Selling it to the C-Suite. Presented By: Gary Milewski, Perkins+Will, Inc

Transcription

1 Selling it to the C-Suite Presented By: Gary Milewski, Perkins+Will, Inc

2 What % of the Organization s Problems Are Known to. 4% Top Managers Open Communication vs. The Iceberg of Ignorance Problems unknown to management

3 Make It Stick! Simplicity Getting to the core of the idea Unexpectedness Capturing people s attention and keeping it! Concreteness Helping people understand your idea and having them remember it later

4 Make It Stick! Credibility Getting people to believe in your idea Emotional Getting people to care about your idea Stories Getting people to act on your idea

5 Getting Your Meeting With the C-Suite Do your research. Before the meeting, research and review the Agenda --- What are the goals and strategies? (Pain Points) Use contacts within the organization to understand likely goals and strategies. Is a PowerPoint presentation the appropriate language for the meeting

6 Getting Your Meeting With the C-Suite Don't assume the C-Suite knows who you are. Seek out the correct person to speak with Busy executives are often unaware (or can't remember) why a particular meeting is on their agenda. Introduce yourself and explain why you're there Speak in plain English Tie the subject matter to the agenda and any personal and/or corporate goals and strategies Get to the point quickly

7 Getting Your Meeting With the C-Suite Establish credibility immediately. Within the first few minutes, demonstrate that you've done your homework and understand the company, its challenges and its place in its industry. Don t be overly deferential Speak as a peer Ask intelligent questions. Frame everything according to the drivers that affect the business and the metrics that this executive uses to evaluate activities.

8 Getting Your Meeting With the C-Suite Listen more than talk. Once you've asked a question, hear what the executive has to say. A productive conversation is one in which the customer does most of the talking. Your job is to guide the conversation so that you discover what you need to know in order to be of service to that customer. You need to fully understand a company's problem before proposing a solution.

9 Getting Your Meeting With the C-Suite Add value to the conversation. Resist the temptation to present your solution right then and there. Anything resembling a sales pitch will make it seem as if your haven't been listening or (worse) don't care about what the executive just told you. Instead, bring additional value to the conversation by introducing a different business perspective and your experience dealing with similar problems.

10 Getting Your Meeting With the C-Suite Close on a next step. Involve the executive directly in planning any subsequent actions concerning your offering. In most cases, this will involve an opportunity for you to present some kind of customized solution to the problems you've been discussing. However, take the executive's lead on how to go about this. Ideally, you want the executive to make some kind of public commitment to the project, even if it's just to schedule a group meeting to discuss the idea further.

11 Five Thoughts For Presenting to the C-Suite Senior executives are a tough segment to reach. They usually have very little time in their schedules to give you. Long presentations with a big reveal at the end do not work for them. They ll want you to get to the bottom line right away and often they won t let you finish your shtick without interrupting. When presenting to an audience of senior executives, do everything you can to make their decision making easier and more efficient

12 Get To The Point! Take less time than you were allocated. If you were given 30 minutes, create your talk within that timeframe but then pretend your slot got cut to 5 minutes.

13 Give Them What They Asked For Stay on topic. If you were invited to give an update about the flooding of the manufacturing plant, do that before covering anything else.

14 Set Expectations! At the beginning, let the audience know you will spend the first 5 of your 30 minutes presenting your summary and the remaining time on discussion. Most executives will be patient for 5 minutes and let you present your main points if they know they ll be able to ask questions fairly soon after.

15 Sum It Up! Develop a clear, short overview of your key points, and place it in a set of executive summary slides at the front of the deck; have the rest of your slides serve as an appendix.

16 Five Rules to Remember Make it quick Keep your pyramid inverted Make it stick Create a memorable experience Make it count Create credibility Make it clear Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler Make it live Don t bury the lead

17 Questions / Discussion Gary Milewski President office mobile mrprevention@nc.rr.com