Cracking the Code: How to Win Over Executive Buyers and Close Deals

I recently found myself on a video call with a former colleague from Australia—let's call him Jack. Jack was evidently distressed, having just missed out on a significant sales opportunity. His frustration was palpable; he was quick to lay blame on his client, who, in his words, "was too ignorant to understand how digital transformation would benefit the organization." Compounding his frustration, the key stakeholder had left Jack's presentation after just ten minutes, citing "an unplanned executive meeting."

Wearing both my consultant and sales executive hats, I began to delve deeper. "What did you expect from the meeting? Did you prepare adequately? Can you share insights into the industry trends? What do you know about your client's strategic objectives? How do key meeting participants contribute to these objectives? How does the organization compare to its peers? What is their financial performance?" and so on.

From our conversation, it became clear that the sales enablement team had not adequately prepared Jack to engage with his client. He had also made several mistakes, including failing to demonstrate a clear understanding of the client's industry, operations, and challenges; presenting a product rather than a business solution aligned with the client's strategic goals; attempting to sell a broad digital transformation program instead of focusing on a specific business outcome; and not understanding the financial and operational metrics crucial to the key decision-maker.

Planning

A common mistake among client executives is succumbing to the temptation to meet the client prematurely. Remember the six Ps – Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Sales enablement plays a critical role in this; business development is a team sport that facilitates extraordinary results and success in complex deals.

The first step involves reviewing the client's industry and examining emerging business and technology trends, challenges, risks, and financial performance. Then, it is essential to understand the client's financial position, current focus, strategic initiatives, and the underlying financial metrics driving these initiatives. Much of this information can be gleaned from the client's annual report and shareholder letter. The third step is to evaluate the client's standing against its competitors, particularly areas where the client lags.

At this juncture, it is important to qualify the opportunity. Ask yourself—can we aid the client in achieving one or more strategic goals? What solutions can we offer to expedite the delivery of results? Are we able to articulate a compelling, provocative value proposition that addresses the current inadequacies and offers a clear return on investment? Subsequently, it is crucial to clearly express the "how"—how do our solutions help accomplish the strategic goals?

The ensuing step involves identifying the lines of business (LOBs) directly associated with these goals and strategic initiatives. It is equally critical to determine which executives hold the most power and influence and to understand the metrics used to measure and reward their performance. For instance, a C-suite executive may be primarily concerned with market value and earnings per share (EPS). A vice president of procurement will likely be interested in cost savings, supplier concentration, and purchase order cycle time, whereas a vice president of product development might be more focused on product development cycle time, time to market, and the product innovation index.

Building Trust and Credibility

For a salesperson (and a consultant), establishing strong relationships with the C-suite by gaining their trust and offering reliable counsel is paramount. This process will require you to clearly understand their thought processes, decode their decision-making styles, and embody a shift in mindset that Zig Ziglar encapsulated perfectly—"Stop selling, start helping." One advantage of fostering rapport with the executive team is the potential that they will refer you to the right decision-maker for the opportunity at hand. Starting from a low position often leads to an uphill struggle; it is far more challenging to climb the organizational ladder than to be referred down.

Firstly, demonstrating insight, interest, and a deep understanding of the client's issues, the root causes, and their financial status, strengths, and weaknesses—as well as those of their competitors—is vital. This approach allows you to leverage your planning work effectively.

Secondly, adopting a consulting mindset is key for sellers. Ask clarifying questions to comprehend how potential buyers contribute to the corporate strategic goals and what challenges they encounter. This understanding enables you to become a trusted advisor who adds value in every interaction, extending beyond the sales process and fostering quality discussions. Ask yourself, "What can I inform them about their industry or business that they may not already know?" Remember, executives are often stretched thin due to their responsibilities. Their focus on their own sphere might make them oblivious to certain other aspects. Hence, offering value by presenting something they are not privy to can be an easy win. However, ensure that the information aligns with their interests. For instance, discussing cyber resilience with an individual intent on developing a competitive edge through customer data analytics would be fruitless.

Lastly, when communicating a solution to their challenges, you can enhance your credibility with the client by highlighting the inherent risks, their potential consequences, and mitigation strategies.

Communicating with Authority and Impact

Being able to showcase your successful track record in resolving similar issues undeniably establishes credibility, which is why consultants often excel as salespeople. However, simply highlighting past victories is not enough. To truly foster a connection with clients and communicate with authority, it's essential to exhibit a profound understanding of their industry and organization. This requires presenting insights into emergent game changers such as industry and technology trends, societal factors, and more. Showcasing that you truly comprehend your audience—understanding their challenges, predispositions, expectations, and interests—is fundamental. Failure to ground your communication in this understanding may undermine trust and compromise successful outcomes.

Here are some tips for communicating with authority and impact:

1. Always show how your solutions or insights align with the strategic goals of the client organization and the individual buyer. Remember, there is no silver bullet—a single solution will not address every goal. Instead, strive to make a significant impact on one or two key objectives.
2. Rather than trying to sell a broad concept (as Jack did with his digital transformation program), concentrate on how your solution can add value to a specific strategic initiative, ultimately supporting a strategic goal. For example, harness the data analytics and business intelligence capabilities of your solution to gain insights and enhance customer experience, which is vital for their revenue growth goal. A word of caution: every organization is interested in cost reduction, especially in times of economic uncertainty. However, cost containment is only one side of the coin and generally has a short-term horizon. From my numerous cost "optimization" consulting engagements, I have observed that clients often have an "aha" moment when I encourage them not only to cut costs but also to reinvest some savings to equip themselves for revenue growth when conditions improve.
3. Be sure to illustrate the financial impact of your intervention. I recall proposing a solution to a Fortune 100 firm aimed at reducing their staff attrition costs, which exceeded nine figures annually. I provided industry insight, analyzed attrition costs from junior to senior staff levels, and suggested a proven approach to address the problem, all while carefully managing their expectations. I could have told them that I would reduce their attrition by 10%—equating to savings of, say, $10M—for a $1M engagement fee. Instead, I emphasized the "power of one" by explaining that, based on industry data, a one percent improvement would yield $1M in savings. This led the client to quickly calculate the impact of a more significant improvement.

In summary, selling to executive buyers requires a genuine willingness to help them. To position yourself as a trusted advisor for the long term, you also need to meticulously plan and prepare, establish trust and credibility, and effectively communicate with authority and impact. This can be accomplished by demonstrating your understanding of their industry, operations, and challenges; clearly presenting how your solution or insights will deliver business outcomes in alignment with the client's strategic goals; and highlighting the financial impact of your interventions.

For further reading on this topic, consider the following articles. Complex deal origination and closing: art or science? | LinkedIn and Sell like a consultant and close deals! | LinkedIn