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60: B2B sales: When is the best time to talk to C-level executives in the buying process? · Cyber Go-To-Market Talk: The Cybersecurity Podcast About Cyber Sales, Marketing & Revenue Growth

• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ever get frustrated about not getting access to the senior decision makers in your opportunities?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: If so, Nicholas Reed and Steven Bistritz explain what's going on and what to do about it in their book Selling to the C-Suite.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Bite-Size Sales Podcast, where we believe that you don't need to take time out of the field or off the phone stuck in a classroom to get great sales training, and that taking bite-sized steps each day to get better at your craft is the best way to improve your results.
• 1:09
  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.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is sponsored by Sales Bluebird.
• 1:25
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• 1:33
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• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sign up right now at salesbluebird.com.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode 60 of the podcast.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And today's topic is about getting access to the C-suite at the time in the sales cycle when it's appropriate on their side to talk to us as salespeople.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I've been in situations in the past where you've been invited into sales cycles by the prospect or by a partner.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you feel like you're getting kept at bay from the senior execs.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know in your heart that it makes total sense.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: You need to get up there and you need to have that conversation, truly understand the much bigger business drivers and big effects you want to have.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gnawing away at you that you can't get that meeting.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone seems to stop you or block you from doing it.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's all sorts of excuses why that's not the case.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then even worse is you've got your sales management on your back saying, Well, you know, have you met with the decision makers?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you go, No, I haven't, and well, why not?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, all this kind of swirls around.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a kind of interesting situation where you know you want to do it because it's going to be effective for them and for you, but it you get held at bay and and no one wants to let you do that.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't want to talk to us.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So in their book, Selling to the C-suite, Nicholas Reid and Steven Bistris talk about this.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting about it is they actually go and do the research and interview senior execs and talk about when they want to talk to salespeople like us.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let me read directly from the book to give this some context.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Salespeople who want to build relationships with executives must enter the picture early in the buying cycle because this is when 80% of executives usually become involved in significant purchase decisions.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: The executive's motivation at this stage is to understand current business issues, establish project objectives, and set the overall project strategy to deal with what might be termed a breakthrough initiative, something that is critical to the success of the client because of significant payback from its implementation or serious consequences if action is delayed or not taken.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: According to one executive from the Office of Furniture Industry, I get involved in the what and why, not so much the how.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: At the beginning, I put in a lot of personal time making sure the project's on the right track and moving in the right direction.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Another executive from the airline industry told us, I'm planning now for how my business will look 10 years from now.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's difficult to forecast on our own, so we depend on the ideas of suppliers and partners in the same industry on the belief that separately we might be wrong, but together we're probably right.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Vendors who can't engage in that forward thinking don't get off the ground with me.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: All three research studies that were conducted confirmed that executives get significantly involved once again late in the buying cycle to evaluate whether the vendors can really deliver their original vision and to measure the results of the implementation.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: They want to understand whether the vendor delivered the value that was originally committed to.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: They also told us that the closer they get to the contract being awarded, the less likely they are to supersede the recommendations of the evaluation team.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: The purchasing decision has already been made in their minds, if not on paper.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that's read directly from the book Selling to the C-suite by Nicholas Reed and Steven Bistritz.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So what they're talking about there in my mind is a disconnect, a dissonance, right?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We want to go and talk to them, and we're in the middle of a sales cycle, but that's not when they get engaged in these purchase decisions.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: You obviously can't see it on a podcast, but imagine uh a U curve, as it were, right?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if you go on the left-hand side as you go up the graph, it's executive involvement, and then along the bottom is the buying cycle.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily the sales stages, but the buying cycle, right?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And given that the buying cycle starts much earlier than the usual sales cycle, a traditional sales cycle that we'll get involved in.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So imagine a U-shaped curve.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So at the start, they're heavily involved, but as the project moves along, their involvement goes down very, very low, and then at the end, it goes back up again.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of what this book was saying.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we have that weird thing where we want to talk to them, but it's when they don't want to be involved.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So what does this mean we have to do?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think the first takeaway is more than ever, we need to go and have conversations when these senior people are not buying, right?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's not easy because if you want to have a conversation with something about something that's not top of mind for them, they're not naturally going to be inclined to take that meeting.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to phrase it in a way and position it a way that's important.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think that executive that they they interviewed, you know, if they're looking five, ten years at, then let's have early stage conversations about what's happening in the industry, what's happening as the trends in the marketplace, so that your conversation is relevant and yet you're you're getting in there to meet with that person and have the right conversation.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So having meetings, having early stage meetings when they're not buying is critical because you're going to meet them at the point that they want to engage.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think the second thing is be relevant to them as well.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: They want to talk about shaping things that are big projects and big outcomes, and they want to go back at the end and make sure that what was promised was delivered and they got the results from the project they want to.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So talk in that in their language so that it is relevant to have that conversation.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the third thing that I would say is that is that make sure you do engage at the end.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think too often as salespeople, we're very good at doing the sale.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: We might maybe keep tabs on what's going on after the implementation or during the implementation, but it's not our natural inclination to do so, right?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Especially these days of customer success teams.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: We want to hand over and let them run that, which is not a bad thing, but you know, we want to go back at the end when that executive gets back involved and make sure that everyone's on the same page, what was delivered, the value that was realized, the outcomes that they they received, and then make sure that we're positioned for success going forward as a trusted partner, someone they can turn to for advice and discussion beyond just what's happening with the one product that we have.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, quick action for you is look at your your target accounts for this year.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the ones you want to get into and target those uh senior buyers, not with a sales cycle type message, but one is much more early in their buying cycle when they're looking to shape outcomes, shape projects for the coming years.
• 8:35
  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.
• 8:43
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• 8:45
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• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: It will mean the world to me and it could make a difference to those you share it with.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I need your suggestions, please.
• 8:59
  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.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's upside at unstoppable.do.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And now to wrap up, training without implementation is just entertainment, and pretty poor entertainment when I deliver it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you take action on what you learn today and keep getting it better and better each and every day.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Also, this world does not need more sales BS, so please don't create any more.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Be great at the fundamentals, be honest, be real, be yourself, just do not BS.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, I'm signing off as the great Joe Sexton Wood by saying, gone to sell.