How to Sell Virtualizing Technology to the C-Suite

For years we have sold into one silo with one contact. Often it has been with the IT director or the voice manager. As a result, we are struggling as an industry to penetrate accounts wide and deep. To overcome this we need to start from the top down and target the C-suite.

Talking to members of the C-suite can be stressful, but it can be the difference between closing a sale and creating a customer for life. The first step is to master C-level speak and banish all tech buzzwords. Talk benefits. They want to know what senior executives always want to know:

1. Do the benefits outweigh the costs?

2. Will this help build efficiencies?

3. How can you fix broken processes?

4. How much money will this save me?

The CEO is the leader; the visionary and they need to elicit public trust as the face of the company. Typically, in companies with less than $100 million in revenue, the CEO has great say in major technology decisions. Peak their interest with proven technologies that are redundant and accessible anywhere providing credibility and helping with socially responsible initiatives.

CFO's don't want to hear about the specs of a new processor, or how BYOD poses immense challenges to the organization's infrastructure and security. They're all about numbers and what those numbers can do to save their company money. Discuss how you can get them on the right side of the Capex vs. Opex divide.

The CMO is looking to grow revenue and leverage digital channels as touch points in order to dominate marketing and sales strategy. Discuss how virtual platforms can allow them to send content farther through a centralized system off-site and how it can help them manage innovation, product development, marketing and sales—across all platforms, both digital and bricks-and-mortar.

Today's CIO has business smarts, a knowledge of analytics and an understanding of how to align IT with business goals. They have to know how to walk the walk and talk the talk. With the CIO discuss the benefits of the IT department working on the business instead of being caught up working in the business.

The COO helps assure the company's vision and milestone goals are implemented and rolling out transformation agendas. They should see the value their staff provides beyond fixing printers and taking help desk calls. Take the path of least resistance and appeal to their need and desire to fix broken processes.

Moving more technology off-premise and relying on the virtual network to deliver what you customers' need is the future. We will all be more successful if we change the audience when we have that discussion. For more thought provoking business-grade telecom and technology solution insights visit www.tbicom.com.

Sponsored by Telecom Brokerage, Inc.

PUBLISHED AUGUST, 2014