Everyone talks about the C-Suite or the CxO. In fact engagement with the C-Suite is bandied around sales meetings and conference calls to such an extent that much of the time talking about meeting with the CxO plays second fiddle to what you are actually going to talk to them about.
For many, even quite senior, Account Directors, the customer’s C-Suite is a strange enigma. Hard to reach, hard to interest, hard to secure regular follow up and hard to read. In fact the C-Suite are just plain hard - full-stop. But in reality, it’s only hard to engage them if you don’t take time to see their perspective or understand what matters to them. Do that and most people realise that the C-Suite are a pretty straightforward bunch - especially considering they carry the weight of the world (I mean shareholders) on their shoulders.
So, just why do the C-Suite matter so much to sales anyway? The truth is if you are selling pens, then they don’t matter much at all, on the other hand if you are selling solutions to highly complex business problems then getting the C-Suite on side can be a matter of whether you win or lose. The chances are that if you are selling a solution that genuinely solves a significant business challenge, saves a significant amount of money or better makes your customer a significant amount of money you will be touching your customer’s strategy. And if you are touching your customer’s strategy then you are in the realm of the C-Suite, because that’s what they care about. On this basis, if your competition is successfully explaining how their proposal neatly compliments their customer’s strategy then it is as likely as a dime to a dollar that they’ll be securing the support of the C-Suite when it comes to decision making time.
From years in business, my observations of how many CxO meetings were approached was often a bit like this. There were normally two contexts. Setting out the stall to drive the agenda for ‘strategic partnership’ or trying to win last minute support for a highly competitive slug of business. Of course both are important reasons for meeting with any member of the C-Suite - no issue with the rationale then. And yet, despite the strong intentions, few such meetings went as well as they could.
See if this sketch rings bells. After a seemingly endless sequence of mails a date is finally nailed in the CxO’s agenda. The meeting is 2 month’s into the future. The date is shared internally and the diaries of a couple of executives blocked. 2 weeks prior to the session a request is made for an agenda. This invariably catches most people off-guard and there then follows a further flurry of emails to knock out a headline agenda and quickly send it over to the executive assistant. The meeting is looming now, so a cross functional team is pulled together generally involving the account director, a raft of subject matter experts who will pull together the material relating to the latest and greatest in their portfolios and 2 conference calls and 140 slides later most of the team think they’re ready.
It’s at that point, with 4 days to go, that one of the nominated executives can’t attend. There’s a conflict, but not to worry, the VP of product development will stand in - they know the material ‘intimately’. Not ideal, but ok. This VP reviews the material and changes a few slides, but unfortunately, he can’t attend the final review call as he’s travelling for the next few days. The 3rd and final call is attended by a senior director who has been asked to attend by the other attending executive who is wrapped up in a town hall. This director, who’s not attending the meeting with the CxO, innocently asks why there are 140 slides for a 90 minute session. Knowing that the meeting is with the CxO and maximum one other, he then asks how many people are attending the meeting. Apparently there are 4 ‘must attend’ subject matter experts, 1 executive (his boss) and a stand-in for the other executive who can’t now go. This call does not go well and the Account Director works late into the night to tie up loose threads in a fit of mild panic. Perhaps it won’t be so bad, everyone is meeting in Starbucks to align 45 minutes before the session tomorrow.
Sound familiar? We’ve all been there. The difference between this and a stellar outcome? Understanding what really drives the C-Suite and then early and effective planning.