May 15, 2006

As every sales rep knows, it takes a lot of work to secure a meeting with a top-level executive. So if you get one, it’s important not to blow it. Richard Hodge, founder of The Real Learning Company in Scottsdale, AZ (www.reallearning.com), interviewed more than 150 vice presidents and C-level executives of global companies when he and Senior VP Lou Schachter were researching their book, The Mind of the Customer (McGraw-Hill, 2006). Hodge says these decision makers consistently bemoaned the following five traits in the sales reps who called on them:

1. Failing to prepare. When a top decision maker carves time out of his jam-packed schedule for a sales rep, and that rep comes in asking questions that are answered on the company’s 10-K, Web site or other public documents, it’s an immediate turnoff. The good news, of course, is that reps have access to more information than ever before so it’s easy to avoid this mistake. Research the basics before your meeting and save your precious time with the executive for high-level, strategic questions that only he or she can answer.
2. Forcing the prospect into your sales cycle. Most sales rep walk into a call with the goal of moving the prospect to the next step in the sales cycle. Instead, they should be aligning their efforts with the prospect’s buying cycle, says Hodge. Otherwise, if you’re pushing a proposal and the buyer is still exploring his options, he’ll instantly feel the misalignment and conclude you’re the wrong vendor. “Get into the mind of your customer and line up your resources and your actions and your selling cycle to the customer’s buying cycle,” advises Hodge.
3. Bringing in your sales manager as the super-closer. Top executives say they are annoyed when a sales rep brings in his manager to help close the sale because it feels too much like a textbook high-pressure close. And that’s a sure-fire turnoff. Decision makers say they would rather see the manager at the beginning of the sale. Moreover, they add, they want the manager to add to, not duplicate, the rep’s capabilities. As Hodge puts it, executives want to see a “one plus one equals three” scenario, where the rep plus the manager make a truly powerful team with the manager using his position to bring in additional resources and customer information and technical experts that the rep alone might not be able to muster.
4. Engaging in one-way communication. Executive-level decision makers are “really, really tired of canned PowerPoint presentations,” says Hodge. They are immediately turned off when a rep walks in, fires up his laptop and proceeds to dump out his marketing department’s pre-packaged spiel. Instead, they want more engagement, more interaction. They want a free-flowing discussion of high-level issues – a back-and-forth discussion in which each side contributes, asks questions and listens. In fact, if you really want to connect with and impress an executive, leave the laptop at home. Hodge says decision makers are more impressed with a white board or flip chart conversation that is interactive than with a pre-packaged, one-way product pitch.
5. Pulling a Houdini once the sale is complete. Decision makers expressed frustration with reps who were attentive and responsive during the sales process, then disappeared after the sale was complete. “Executives want sales reps to have a high level of accountability, including during the implementation phase,” says Hodge. Reps who abandon their customers after the sale is complete, he adds, “have won the battle but lost the war” because they do severe damage to the long-term relationship with the customer – and that usually leads to an eventual loss of the contract.