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Selling to the Chairman: Preparing Our Minds to Rise to the Big Occasion.
By Chris Croner, Ph.D.
Article Date: May 29, 2006
Mastering the Executive Suite
(The first in a three-part series of articles on enhancing executive presence in high-level meetings.)
Introduction
One of the most challenging tasks for a salesperson is meeting with
C-level customers or prospects. Salespeople can have various
fears going into these meetings--most notably that the powerful
executive will intimidate them.
Interestingly, most of this
nervousness stems from the fears and insecurities taught to us growing
up. We deal with bullies on the playground who are more powerful
than we are. We go through high school and college with teachers
and professors who demand reverence and respect. Then we join the
workforce and wonder why we get scared walking into an office with a
senior executive who has the aura of an "authority figure."
This situation can be daunting, until we realize that this fear is
self-imposed, psychological conditioning. Our task in this
situation is to bond with the senior buyer by convincing him that we are calm, capable, and worthy of respect.
The timid, jittery behavior that our professors may have loved will
typically not earn the respect of our senior buyer. For example,
whom do you think the executive prospect would be more impressed
by: George Clooney or George Costanza?
To be successful with the head honcho, we need to master the Three B's of selling in the executive suite: Brain, Body Language and Banter.
Briefly, our "body language" is crucial for conveying confidence,
and "banter" should be used to build a relationship. Future
columns will explore these topics in detail. However, in this
article, we will discuss how to sharpen the first B: our brains!
It's All How We Look At It
Here's something to chew on: Before we ever walk into the
executive suite, we have already determined whether we will win or lose
the sale. Subconsciously, we all program ourselves for success or
failure with a key question we ask all day long: "What does this mean?" Our subconscious answers to this question can make or break us.
For example, when we are preparing for an important sales call, we can decide
that this will be a scary meeting with an authority figure, or that it
will be a chance to show off our expertise. As the meeting
begins, we can decide
that the customer's nonchalant handshake means he would rather not see
us, or that the is simply worn out. During the call, we can take
his momentary resistance as a negative judgment of our product, or an
enjoyment of the negotiation game. When we walk out, we can decide the meeting was a waste of time and not follow-up. Or, we can decide that we have planted the seeds of a major sale, and take the next step enthusiastically.
As these examples make clear, our interpretations before, during and after a big meeting have a major impact on our success. As long as they are realistic, the trick is to make sure that our interpretations are as useful to us as possible.
One of today's most well-known and respect clinical psychologists,
Judith Beck, has a powerful technique for sharpening our minds.*
For the next few days, try this technique to reprogram your mind for
success:
1. Notice when your mood changes for the worse, particularly those times when it seems to dip low, and you can't explain why.
2. Now ask yourself what happened just before that change in
mood. You may need to think hard about this. Someone may
have cut you off on the road, or ignored you when you said "hello" on
the street. Whatever that trigger is, figure it out.
3. Next, ask yourself three key questions about the event:
a. What was going through your mind in that moment?
b. What is the evidence against that thought?
c. What is a more positive alternative explanation?
Expectations
Also, realize that any nervous bahavior likely comes from our expectations about
the meeting. If we view this meeting as a scary make-or-break
encounter with a judgmental authority figure, we are going to get
nervous. So, before the meeting, we need to take time to reframe
our thinking. Here is another tip to train the brain.
Picture the CEO as being your age or at your career stage--someone at your level
who is simply looking for some help with a key problem. No matter
whom you are meeting with, at one time, he was just like you.
Picture him at that level now. Furthermore, realize that you are
an expert in solving his
problem, and you are simply going to help your friend out. This
perspective will go a long way toward reducing your nervousness.
As we practice these steps, we will get better at programming our
brains for success in big meetings. The key is to focus on the
positive without being delusional.
With practice, we will
start replacing our automatic negative thoughts with positive
ones. Most importantly, we will get better at doing this on the
fly--during the meeting itself and afterward--as we rise to C-level
occasions.
*Beck, J.S.: Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond, NY: Guilford Press, 1995.
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