Selling Higher – Are You Ready To Climb?

The fact that decisions are now being made at a higher level necessitates a completely different approach to selling. The modern salesperson is confronted with many challenges, including issues around access.

Indeed, our experience from dozens of UK sales campaigns suggests it is now 50% more difficult to access C-level (CEO, CFO, or CTO) executives in major British companies, compared to just five years ago.

“The air is thinner higher up in an organisation, and the salesperson may struggle to survive…”

Getting to the top, though, is not the end of the challenge; the salesperson has to be able to stay there. The air is thinner higher up in an organisation, and that means that the salesperson’s features and benefits message may struggle to survive.

Fear Factor

Most salespeople believe that it is easier to sell to somebody who is closer to their own level. Understandably enough, they can sometimes feel intimidated when dealing with senior managers.

“…they are often afraid of being ‘found out’.”

For one thing, they are often afraid of being ‘found out’. That’s because they fear that senior managers may think differently, ask different questions and perhaps even use a different language than their own. They are skeptical about whether the senior manager will really want to talk to, and engage with them.

On the positive side, however, the salesperson who can sell to senior managers has a real advantage.

Ready to Sell to The Top? – Take The Test:

• Will you be invited to sit at the board table?
• Can you talk strategy? Can you add value?
• Will you be treated as a peer?
• Can you speak the language of the CFO, the COO, etc.?
• Do you understand the company and the industry it operates in?
• Can you help to build the business case?
• Do you know the manager’s priorities, metrics and goals?
• Can you become a trusted adviser?

To find out who’s really making today’s buying decisions, click here.

Posted by Ray Collis on 10:26 am. Filed under Selling Higher. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry