Sales Training Article: Bad Assumption #7 – Executives Are Interested in Offerings

By John Holland, Chief Content Officer, CustomerCentric Selling® – The Sales Training Company

Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Companies that don’t provide messaging guidance on how to make calls on executives do a disservice with the significant amount of product training they provide. In today’s buyer environment it seems sellers have limited opportunities to share that knowledge because most mid-level and below staff prefer to get their product knowledge via the website. The primary reason for this is they are leery of sellers who they believe will try to influence their requirements (try to sell them).

While lower level staff’s interest is primarily in learning about products/offerings, executives have neither the time nor inclination to become knowledgeable about products. Early attempts to educate them will usually result in being delegated to lower levels (a bad outcome) or worse yet, for a premature end to the meeting.

Executives are concerned and interested in improving business results. They want the “Cliff Notes” version about offerings. By that I mean they’d like a seller to uncover their business issues, help them realize why they can’t be achieved without the seller’s offering, and then at a high level have an understanding of what capabilities are needed to achieve the desired outcome.

Key takeaway: Executive calls are all about business outcomes and having them learn howofferings can be used (usually by lower levels in the organization) to achieve them.

Take a look at the sales training workshops available to you.