The Value of the Selling at the Executive Level (SellXL) Workshop

Stephen J. Bistritz, Ed.D.
www.sellxl.com

We recently asked some senior-level salespeople about what they perceived to be the value of the SellXL workshop and here are some of their responses.

What do you see as the value of the Selling at the Executive Level (SellXL) workshop?

• After reading some of the course information materials on SellXL, I am reminded of spring training for baseball players. Each year I think it is helpful to get back to the basics and challenge yourself to keep pursuing the larger opportunities and get positioned higher in key organizations to leverage each account. The ultimate goal would be to become viewed as a "trusted advisor" to executives in the client organization.
• Sharing with my peers is always a good way to test new ideas, trends, and ways to improve. Just this morning on our weekly tele-conference call one of the salespeople shared an idea on how to improve the major account process. These ideas are very helpful in becoming a solutions provider to our accounts.
• I am very interested in hearing how my peers have leveraged executive contacts into new sales opportunities. I want to improve my skills in determining the executive's needs, priorities, and degree of influence to impact corporate decisions, both formal and informal. I also want to improve my effectiveness in convincing my primary contacts to arrange for me to meet with their executives. Executive contacts are sometimes brief and infrequent, and it is critical to establish value and credibility very quickly and succinctly.
• Because I would like to gain more knowledge of how to get to decision-makers above the Director level. I always want to develop new skills on how to effectively cold call and ultimately get the appointment. Fresh ideas on how to strategize about growing the existing account business to me is a great way to entrench yourself deeper in an account. I'd like to see some specific techniques on best practices to achieve those objectives. It will also help me in identifying and calling on higher level executive targets within a company's decision making infrastructure.
• Because we often put on blinders when focusing on an opportunity or key executive. It's important to take a deep and wide view of the organization, to determine how/why decisions are made. How to get a better snapshot of the organization; determine how to illustrate/sell value; how to leverage the organizational decision process in my favor. I also want to learn about the best approaches to use to reach senior-level executives more consistently.
• I would like to see additional strategies that I can use to reach out to a higher level of management while eliminating the chance of damaging relationships already established. My personal goal for this training is to gain greater skills in calling on C-Level managers and executives about their "hot buttons". I also want to learn new approaches to securing appointments with this level of executive.
• It is always important to sharpen your sales skills, no matter how many years you have been selling and to learn new, fresh ideas. I also need to be able to do a better job of defining the executive who stands to gain the most or lose the most as it relates to the products and applications that I am selling.
• This workshop looks like it will be beneficial because something new will be added to our arsenal. Anything that will help me get more appointments with decision makers is where I would like to concentrate. I can always use help on cold calls.
• This workshop looks like it will provide techniques for establishing contact and building relationships with the key executives that can impact our business within an account. Identifying and understanding the business dynamics and personalities relating to each opportunity are also important. It will help me engage more frequently and effectively at the executive levels in client organizations.
• 1) It will help me to be more creative in identifying key decision makers
  2) It will help me sharpen my selling skills to client executives
  3) It will help me to gain better knowledge of selling to those same executives
  4) It will help me to perform my overall job of prospecting more effectively
• It will increase my effectiveness in reaching the decision maker when developing a new account. I'll also learn how to analyze companies better and how to use that knowledge to my advantage when meeting with them.
• It will help me improve my knowledge regarding sales influencers within an organization. It will also enable me to gain a better understanding of the organizational roles people play within the sales cycle.

Here's what the participants said after attending the SellXL workshop (with respect to the value of the workshop and what they would now do differently)...

• I now realize that I may be leaving opportunities on the table by staying at the Operational Level in the client organization (because I don't want to jeopardize lower-level relationships). Through this training I have found ways to access executives in a respectful way and gain credibility along the way.
• [From a sales manager]: I'll now perform more research before each key executive call; I'll learn more about the people and the organizations we do business with and I'll hold my team more accountable on preparation
• I'll now approach opportunities differently by first trying to identify the relevant executive. I'll also prepare better for executive-level calls and focus on developing meaningful Value Propositions for my sales opportunities
• I'll spend more time planning and researching the needs of my clients and focus on determining the relevant decision-maker for each sales opportunity I pursue
• I'll now create a strategic approach to large clients and opportunities and increase the time needed to make key steps happen during the sales cycle
• This workshop has convinced me that I now need to work to implant this training into each future sales cycle.
• I am now convinced that I need to spend more time researching target accounts more thoroughly and identifying the relevant executive in each client organization
• The preparation I now do before meeting with key executives will be much better - you have convinced me that my homework will either get me in or do me in!