Do you engage execs deeply enough?

Almost everybody understands the concept in midmarket/enterprise selling that there will be a decision-maker or Economic Buyer who you need to engage with. However, I see two key issues, time and time again.

Firstly, when to engage? In my experience, nearly every AE leaves it too late. They are nervous about engaging early. Often, they don’t know how to go about it. Or what they should be saying.

The second issue, and this one is more subtle, is that even very senior Economic Buyers will not make a decision in isolation. Of course, they will look to their team for input, technical evaluation, business case, etc. But before making a significant decision they are going to speak with their peers – even peers who have no apparent involvement in the decision or the solution being procured. If an executive is making a significant decision to put significant money into an important package, they are certainly going to feel a lot better about it if their peer executives are supporting it.

My key advice to AEs and sales leaders is to ensure that you have very clear gates in your sales process regards engagement with the Economic Buyer. By when you must know their name and title. By when you must have an initial introduction. By when you must know that they are positive about working with you. And, by when you should be aware of their key peers who will influence; and have a plan for engaging with or at least influencing them.

This structure forces the solution to the first issue, but we still need to give AEs the tools to be effective. How do they ask? Who should meet with the Economic Buyer? Are there stages up the management line we have to get to first? When we meet the Economic Buyer, what is the content of the conversation? (Hint: the first conversation with anyone has substantial discovery in it. We must confirm that the Economic Buyer is lined up behind the pains we have discussed with our Champion and other people.)

Getting to the Economic Buyer’s peers is a little more sensitive. Your Champion should be able to identify who they are. If you develop a good relationship with the Economic Buyer, it should be easy to understand how they engage with, for example, the CFO. Getting in front of those people can be more delicate. Again, strategise with your Champion, consider what those individuals will want to know, use other executives in your organisation (CFO communicates with CFO?) in order to develop the engagements. The larger the deal, the more these Economic Buyer peer relationships will matter.