by Paul Cherry
Almost invariably, the gate slams shut. “I’m not allowed to give out names,” the gatekeeper says. “Send an email to the address on our website and if we’re interested, someone will get in touch.”
The reason salespeople get that reaction is because their tone and demeanor suggests that they’re asking for something but have nothing of value to offer in return. That’s called begging, and it’s beneath you.
If you truly believe that you provide value to your customers, you won’t find yourself apologizing or begging. And you will project that confidence to the gatekeeper. Assume that you’re going to get through to a decisionmaker because you deserve to. You’re not showing up empty-handed. You have something to discuss that the decisionmaker is going to want to know about. Make the gatekeeper conclude that it’s safer to say yes than no to you.
Asking for a Name
For example, your opening statement to a gatekeeper might go something like this:
“Good morning. My name is Bob from the _______ Company. Perhaps you can help me. I’m going to forward some information to the person responsible for ________. Who would that be?”
Right off the bat, you’ve disarmed the gatekeeper. You didn’t ask to be put through to anyone. They don’t have to decide whether you’re going to waste the decisionmaker’s time. All you need is a name.
You’ll probably get it. But if not, stay confident and in control: “I do understand. But it’s important that the information doesn’t get misplaced or lost. Who should it go to?”
If the gatekeeper still won’t give you a name, be gracious and bow out. Obviously you hit a brick wall with the receptionist because it’s her job to block unsolicited calls. So shift gears: “Okay. I understand. So let’s do this. Please forward me over to the _________ Department, and I’ll hold. Thank you.”
Here’s a secret about even the most recalcitrant gatekeepers: Their goal is to get rid of you. They can be curt, bordering on rude. But they’ll almost never hang up on you. So don’t argue, but don’t go away. Gentle persistence is the key. Eventually they’ll decide the best way to get rid of you is by forwarding you to someone else.
Once you get past the first line of defense, the going usually gets easier. One of two things will happen: Someone will pick up the phone, or you’ll land in someone’s voice mail. Either way, you got what you came for: a name.
If someone picks up the phone in the other department, their primary job will almost certainly be something other than screening calls. So you won’t get that same reflexive resistance. They’re probably in the middle of doing something else and the quickest way to get back to it is to give you what you’re asking for. Start by asking for their name, if they didn’t give it to you. Then use the same approach you used with the primary gatekeeper.
Approaching Gatekeepers When You Have a Name
In this day and age, with Google, social media, and business databases a click away, it’s likely that you’ll already have a name when you encounter a gatekeeper. Use it to your best advantage. If you say, “Hi, this is Bob Jones. Is Sarah Smith available?” you’re giving the gatekeeper the power to say no. Instead, say something like this: “Hi, this is Bob Jones. Please do me a favor and forward me over to Sarah Smith. I’ll hold. Thank you.”
This approach works very well. You’re not asking the gatekeeper for permission; you’re asking him to do something. And you’re communicating the idea that Sarah Smith will want to talk to you. I’m not suggesting that you be deceptive or try to pretend that you know Sarah when you’ve never met her. But you do have something important to share with Sarah. Your positive attitude about yourself and your products needs to come across in your voice.
Of course, there is a difference between confidence and arrogance. Receptionists and gatekeepers have to deal with all kinds of people all day long. Some will be rude, dismissive, or condescending. Some will try to bully or intimidate them. Don’t be one of them. Make their day a little better, not worse. Be positive, courteous, and friendly.
CHAPTER
24
C-Suite Questions
How to Connect with Top-Level Executives
FOR MANY SALESPEOPLE, reaching the C-suite is the Holy Grail. If only they can get a few magical moments with the president, owner, CEO, board member, vice president, or director, they’ve got it made.
It doesn’t really work that way. C-level execs delegate operational tasks, which includes buying stuff. Often the person who can say yes is further down on the organizational chart. There’s nothing wrong with that. Go where the money is.
But when you have an opportunity to make a bigger impact on an organization—when what you sell aligns with high-level strategy and direction—the C-suite is where you want to be. And when you get that opportunity, you don’t want to be telling. You want to be asking.
The key point to remember when you’re crafting questions for these prospects is that they’re always thinking about the big picture. Like everyone else, they have day-to-day responsibilities. But their primary job—the reason they get paid the big bucks—is to set strategy and make sure it gets executed. They are thinking ahead, constantly trying to figure out where they are leading their team.
In the C-suite, you don’t hear the kinds of excuses that low-level contacts are likely to give you. You don’t hear, “I’m just trying to get through my day. I can’t even think beyond what I’m doing now. I’m satisfied with our current situation, no need for change. I can’t wait for the weekend.”
Getting through the day is a foreign concept to top execs. They’re not even thinking about today. They’re thinking six months, a year, three, five years out. They embrace change because they know that if they just keep doing what they’re doing the world will leave them and their organization behind. They are thinking about growth, competitive advantage, how to position their organizations for future success, and how to respond to emerging threats.
The biggest mistake salespeople make with C-suite executives is to try to sell them the same way they sell to operations people. “Let me tell you about my products and services, my features and benefits,” the salesperson says. “Let me tell you about our satisfied customers and why we’re better than the competition.” Top execs have no patience for that. That’s a conversation you should be having with one of their people.
The only reason a C-level executive is willing to give you their time is because they think you might be able to help them with their job. They want you to help them think better. They want to be challenged. They want new ideas. They want to know what they’ve overlooked. Don’t let them down.
One of the best ways to initiate this type of high-level discussion is with educational questions, which we discussed in Chapter 3. You will recall that these questions are built around some highly relevant and provocative insight or piece of information that offers a fresh insight about the customer’s world or the issues they’re facing.
C-suite executives love these questions. They align perfectly with their high-level, strategic thought processes. Top execs love to talk about industry trends, new and innovative ideas, market changes, and challenges.
So prepare for C-level conversations by finding an article, journal, or industry problem that’s relevant to the C-suite’s industry. Use it as an opener:
“I came across an article that mentioned ______. It made me think of you. . . . .”
“I do a lot of work in the ______ industry. All of a sudden it seems as if everybody’s talking about ______. Some of my contacts are telling me ______. Others are saying that’s not the case, and it’s more about ______. I’m curious about your thoughts.”
“I was at a conference last month, and one of the speakers said ______. I hadn’t really considered that idea before, but it makes a lot of sense. Is it something you’re seeing in your business?”
Notice that these examples never mention a particular client or share confidential information. But they do show your keen awareness of the industry an
d that you, like the exec, are thinking about the big picture.
Tell Me Your Story
If you really want to make a positive, lasting impression on business owners and high-level decisionmakers, ask them about themselves. Successful people love to talk about how they became successful, and few people actually want to hear their story. Their employees and spouses are tired of hearing about it. Their kids just roll their eyes when they start talking about how things were back in the day. Colleagues and peers might be envious and don’t want to listen to a rundown of all of their successes. These influential people have a story to tell, and no one who wants to hear it.
How do you get them to share their story with you? During an initial meeting, you can say something like, “You must have had some exciting and challenging times to get this business to where it is today. Can you tell me what prompted you to start your company?” Or, “How did you get started in this business?”
Most likely, this person is going to be thrilled to share her story with you. You can ask follow-up questions during the conversation, but keep the focus on the prospect. This is a golden question and will definitely leave a lasting impression on whomever you ask.
I personally love to hear people’s stories because it gives me an insight into their personalities. You also learn that every successful person has struggled and failed, but that they were ultimately able to climb their way back to the top. It is something that we as salespeople can relate to as well. You might even learn something!
By the way, while this technique works great in the C-suite, you can use it elsewhere with great effect. I recently asked this question to a departmental supervisor. It turned out she was a single mom who put herself through college while working nights and raising her children. She is an inspiring person, and it was great to connect with her on a personal level. I am sure she will also remember me, and would be willing to talk to me again and introduce me to others in her organization.
Another way to connect with C-suiters is to ask questions about their organization. It’s their baby and they take immense pride in its successes. So you might say, for example:
“I read that your company won an award/was recognized/has achieved/been in business for eighty-eight years and you’re the third generation/has a reputation for/has had quite a successful track record in/is known for. . . . Tell me what you believe has led your company (or you) to be where you (or your company) is today? As you look back, what do you believe is the reason why you not only survived but thrived all these years?”
Sit back because you’ll get an earful of the company’s history, including the challenges, opportunities, people, changes, and how they overcame hurdles. As long as you are genuine and you’re truly interested, it’s a great question. But if you’re just trying to flatter the exec, don’t bother. Most top execs recognize brown-nosing when they see it, because they see a lot of it. Don’t be a lap dog or cheerleader. Rise to their level.
Don’t be afraid to challenge what they tell you. Top execs like to think, articulate, work through problems, identify alternatives. They welcome great questions—even ones that create some discomfort—because they want to stretch their minds.
For the most part, they’re friendly and approachable. Their number-one strengths are people and communication skills, which is how they got where they are. They get results through other people, so if you can bring value, they want you to engage them.
More C-Suite Questions
Here are some additional C-suite questions:
•What changes are you seeing in the marketplace and how are you and your company dealing with change?
•Where do you see the opportunities moving forward? How are you and your team taking advantage of these opportunities?
•Tell me where you see you and your company three years from now. What are your plans to get there?
•As you reflect back over the past _____ years leading your company, what’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to tackle when it comes to _____? What was the key lesson others can learn from that experience?
•What have you tried that’s worked? What have you tried that hasn’t worked? What did you learn from that experience?
•Obviously obstacles can get in the way. What do you foresee as some of the key hurdles you’ll be facing? How do you plan on tackling them?
•Your customers have a lot of choices. From your perspective, what do you believe is the core reason why they continue to do business with you versus others?
•Describe for me your long-term goals to grow the company.
•What are your biggest concerns for the future of your organization?
•What’s the impact on you and your organization if you don’t achieve the goals you shared with me?
•As you look back over the years with your company, what’s the one takeaway lesson you’d like to share with others that could make a real difference in their careers?
A C-Suite Scenario
Here’s an example of a salesperson calling on a C-suite executive, using some of the techniques we’ve discussed:
Alex works for Mugs ’n Stuff Promotional Products. He sells pens, coffee mugs, and T-shirts. Typically he calls on purchasing agents, buyers, sales managers, and product marketing managers. It’s a price- and commodity-driven business.
Can Alex really call on a bank president? Yikes! Let’s find out.
One of Alex’s accounts is a local bank. It buys about ten thousand pens a year, which it gives away at local branches. During a recent visit with his contact—a purchasing agent for the bank—Alex learns that the bank is opening up five new branches in the community. There will be a big push to attract new customers.
“I have some ideas on how you can do that,” Alex says. “It’s not just about pens.”
“Well, I’m not the guy to talk to,” Alex’s contact says. “But I do know that the president is all over this expansion. If you have good ideas, he’s the one you’d want to talk to.”
Alex prevails on his contact to make an introduction, and after several calls with the executive assistant, he manages to get a thirty-minute appointment with Bob, the bank president.
After the initial pleasantries, Alex says to Bob: “I’ve been working with a number of banks to create unique incentive programs to attract and retain good customers. To see if these programs might fit with your needs, may I ask you a few questions?”
Bob: Sure. Fire away.
Alex: I understand that you’ll have five new branches opening up this year. Congratulations. So tell me, what’s driving the growth and what are you hoping to accomplish over the next several years?
Bob: Our growth strategy is all about service. We take great pride in our ability to provide personalized service and get to know each customer, their goals and needs. We consider ourselves progressive in an industry that is slow to change. Our competition thinks that if they build a branch, customers will show up. We know it takes more than that.
We take a lot of pride in the fact that we build and sustain our relationships with customers. We go out to meet with them at their workplace and home and get active in promoting community projects. And we work hard to offer some of the best rates available nationally.
Our competition is basically happy with the status quo. They rely on customers’ inertia. But they’re not seeing how vulnerable they’ve become. We get at least two to three customers a day contacting us to switch their accounts over to us. So we know that customers aren’t getting the service they expect from our competitors. That’s why we want to get more aggressive in this regional market and start building more branches, five this year, and thirty more in the next several years.
Alex: That’s exciting. So let’s talk about the new branches opening up. How are you going to attract new customers?
Bob: We have an aggressive marketing plan for each branch, which includes advertising in the newspapers, radio, direct mail, and the Internet. Each branch manager has a goal. They’re expected to
sign up two hundred customers within the first six months of opening. It’s a pretty aggressive plan but we have to achieve those types of numbers if we’re going to continue to grow at least 15 percent per year.
Alex: Okay. Those are aggressive plans, but with advertising you’ll stir up a lot of interest. So then what happens? Share with me what types of new-customer incentives and rewards programs you’re considering, and how they align with your brand and reputation.
Bob: That’s a good question. We’d be interested to hear your ideas. I can tell you, based on the demographic profile of our customers, that we’re looking for high-value incentives such as gift cards, leather portfolios, maybe high-end softshell jackets or even customized tablets to motivate potential customers to sign up right away.
You mentioned our brand. It’s something we really care about. We need to reinforce the message of who we are and our fifty years of being in business.
Alex: Fifty years says you’ve done a lot of things right to be where you are today. I definitely can provide you with some insight on what kinds of incentives work best. But before we go there, tell me about what an average new customer would be worth to you, and a little more about the demographic profile for the types of customers you’re looking to draw in. . . .
So how is Alex doing?
You’ll notice that he didn’t pull out his laptop presentation or catalog and do a product dump of promotional items he could offer—even when he was invited to do so. Instead, he stayed focused on discovery and finding more about the needs, wants, and Bob’s vision of the future.