A simple but effective strategy to schedule initial sales meetings with senior executives

1. Six steps from
A locked gate

2. To an open door

3. Step One
Identify your target market

4. Step Two
Identify specific target executive roles in
specific companies in your market
CEO, CMO, CIO, Sales Director, etc

5. Step three

6. Step three - research
Use all the sources you can
Ask yourself what are their priorities;
As a company?
In their role?
As an individual?
How can you help them with their
business & personal priorities?

7. Step four – contact them all individually

8. Step 4 – contact them all individually by..
The gatekeeper
...using the best channel(s) for each person

9. Step 4 – contact them all individually
The best channel for most people – still!

10. Step 4 – contact them individually
With a
message

11. Step 4 – contact them individually
To achieve a single goal

12. A meeting!

13. Where you have their undivided
attention!

14. Step 5 – create your customised
value proposition
In that company

15. Step 5 – create your customised
value proposition
For that individual

16. Step 5 – create your customised
value proposition
For that business problem

17. Step 5 – create your customised
value proposition
One that you can help them with

18. You schedule a meeting
or
You get a “no thanks”
“No answer” does NOT mean “no thanks”
It means keep asking – nicely
Step 6 – Keep communicating until

19. “I’d like to meet with you for 30 minutes to discuss
how we can help you to <insert Value Proposition
here>.
“What’s the best way to do that?”
Your simple message

20. The value proposition is designed to answer one
question only;
“Why should I give
up 30 minutes of
my valuable time
to speak to you?”

21. The unspoken answer to that question is
“Because I can help you
fix a problem you really
care about - but you have
to meet with me and give
me your full attention to
find out how.”

22. • Tell them what you can do for them (not how you do it)
• Use their terminology, not yours
• Make them curious
• Make them feel their time will be well spent
• Make sure your online presence (LinkedIn etc) is
credible and matches your story
• Tell the absolute truth
• Focus on helping them
• Mention similar companies you’ve helped – but only if
necessary
• Mention mutual contacts – only if relevant & needed
What to do

23. • Try to sell them on you or your company – your
only objective is to get a meeting
• Tell them how you can help them – too much detail!
• Offer to send them any collateral - at all
• Talk about yourself
• Talk about Gartner’s magic quadrant
• Use your own terminology
• Tell them about your awards, or your size or your
recent wins or other stuff they don’t care about
Remember – they don’t know you and they don’t care about
you – they only care about themselves and their problems
What not to do

24. Some simple tips
The gatekeeper is not your enemy

25. The gatekeeper is your friend

26. Everyone wants to talk to the CEO

27. But who does the CEO want
to talk to?

28. The CEO cares about talking to (in
approximate order)
• The Executive team & the Board
• Shareholders
• Customers
• Business unit managers
• Other CEOs
• The media
• Existing suppliers
• Their employees
• Family & friends
• The dog, the tax man
• Anyone else other than a salesman
Or maybe a sales person – IF they think they can help them
So help them by focusing on what they care about.

29. How do you get
their attention?
• Keep it simple
• Keep it short
• Keep it consistent
• Focus on a single objective
• Use multiple channels
• Speak to multiple executives
• Repeat
• Repeat
• Repeat

30. Use the right message

31. And stand out from
the crowd
• Be polite
• Be persistent
• Use multiple communication channels
• But particularly the phone
• Say less, not more
• Do your research
• Know what they care about (that you can help them with)
• Remember – your only objective is to get a meeting to discuss
how you can help them
• Focus on them, not you

32. And you’re off!!
This strategy will get you in front of senior executives in most of
your target accounts
There are many tactics – what to say, how to say it, when to say it,
how often to say it, who to say it to, what not to say – that will
dramatically accelerate your success.
And developing the right value propositions requires thought and
practice – different people care about and prioritise different
things – so feel free to call me for help.
To contact me for more information email me at steve@stevehall.com.au,
see my LinkedIn profile or call me on +61 410 481 960
© Steve Hall 2016