Getting CEO's Ear Key To Winning Business

Solution providers need to take their sales pitches to a higher level,the CEO,to have a greater success rate, said Robert Swanson, president of Delta Max Consultants.

"To sell to a CEO you need knowledge and nerve," Swanson told Merisel Open Computing Alliance solution providers gathered at the Net@Work conference here. "Call the CEO first and say you want to talk about his business problems. Listen to what he has to say. Relationships bring results. You need that relationship with the CEO. Then go to the vice president of marketing, vice president of sales."

Getting to the CEO may require some guile, whether it is offering health advice to a secretary with a cold or gathering information from the chamber of commerce, he said.

Swanson offered sample questions to gain a CEO's interest: Ask where he or she his spending their time, what must be changed quickly, would a new revenue stream help out, are the customer's issues organized, what is their decision time table.

"There also are things not to do: Don't talk more than he does. A salesperson should listen, not pitch. Don't give a product or services pitch. Don't say you have the answers, say you'll get back to him. Do not speak in techno-babble," he said.

A successful CEO call will result in an established relationship, Swanson said.

"Also, compliment your competitor. [Your customer will] tell you what he doesn't like about them, then you can address what he doesn't like," he said.

"Be a partner with your customer. You don't prosper unless the customer does. Every deal must be good for both of you," he said. "The customer buys into you, then he buys from you."

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