Getting a meeting from a C-suite executive of a mid or large corporation is one of the most
daunting task for a salesperson in B2B. This is because, unlike other prospects who are in
the lower hierarchy of an organization where the salesperson can pitch in multiple times and
try out different ways to approach the prospect, with a C-suite executive, the salesperson
stands just one shot.
That's the reason why sales professionals should have a foolproof strategy while approaching
a C-suite executive while trying to get him for a sales meeting.
Here are 3 B2B Sales tips from my experience which can help you get a reply from C-suite
executives while trying to get their response for a sales meeting:
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1. Try asking for a referral within the organization.
Most of the time, top-level executives especially CEO, CMO, CFO or COO would be involved
with multiple internal tasks that they would hardly get any time for an external salesperson
which is you. Even if they find your short sales pitch to be interesting, they would hardly
have the bandwidth for a meeting. This is the reason they would try to defer it. But most of
the time, CXOs would be ready to delegate it to their Subordinates or Executive Assistants.
A few of the executives would refer you to another person in their organization on their
own, but not the case with everyone until you ask them for that. So, next time you send a
cold email, try asking them for a referral in their organization whom you can talk for
discovery interviews or sales meetings.
2. KISS - Keep It Short & Simple
Almost every CXO of an organization is a busy person hardly having any time even for self.
During these moments, if you get a chance to talk to him on phone, don't waste his time
asking long discovery questions which you can ask others within the same organization. Try
to keep your talk short, crisp and to the point instead of trying to blabber round and round
about a concept just to gain his attention. Instead of getting his attention, chances are
there that you would lose his interest which is lethal in sales.
Hence, the next time you get to talk to a C level executive, try presenting key benefits for
him which you can offer via your products, instead of asking him his 5 year vision of his
organization and asking generic time consuming questions as to what are their challenges.
Ideally you should ask these questions, only if you have a longer meeting planned with the
executive, especially for a discovery interview.
3. Follow Up
Following up is the key to sales success. But it takes key precedence if you are trying to
sell to busy C-suite executives. Often CXOs would be traveling a lot, meeting people around
the world. This means he would stay away from his base office often. Chances are there that
in his run-up to catch up on his own work, he would forget about your last meeting. This
necessitates that you follow up with the executive by cut-off date before any competitor
pitch in and grab the deal.
So, the next time you finish off a meeting with an executive, make sure you ask him when he
shall be available for the next meeting and make sure to add that date to your CRM so that
it can remind you for another meet-up.
I hope you enjoyed reading the post. Do let me know your thoughts on this.
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throughout your B2B Selling process from lead capture to deal follow-up reminders.
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