How do you effectively engage senior decision makers? Engage their executive assistants.

“I think there is a tragedy taking place in many of the [sales] training programs in the marketplace,” says Jeff Thull, author of Exceptional Selling. “It’s the simple use of the term ‘gatekeeper.’ It portrays executive assistants — staff members — in a negative manner.”

Rather than try to evade or attempt to outwit these individuals, Thull urges us to build more effective relationships with them. “The most successful people in sales and marketing are interacting with these assistants at the same level they interact with the executive,” he contends. “Most executive assistants know as much or more about the business going through the executive’s hands as the executives themselves.”

With this in mind, he suggests you put together a “value hypothesis” – a statement outlining the business challenge you might be able to address (based on existing evidence) – to justify a meeting and further investigation.  Then, you share it with the executive assistant and seek assistance.

“You are looking for their guidance and advice as to whether that would be relevant and material to the executive,” he explains. “You get guidance from that individual most of the time. What would we have to do to make it presentable to the executive? What format would be appropriate? You’ll then put that together. Could be in an email. Could be in a letter. You will probably be sending it to the executive assistant, not the executive.”

Such approaches, as we’ve seen in our own Client Discovery work, are essential in establishing credibility with the executive. You want to position yourself as an extension of – and a contributor to — the executive’s team. You want to be a valued business resource. That effort begins by creating a trusted relationship with the executive’s trusted assistant.

I frequently read blog posts written by Ari Galper, a sales trainer focused on helping salespeople move away from slick “always be closing” tactics to approaching prospects in a way that builds trust from the first conversation.

He just posted some thoughts on how to move away from “old sales thinking” in order to improve your sales effectiveness that I want to share:

http://www.unlockthegame.com/UTG/Home/AriGalpersUnlocktheGameSalesBlog/index.cfm?objectID=4219

I really like concept #1:  Stop pitching and start a conversation. If you start every conversation with potential new customers with a description of your services and your company, you risk coming across as a self-serving salesperson…not someone who is focused on the problems your potential customer might have.

I have seen many “scripts” that start this way, and it’s usually not that the person writing the script has wanted to only talk about how great their company is…more often, they just didn”t know how to do it better.

I hope you find Ari’s insights useful. Would love to hear your comments and thoughts.

In a recent post for The Customer Collective, Kelley Robertson offers “7 Reasons Decision Makers Won’t Take Your Calls.” It’s a good list. Robertson introduces the perils of sounding like everyone else, using manipulative tactics and mistreating the executive’s assistant (never, ever do by the way!).

But let me offer one very good reason why an executive will take your call:

You provide valued guidance.

It’s true that executives are busy people, drawn in many different directions by many different demands. They are difficult to reach and engage.

However, executives are also looking for new ways to drive up revenues and drive out costs. They have thorny business challenges they are struggling to address. With this in mind, they value new insights and perspectives that can help them approach these challenges in new and compelling ways.

In my experience, one perspective that executive buyers particularly value is an overview of how their peers are addressing particular problems.

• What investments have they made?
• What solutions did they adopt?
• What hurdles did they confront when rolling out new solutions?
• What results did they achieve?

If you can share this type of information, it goes a long way towards earning confidence.

But perhaps even more valuable is the perspective that a trusted advisor can provide regarding the implications of the executive’s current situation:

• What are the costs of doing nothing?
• What are the risks associated with the current course?

While such insights are generally gathered through deeper diagnosis and research, it’s your promise of gathering and presenting such insights that will encourage executives to take your calls in the first place.

Companies have fewer resources available these days to research and evaluate challenges that are increasingly complex and risk-laden. That is your opening and opportunity.

One sure way of not getting a returned call is pitching your services and sounding like a self-serving salesperson. Provide valued and reliable guidance, and you not only differentiate yourself , executives will welcome your calls.

Why are sales people spending as much as 40 hours per month creating their own collateral and presentations?

Stats from the American Marketing Association reveal that 90% of the materials marketing creates are not perceived as useful….and that tell me there’s a big problem going unsolved in business today.

In a new webinar, Tim Riesterer, CMO and SVP of Consulting for Corporate Visions, contends we could address this problem if we stopped thinking in terms of collateral creation and started thinking about how to be successful at various “moments of truth” in the “customer buying cycle.”

First, it’s critical to recognize that it’s a “buying cycle” and not a “selling cycle.” Customers move at their own pace and have their own set of demanding decisions to address before moving forward at any stage in a larger purchasing process. The key is to have the right conversations and deploy the right sales enablement tools at each stage.

Second, it’s important to clarify and define these moments of truth.   Riesterer observes that companies tend to focus their time, effort and resources on the latter stages of a buying cycle — after a decision is made to proceed and begin comparing vendors.

At this point, the opportunity to help identify a business problem and frame a potential solution already has been lost. It’s too late to become the prospect’s “trusted advisor.” You are, at this stage, merely another hapless contestant in a vendor “bake off.”

Finally, it’s vital to tell  a compelling story. At each stage of the buying process, you are challenged to create not only compelling messages but compelling tools – website content, marketing campaigns, appointment setting guides, call prompters, solution presentations, confirmation letters, value-driven proposals. Each stage is a moment of truth. Your challenge is to tell a story in these moments — one that makes the customer the hero and addresses the questions that are now front and center. In some form or fashion, you must contribute to a narrative that addresses a difficult challenge and leads to impressive outcomes. But messages must be incorporated into actionable tools.

The question for us is:  What is the appropriate tool for the moment? What will help sales professionals provide valuable guidance? What will help buyers make smart decisions that propel them forward in the buying cycle? “Tools must be relevant to the task at hand,”  says Riesterer.

So what will it be? Bakeoffs or Big Numbers? This is your moment of truth.

In a market characterized by increasing commoditization, it’s becoming more difficult to stand out and get the attention of prospective customers. What were once key differentiators, such as technology and product innovation, are no longer enough to set you apart from the crowd.

Without differentiation, it takes more time and money to show prospects why you are the best choice; as a result, you often end up competing on price – a difficult position to sustain over the long term.

One of the biggest issues facing sales organizations today is the simple fact that they are not engaging in enough meaningful conversations with executive-level decision makers. There are many reasons for this, but without the ability to clearly articulate what differentiates your solutions, you simply will not be heard.

Here are five thoughts on how to bring your uniqueness to life:

1. Above all else, know your target market, know their problems, and get crystal clear on the value you bring
2. Sharpen your focus. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Starbucks became successful because they focused on making a great cup of coffee in a unique environment.
3. Even if what you do for clients is similar to many of your competitors, how you do it and your unique expertise can offer rich sources of differentiation. One of Marketing’s original thought leaders, Theodore Levitt, asserted that every service is differentiated in some way. Don’t overlook exploring all the nuances that add value for your clients.
4. Be a thought leader, not a thought follower. Take a stand and offer a unique and compelling point of view on the problems your customers face. The recipe for a weak pipeline is “greater sameness”, so avoid sounding and looking like everyone else.
5. Look for longevity. For sales messaging to have impact, it needs to have staying power in the marketplace.

Identifying the distinct ways that your clients experience value and building your messaging platform around those distinctions will help you generate more initial leads and gain the attention of the decision makers you are looking to engage with.

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How important is strong sales messaging that clearly differentiates?

CSO Insights, a research firm that conducts a yearly survey of sales executives from nearly 2000 companies, found that firms who excelled at creating sales messaging that clearly set their services apart from the competition had noticeably more reps achieving quota and achieved higher win rates.

In today’s challenging economy, lead nurturing is an essential aspect of any lead generation strategy, yet it’s often overlooked. Selling, by its very nature, focuses on short-term opportunities, with time spent on those prospects most likely to buy.

So, what about the leads at the beginning of their buying cycles? I’ve seen statistics that indicate early stage leads discarded by sales represent 50% of missed sales. These prospects will very likely buy at some point – either from you or from a competitor – and having a strategy to stay engaged with them can have tremendous paybacks.

Unfortunately, most companies fall short when it comes to providing their sales teams with tools to nurture these opportunities.

Here are a few thoughts on developing your lead nurturing strategy:

- The true value of lead nurturing comes from the disciplined technique of staying in touch while providing them with the “right” information as they move through the evaluation and buying stages.

- Recognize that potential customers have important and complex decisions to make. As they move through the buying cycle, they must:

1) Understand the possible solutions to their problem

2) Identify companies offering those solutions

3) Familiarize themselves with your company

4) Perceive that you are an industry leader and expert

5) Be confident you understand their specific needs and can solve them

6) Trust you enough to want to enter into a business relationship with you

- As you create your lead nurturing touch points, make sure your complete focus is on helping the customer. If they ever sense that you are out for yourself, you lose the relationship.

Keep in mind the following:

· How can we build credibility with our prospects?
· How can we show that our services will help them solve their challenges?
· How can we differentiate ourselves from the competition?
· How can we reduce the risk in their eyes of a poor buying decision?
· How can we keep a two-way dialogue going?

Implementing a lead nurturing program can help you keep the right mix of short-term and long-term leads in your sales funnel, smooth out dips in revenue, and keep your prospects engaged