Senior Executuve Selling - It's Lonely At The Top

"How Sales Reps Can Add Value To Sr Executives"

Senior executive selling shouldn't be a mystery.

Executives face a tough challenge. They are held accountable for achieving results, but their organizations, not them, actually achieve those results. The dynamics of how executives interact with their organizations create a number of execution challenges. As a sales representative, you can add a lot of value to the executives in your accounts by helping them address these challenges.

Imagine an organization represented as a triangle with the CEO at the top and the people that actually do the work at the bottom. The closer people get to the top of that triangle...

1. The further they are from the truth - It's often difficult for top executives to get good information about what's really going on within their organization, with customers, competitors, and markets. At best, they are subject to selective communication and interpretation from the managers below them. At worst, they are told what their managers think they want to hear, or what the manager wants them to hear, neither of which is close to the truth. You can add value by discretely reporting the truth without compromising the people within the executive's organization.


2. The harder it is for others to hear them - Conversely, it's often difficult for top executives to deliver their key messages to the troops at the bottom of the organization. This is like the old game in which kids sit in a circle and pass a secret from one to the next. By the time the secret comes full circle, it's often completely different. You can add value by helping the executive deliver unfiltered messages to the troops with whom you work.


3. The less they know - Executives typically rise through a particular function, like sales or finance, or through a particular business unit. The higher they go, the more responsibility they have for functions or businesses outside their sweet spot. To compound the problem, their knowledge of their own functional area or business is likely to be dated. You can add value by helping executives understand how your offerings impact all the functions and businesses within their organization.


4. The further they are from the action - Executives are many layers removed from the people on the front line. An executive's strategy often goes through a number of interpretations, translations and iterations by the time it gets to the people that do the work. They may do a good job, but not the one that produces the results that the executive wanted. You can add value by helping the organization better align with executives' initiatives and objectives.


5. The brighter the spotlight - People within their organization are watching what the executives are doing, especially the more politically astute ones. Thus executives, have to be careful with their actions, or at least the ones that will be visible to their organizations. Many savvy execs will use their actions to send messages, and will avoid actions that could send the wrong message. Thus, you have to be careful with what you ask executives to do. It's often better to work with them behind the scenes and use visible actions judiciously.


6. The closer to the edge they are - If they perform, executives are well paid, and get to stay on top or rise even higher. If not, they're pushed over the edge and fall a long way to the ground. Thus, most executives manage personal risk very carefully. You can add value by helping them better manage that risk by providing insights that ensure their success, minimize unanticipated consequences and enhance their ability to get things done in their own organization.


7. The fewer people there are to talk to - Top executives have very few peers or colleagues with whom they can talk openly. For example, a CEO has very few, if any, people within their organization with whom they can talk about CEO issues. Thus, executives often go outside their own organization to find peers and colleagues to talk to. You can add value to an executive, by extending their network. Connect them to their peers within your company and other companies that you call on. Better, become a "trusted advisor" with whom they can talk to as a colleague.


8. The more authority they have, but the less they can use it - Executives delegate action to other people within their organization. In practice, they rarely use their authority to tell someone, especially other executives, how to do their job or overrule a decision. And they can't openly violate their own chain of command. If they do, they run the risk of undermining their own organization, which, in turn means that execution will suffer. In realty, executives rely on their influence, informal networks and the key lieutenants. You can add value by enhancing the executive's influence and helping them use that influence to get things done in their own organization. Don't put executives in a position that they have to overrule, or otherwise undermine, their own people.

The bottom line is that executives talk to and seek help from people outside their organizations. They know that suppliers are critical to their success. More importantly, they know if they want something from a supplier, the sales rep is the best way to get it. So they will talk with you if you are perceived as

• Credible and trustworthy, focused on their agenda,
• A source of insight and resources,
• A way to enhance their influence and ability to get things.

This means you have to be a lot more than someone who sells them products or services, which they personally don't buy anyway. They generally have people that buy and use what you sell. So if you focus on selling your offering to them, they'll send you down with no return access. However, if you focus on enhancing their personal success and on the success of their organization, then you'll get continued access and leverage. They also understand that they have to help you in return. If you're a valuable resource, then they'll make sure you get plenty of business so that you'll be there for them.

A story to illustrate - A sales rep we know advised his customer to cancel a major order, and over the next several years that customer purchased millions from the rep. The customer had planned to spend over half-million dollars to upgrade one of their manufacturing systems. The rep advised them to transfer a system from another department that was no longer being used, and then upgrade that one to meet their needs. This saved the company a bundle and meant that the Division GM didn't have to write off the system that was still on his books. This got the attention of key executives, and increased the reps access to those executives.

In a subsequent meeting with the GM, who was relatively new to his job, the rep found another way to add value. The GM didn't really understand how the division's manufacturing system worked or how IT decisions got made within the parent organization. The rep, spent several hours drawing on the whiteboard, helping the GM better understand the system, its impact on his organization, and how to best work with the parent company to get things done. He never even mentioned the products that he sold. The work done on the whiteboard was still there a month later.

Soon thereafter, the GM decided to open a new plant. When it came time to buy the manufacturing systems for the new plant, the customer called the rep with the rep's system already specified. However, the rep didn't just take the order. He scored additional points, by providing some resources to validate the spec, even removing one of the computers from the requirements, and to help them implement the systems. His help enabled them to beat the deadline for the plant opening.

The GM scored big by having his systems not only running, but fully tested and ready for operations ahead of schedule, which save the company a bundle in outsourcing costs. And, of course, the rep far exceeded quota. From then on the rep was referred to as a "stakeholder partner" and had free reign to go anywhere within the company. He was also invited to the dedication ceremony when the new plant was opened, and was seated next to the Lieutenant Governor in the second row.

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