“I didn’t know I was supposed to ask permission OR wait for an invitation…” ~ Lynn Hidy
That was my answer on how I built a relationship with a contacts boss’ boss.
It really is that simple – even though perhaps it wasn’t easy to accomplish.
The most important thing to realize is that when I first started working with the account, I reached out to everyone in the organization who had anything to do what with I sell. EVERYONE who had ANYTHING to do with it; from deciding, to implementing, doing the paperwork part, using it, and more. Top to bottom of the corporate hierarchy chart. I didn’t worry about if they were “the right person” I wanted to figure out how everything worked on THE CUSTOMER end.
Early one morning I made a call and *shocker* someone actually answered (oh how I love when that happens).
That someone happened to be the VP in charge – I had done my research so I knew who I was calling and asked about the direction of the department, priorities for the year, and other strategic questions.
The questions were certainly tied to what I was doing with the people who worked on the team YET of course the answers weren’t. I still asked about everything and listened to what was going on – what was important to THEM.
Then I said “based on everything we’ve been talking about – it sounds like ______________ that I’ve been working with your team on isn’t really high up on the priority list right now… is that about right?”
…it was VERY quiet on the other end of the phone…
The reply came a lot later than I’d anticipated “You know, that is right – but you’re super calm about it not being a priority for a salesperson.”
I laughed and said “Well to earn your business, I need to understand your priority list – I’m guessing I can’t make you change it.”
Then I was the one to be silent when “You’d be surprised how many salespeople try” was the next thing the VP said.
wait WHAT – I’ll admit I might have sputtered out something incredulous like that.
We kept chatting and I learned that many salespeople; don’t listen to everything ONLY the things that related to what they were selling. Plus would then work to shift the corporate priorities to fit what they wanted to sell. I also learned that the VP tended to never answer their calls again. If the self serving salespeople happened to get through – they would be immediately be referred down the hierarchy chart to someone else.
I asked when the thing I was working on would become a priority, along with who and when it made sense to follow through on things.
The success is that I could accurately forecast the close date, I knew what had to happen BEFORE my stuff for it to be successful on the customer’s end, plus had an open invitation to call early to get updates on what was going on in the department.