Strategies & Tactics for Selling to Key Decision Makers And Winning Complex Deals

Rationale

Individuals in C-Level positions have their own unique style of processing information and making buying decisions.  Compared to the V-Suite, this upper echelon of executives has broader visions, sharper focus, are less accessible, and have less time to spend in sales conversations.

Your sales approach and communication style must mirror these attributes to win business through selling to executives and to be seen as a long-term trusted advisor.

In this course, McTimothy Associates’ Selling to Executives & C-Suite Training module helps sales professionals build relationships with and sell more effectively to senior decision makers.  We train participants to think more analytically about the characteristics of senior executives, then work to align their own communication and sales styles accordingly.  As a key tool, participants learn a six-phase process for orchestrating the executive meeting or presentation and practice applying the process in scenarios geared towards the opportunity of selling to the C-Suite.

Course Objectives

• Build sales effectiveness by applying a six-phase process to winning business at the highest levels in an organization

• Increase your credibility, influence, and need-based communication skills with senior executives
• Increase effectiveness of presentation materials by better understanding how economic buyers prefer to receive information
• Leverage the skills used at selling in the C-Suite to conduct more effective internal meetings with senior management in your own organization

Target Audience

Training module content is highly customized to any level, from newer to experienced salespeople and their managers.

Delivery Method

Class room training delivery consisting of lectures and roleplay. It is also available as an add-on module to all core training programs or sales retreats.

Course outlines

1.       Engaging Customers at the Executive Level

•    Why do we need to access the executive level?
•    The challenge of selling to the executive level
•    The role executives play in the buying process
•    The “bottom up” vs. “top down” buying process
•    How, when, and why to engage at the executive level

1.      Speaking the Language of the Senior Executive

•    Understanding the world of the senior-level executive
•    Executive-level roles and responsibilities
•    Linking your solutions to executive-level goals
•    Developing your business acumen and vocabulary
•    Becoming conversant in the language of business

1.      Linking Your Solutions to Executive-Level Goals

•    The three key objectives of every for-profit company
•    How executives develop objectives and initiatives
•    Tying your solutions to executive-level initiatives
•    Crafting executive-level business solutions
•    Translating value across the enterprise

1.       Preparing to Engage at the Executive Level

•    Understanding your customer’s business
•    Conducting meaningful company research
•    Compiling useful executive research
•    Establishing your executive-level account strategy
•    Defining your executive value hypothesis

1.       Earning Access to the Executive Level

•    6 major strategies to access the executive level
•    Understanding and leveraging gatekeepers
•    Leveraging your own executive management team
•    Executive-level networking and referrals

1.    Approaching the Executive Level Directly

•    Establishing an executive approach process
•    Defining specific executive approach plans
•    Using a multi-pronged approach pattern
•    Earning the initial executive-level conversation
•    Turning executive conversations into opportunities
  

1.       Conducting Effective Executive-Level Meetings

•    Preparing for your VP or C-Level meeting
•    Objectives of your first executive-level meeting
•    Facilitating executive-level conversations
•    Crafting effective diagnostic questions
•    Diagnostic questioning at the executive level

1.         Obtaining Executive-Level Sponsorship

•    Establishing a shared definition of “success”
•    Positioning and proposing your solution
•    Demonstrating the “linkage” between your solutions and executive-level business goals and initiatives
•    Obtaining executive-level sponsorship

1.       Reading and Leveraging Financial Statements

•    Understanding business performance metrics
•    The Profit and Loss Statement (P&L)
•    The Balance Sheet
•    The Statement of Cash Flows
•    How to leverage financial statements in selling 

Sales Tool: Financial Statement Analysis Worksheet

1.     Developing an Executive-Level Business Case

•    Demystifying return on investment
•    Ways that return on investment can be calculated
•    Developing return on investment projections
•    Constructing an ROI analysis and business case

1.       Presenting to the Executive Level

•    The time and place for an executive presentation
•    The goals of an executive-level presentation
•    The structure of an effective executive presentation
•    Creating alignment and gaining commitment
•    Leveraging the Executive Presentation

1.     Closing Business at the Executive Level

•    Staying engaged at the executive level
•    Keeping the executive involved in the process
•    Developing momentum in the buying process
•    Trouble-shooting the buying process
•    Using the Customer Results Plan at the executive level