It is common for sales professionals to engage a core team of helpers in our sales cycles. We never hesitate to call on our solution engineers and product marketing colleagues. We often look for opportunities to introduce our credible professional services colleagues. Sometimes we even introduce our product development team. And of course we include our direct sales management team. But what about our senior executives?
Our senior leaders can be some of our greatest assets when engaged properly and effectively. Connecting our CEO and CFO with the prospect's CEO and CFO can be powerful. But how hard do we really work at creating an intentional executive bridging plan that includes specific executive assignments for our leaders to execute during our sales cycles? I contend that we don't spend enough time on this. But when we do? It's game changing - both for us and for the customer.
Here are three great reasons to engage the executive management team in your selling efforts:
1. Increased credibility: Involvement of senior management shows the company is committed to the success of the customer and that the sales team has the support of the entire organization.
2. Access to resources: By involving the executive management team, you can gain access to more resources. This might include additional budget, personnel, or even access to new products or services that can help meet the needs of your customer.
3. Expectation management: When you engage your executive team, you may see an new level of understanding and appreciation for the effort required to close that business. There's nothing quite like being on the actual pursuit team to help a CFO or CEO understand all that is involved in winning.
How and where will you engage your executives in your sales cycles?
Happy Selling!
(Image Credit: Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash.)