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49: What C-levels want from a Trusted Advisor · Cyber Go-To-Market Talk: The Cybersecurity Podcast About Cyber Sales, Marketing & Revenue Growth

• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone seems to want to be a trusted advisor.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Some even think they are one.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what do executives at your prospects think a trusted advisor is?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Find out in this episode.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Bite-sized sales podcast, where we believe that sales is the most important team in a B2B company, that the sales team deserves great sales training delivered online because it sucks spending days out of the field or off the phones.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we believe that taking bite-sized steps each day to get better at your craft is the best way to improve your results.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Andrew Monahan, and I'm using my 20 plus years in B2B sales to bring you simple, actionable ideas that you can use every day to help you get better.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get to the topic for today, this episode is sponsored by Sales Bluebird.
• 1:29
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• 1:36
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• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sign up right now at salesbluebird.com.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode 49 of the podcast.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Great to have you listening to this and taking things on board as we get into the new year and get in our stride.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: The topic for today is trusted advisor.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a term that's been around for a long time, nothing new there.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's one of these things that there's not a lot of clarity about what it actually means.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think people sometimes underestimate what it really takes to become a true trusted advisor in their accounts.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think the first time I heard the concept was almost 20 years ago.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was working as a rep in a sales organization.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And in one of the other teams, the top rep, I think he might mean the top rep in the company, got promoted to run one of the regional sales teams.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And one of them, actually more junior reps, took over his accounts.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember talking to him, saying, Hey, what's it like to take over Keith's accounts?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because I bet you you did a really good job with them and really, you know, got himself embedded in there.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: It must be tough taking it over.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the new rep said to me, he said, you know, it's interesting because I go in and the first three accounts I call on, we have meetings about what's going on, all the rest of it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And each time during the process, someone in that account turned around and said, You know, I wonder what Keith thinks about this situation.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Keith being the superstar rep that just got promoted.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the the new rep, I remember kind of him scratching his head, going, God, that guy, you know, all his accounts are turning to him and wondering what's Keith's advice or viewpoint or or thoughts would be on some of the challenges they were facing.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember the rep saying, you know, that's probably what a trusted advisor is, you know, when they're literally proactively wondering what the previous rep would have said or done to help them advance their business.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So and recently, Anthony I Norino, he talks, he talks about this.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: He says, you know, if you want to be a trusted advisor, there's only two things you need to have.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: One is trust, and the second one is advice.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a certain clarity to that simplicity, right?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: That seems to make sense to me at least, and I hope it does to you.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the other way to look at this is what is the view of a trusted advisor from the prospect side?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: What is a senior executive at a prospect account that you're calling on want from a trusted advisor?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what will it take for them to take on a trusted advisor, i.e., someone like you?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: In the book Selling to the C-suite, Nicholas Reed and Steven Bistritz actually researched this and they they actually talked to a bunch of senior execs at some medium to large companies and asked them about the concept of a trusted advisor.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to read from the book here because I think it's really fascinating what they found out.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is a bit of a long section, so bear with me, but some good stuff in here.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, reading from the book.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Become a trusted advisor by focusing on the value of your personal relationship with the executive.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: You develop this relationship by understanding the executive as a person first, then recognizing the executive's broad vision for his or her business.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: You advise on the common obstacles to avoid, suggest proven best practices, and build relationships within the political dynamic of the executive's inner circle.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: The inner circle serves as a compass and a mind detector by providing insight and foresight that the executive isn't already tapped into.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Executives in our studies repeatedly cited the continuing value of dealing with salespeople, who would obviously help solve similar business problems for other customers.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was common to hear some of these salespeople can relate to business problems at a very high level.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: They understand that their solution might not be a panacea, but they deliver business value by helping me explore various options.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: My objective is to discuss my business problems with them and develop realistic solutions, not to see a slick sales presentation.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Another executive cited the salesperson's ability to draw on internal or even external resources as a way of possibly solving a problem as a key indicator of business value.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: She said, the salesperson I meet with should provide me with the benefit of his experience, but also be able to secure the additional resources required to provide a broader view of the solution.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Salespeople who operate at the trusted advisor level of a business relationship with multiple executives in several organizations quickly develop skills that can be transferred from customer to customer.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Senior level executives in those organizations immediately recognize the salespeople who regularly connect with executives at their level because they can sense the business knowledge, confidence, and competence that these salespeople demonstrate.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's as if the executives have a sixth sense and can spot the salespeople who are continually dealing with their peers in other organizations.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Of all the traits demonstrated, being prepared for a meeting with the executive is most highly valued and quickly recognized.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: There is no substitute for having a substantial understanding of the customer's industry, their company, and the customer's executives themselves.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Developing this insight into the customer is also one of the easiest ways to develop a genuine and lasting rapport with senior level execs.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: This knowledge enables you to be in a better position to serve as a consultant to the customer, contributing your insights and creating the foundation for a long-term collaborative relationship.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Such demonstrations of business knowledge are observed to help convert what might otherwise be ordinary meetings into extraordinary opportunities, where you gain continued access to the exec and shorten your sales cycle.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: One executive described a trusted advisor salesperson as someone I consider a business consultant who gave me ideas about my business that even my own people didn't come up with.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: As a result, we had we I felt we had a business meeting where she demonstrated some compelling business value and also gave me some reasons why I should grant her continued access to me.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So all that is read straight from the book.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's maybe five key things to draw from this.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: One is when you start operating at that level and start having that continued interactions on business value and wider viewpoints and advice, it shows, right?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: When you're comfortable at that level, it shows and you go from exec to exec, and they kind of want to deal with you because you're operating at their level, and you've honestly distanced yourself from 90 plus percent of the other salespeople you might be competing with because they're just not used to working at that sort of level.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing was the real value in knowing similar outcomes that you've delivered to other companies like theirs or with job titles or personas like theirs.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing these stories inside out, delivering them in very impactful ways around business value seems to be what they called out there in the book.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Third thing was, and I've heard this many times before.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was a rep, I was probably someone who fell in this bucket.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Really successful salespeople command more than their fair share of the internal resources inside an account, right?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: As you get outside the sales org in a company and you draw on the experiences and the great people that you have around the sales org who've been in the industry maybe for a long time that you're selling into, bringing these people into accounts and having them with a viewpoint, helping advise these senior execs is really valuable for these executives that are looking for help, that are looking for people to help them solve their problems.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So commanding more than your fair share of resources is important.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth one was knowing the company and knowing the industry trends at a business level that these organizations are facing.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're gonna be someone who can work with senior execs and you want to be able to advise, you have to take in the wider situation the company's in, what's its strengths, where's its threats coming from, what what new things are they moving into, what new markets, product sets, dynamics is happening.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a bigger company that's older getting threatened by a more nimble, smaller company, or is it more the small, nimble company trying to take market share from a bigger established company?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Things like this, you know, understanding that higher level viewpoint of what's going on in that industry around that company is going to help you be relevant for that senior exec.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: When you're giving the advice or the ideas part of being a trusted advisor, then you're doing it in the context of what they care about, which is super important.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, fifth thing I called out there was really that last point.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Having a viewpoint, having some ideas, being someone who can confidently and competently sit there in front of a Zec and say, look, I've I've actually got some ideas here about how to help you achieve your goals maybe in a slightly different way, or maybe this is an angle you you may not have looked at before, but I think it might actually come through and help you out.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So someone who has the confidence and competence to be able to do that effectively is again going to make you stand out from most of the other salespeople that you're competing with out there.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: So there's five things I called out from that.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot there I know.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for sticking with me.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you if this resonates with you, my action for you would be to go through those five things we just articulated right there and ask yourself how well you're doing at them inside the biggest accounts you're working with in your territory or the biggest prospects you have in your pipe for the next couple of quarters.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and challenge yourself to get better at each of those and challenge yourself to truly become a trusted advisor to those senior execs.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you like this episode, the single most useful thing you could do to support this podcast is share it with your sales network.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: It'll probably take you less than 20 seconds.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is click the share icon in your app right now and share it wide and far.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: It will mean the world to me and it could make a difference to those you share it with.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I need your suggestions, please.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a topic you want me to cover or just want to get in touch, simply email me at upside at unstoppable.do.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's upside at unstoppable.do.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And now to wrap up, training without implementation is just entertainment.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And pretty poor entertainment when I deliver it.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you take action on what you learned today and keep getting it better and better each and every day.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Also, this world does not need more sales BS.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: So please don't create any more.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Be great at the fundamentals, be honest, be real, be yourself, just do not BS.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, I'm signing off as the great Joe Sexton would by saying gone to sell.