutes, he's got an expectation of what will occur in the next fifteen minutes, and he's got an expectation of where this is going to end. So you and I are going to orchestrate this accordingly. And he knew people from my company were going to be coming in because it was forward right, and he said, it's your job, Tim to make sure

they all play their roles. So preparation is knowing what the big issue is in aligning everything you do towards it, but even orchestrating the introduction, the how you're going to set it up, how you're going to share that point of view, the discovery that's going to go on afterwards. And there's one last piece, Rachel. We don't always know this one, but we've come to learn it's really important.

Where is that influencer in their organization. Where is that senior level person in the life cycle of dealing with this problem, because we know so their focus is on different things. Is it early in the life cycle they know they've got a problem, or they've got an issue, or it's become a priority, and that senior level influencer is spending all their time framing what are the outcomes we want? What is this thing intended to do? Maybe all the way down to defining budgets and a team

to work on it, very highly engaged up front. If we can talk to them in that time period with our point of view, what influence we can create on how that initiative goes? The problem is, Rachel, more often than not that part of their process of dealing the life cycle of the problem, we don't know about it. It's going on. When do we typically find out about it? The project team that was given all that direction and perspective, they're now working on it. But here's the thing, guess

where the senior executive is now. They're onto something else. They've already given their guidance to the team. They assume the team is running with it. So it's almost like this trough. It's like an inverted you. They're really highly engaged upfront, they kind of go away in the middle, but then they re engage at the end, Rachel, And

why do they re engage? Then they want to check not only to make sure the team came back with a solution that they were looking for, but more importantly, they want to know did they come back with a solution that's still relevant to today's priorities. I know what I told you six months ago, and it looks like, you did a great job finding that, but that's not our big issue now, it's something else. So why do I say this is part of preparation? Are they early?

If so, I got to double down on my point of view to help influence the way they see that problem. Are they in the middle right? What they're doing is at best checking in to make sure the direction is right. We can't be in there trying to position our point of view when they think the project's already going. There's a different rhythm for that meeting, and that is to share insights on progress, to talk about maybe something that's missing, something new that has emerged that we didn't know about

six months ago. And then at the end, this is the piece. A lot of times, Rachel, people miss they think, wow, I got my project. I'm working with the project team, we were selected, were in contracts, this thing's done. Perfect time to double check with the influencer, economic buyer, senior executive to make sure is this thing that was a priority a few months ago still a priority relative to

today's issues. Now. We almost always can see that, Rachel, but they don't always see it, and their team doesn't always see it. We've all unfortunately been part of that call. Hey, what you did was great, but we've had a few other things come up and the deal slips. It's preparation. Where are they at in their cycle, and let's prepare accordingly. It's not a one size fit. It's all for a

senior executive conversation. So you kind of have to know what's going on with them, where are they at in their cycle, what's our point of view, what's the discovery we drive accordingly? I know I covered a lot there, but yeah, it's really because that's where we've messed.

my champion after this call is over? Are they going to say, Wow, that was a great person to bring in here. Their company really knows what's going on, but they could really help us here. Or is the conversation the other end of the spectrum. Why did you waste my time with that? Don't ever bring someone like that in front of me again? What are we supposed to

do with all that? And I think that's a lot of time the outcome unfortunately, when we're all about just have the executive meeting and that takes all kinds of forms. Great chel Back when I started so on the thing, we always said, well, my president, my CEO is going to be in town. They'd really like to stop by and see you. You know, I don't have time for that.

What's the reason, what's going on? What's your expertise? It's always great I can have somebody do that positioning because remember this, Rachel, here's The other thing we know, when do most of us try and gain access to them when they're in that trough of engagement, they're not engaged anymore. All the research on calling on senior executives said the

same thing. The only way you're going to get access to them only way like it works ninety five percent of the time, whereas everything else is a hit rate of about five to seven percent. Don't send them a book, don't get them tickets to the big game, don't take them to the no no, no, no. Someone they trust recommends that they meet with you. Whether that's you know, now we're back to the power of champion our networking.

Someone they trust says, this is an issue you're dealing with, and you got to meet with these people over here. They're the best in the world at this ninety plus percent of the time, I think the last research was ninety five percent. That executive will take that meeting and then and we've got to align what we do accordingly, not just getting a check. You know, like we called on them so I could get by my opportunity coaching

deal review session. Did you get with the executive? They say, yes, that's not what I want to know, what did you learn from that meeting? What did they learn? What's your next meeting with them? What are the top two or three things we need to focus on with them? That's what I want to know. Unfortunately, Rachel, those meetings go bad.

So when you want to know, what's the mistake, it's it's kind of a version of not preparing, but not preparing correctly and probably being misguided in what the purpose of that meeting is or the endgame. The endgame is to influence the influencers thinking and help them see we're highly relevant and compelling. Relevant meaning we are seen as experts in the problem they have, relevant to what's going

on with them right now, and compelling. We got point of view or a way of looking at it that's different than where they might have been thinking about it or that they've heard conventional thinking, and it's intriguing to them.

It's here's what we've learned about that problem and the three or four challenges organizations have, and the three or four things you got to put in place to avoid that. I'm not talking about my platform. I'm talking about your world and your issue, and so it's be ready to give that. Very few selling organizations have a point of view on the problem. Like I said, they'll go in and say, hey, we can lower your risk, we can lower your costs, we can help you drive revenue. They

don't finish the conversation. The conversation is, we can lower your risk because of the breaches you've had over the last five years. We can drive more revenue because you lack the ability to access data in a timely way to be able to make good decisions to pivot in the marketplace. So it's tying it back to the things that are strategically relevant. It's not just showed the business value. It showed the business value tied to their strategies and

priorities one hundred percent. You know, one of the things we talk about, Rachel is what do they have in common level. You say, okay, they care about revenue, cost and risk. Yes, right, but that can put you on a slippery slope to assume, like a persona based selling approach. They've got this title, therefore they must care about these things. That's not guaranteed, especially in today. You know, you might

be way off and you never get access again. What they care about one hundred percent of the time their growth strategies and priorities. So I would say it's better to not make a call unless you got some confirmation on those things first. That's preparation.