WHAT ARE THE TOP 10 WAYS TO GAIN TRUST WITH THE C-SUITE?
Did you ever wonder why you have trouble gaining access to and working with senior executives (CXO's)? The answer can be found in this simple statement:
"If you want to know why the CXO buys what the CXO buys, then you must see the world through the CXO's eyes!"
-Unknown
Seeing the world through the CXO's eyes requires you to also understand that senior executives speak a different language than you do. And, their priorities are different from yours. For instance, CXOs do NOT want to hear about YOU or YOUR PRODUCT. That's right! They do not care about you or your product.
CXOs DO care whether you can help alleviate a current or future pain that they have. Can you help them take advantage of an opportunity? Can you help them "move the needle" on the metrics for which they are responsible? After all, those metrics translate into an improvement in the company's financial performance scorecard (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, or Cash Flow Statement). THAT's what a CXO really cares about.
Finally, one last very important thing that CXO's value is TRUST. CXOs are so busy, they will only work with people they trust.
Here are the top ten ways to gain trust with CXO's:
Help them; teach them to:
1. Define, Measure And Drive Success
Focus your discussion with the CXO on the outcome rather than the details of your speeds and feeds and technical mumbo jumbo. You may ask, "How do you define success for this project?" Or, "How do you plan to measure success for this project?"
2. Better Understand What Causes Success And Failure
Share your experience with other similar projects from other accounts. Share references, quotes, testimonials to help clients stay away from landmines in order to drive a successful project.
3. See The Big Picture
Senior executives are paid to see the big picture. Share your knowledge of how your solution is solving other client's challenges and impacting financial metrics nationally and internationally.
4. Evaluate ALL Alternatives
You must help the client see ALL the solutions that could help solve her challenge. This should be done without regard to whether your company provides all the possible alternatives. Your goal is to consult and help the customer. This could mean helping her understand offerings that are competitive to yours. It could also mean helping her understand that one viable option may be your biggest competitor. One alternative is to maintain the status quo. That means helping her to NOT BUY.
5. NOT Buy
Due to a sharp increase in utilization, a client asks you to come to talk with her about adding a new XYZ Technology System to the two that she currently has. Rather than beginning the discussion with how great you are and how great your solution is, you open with a discussion of how you can better utilize the current two systems she has. That's right, you try to optimize the existing equipment before trying to sell a third XYZ Technology System. For more, click HERE.
6. Identify And Tackle Current And Potential Future Challenges
Use your experience in the industry to assess the potential cracks in the wall around their enterprise.Think about future challenges if they keep their current system.
7. Benchmark Existing Performance vs. Top Competitors And Industry Leaders
Use your experience dealing with other companies with similar challenges to "Benchmark".
If you know your client is trying to drive productivity gains, compare her productivity to her top competitors and industry standards.
8. Quantify The Financial Value Of The Current Pain And Potential Solution
This is called helping develop the "Business Case" for a project. For major projects, it is a critical tool to help the client obtain budget approval.
9. Better Understand The Customer's Customers
Share data about the behavior, wants, needs, trends and challenges of your client's clients.
10. Better Understand The Market; Key Issues And Tech Trends
Remember that your client goes to work every day following the same traffic route, going to the same building, the same office and sitting in the same chair. Use the global knowledge and data analysis of your company to help your client appreciate the key trends and issues that will impact her now and in the future.
Of course, none of the above can happen without a deep understanding of your client. I like to say that you should know your clients better than they know themselves. This is now relatively easy with all of the web-based research tools that are at your fingertips.
Here is a short video from Ed Morton to help you to understand the importance of research and trust. Ed Morton has served as CEO, CFO and Partner of major institutions in the health care and financial industries.
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| Gaining Trust With Senior Executives |
