Selling to the C-Suite ─ What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top

It’s the goal of every salesperson: getting access to senior client executives—the C-Level decision makers responsible for approving top-dollar deals. Selling to the C-Suite is the first book that reveals how to land those career-making sales in the words of CEOs themselves!

With 60 years of combined experience selling to corporations around the world, Nicholas A.C. Read and Stephen J. Bistritz , Ed.D., conducted in-depth interviews with executive- level decision makers of more than 500 organizations. One thing they learned might surprise you: leaders at the highest corporate levels don’t avoid sales pitches; in fact, they welcome them—provided the salesperson approaches them the right way. Inside this invaluable book, CEOs reveal exactly which sales techniques they find most effective, as well as those you should avoid.

Selling to the C-Suite provides all the insight you need to:

Gain access to executives
Establish trust and credibility
Leverage relationships
Create value at the executive level
It also reveals when executives personally enter the buying process and sheds light on what role they play.

Selling to the C-Suite provides field-tested techniques to put you well ahead of thecompetition when it comes to making those multimillion-dollar sales you never thought possible.

Nicholas A.C. Read is president of SalesLabs, which helps companies drive predictable and repeatable revenue growth through the application of improved process, measurement, and skills. In 2005, he was awarded Winner of the Best Sales Trainer category in the International Business Awards, an annual awards show that has been dubbed “the business world’s own Oscars” by the New York Post. He splits his time between North America, Asia, and Europe.

Stephen J. Bistritz, Ed.D., has more than four decades of high-technology sales, sales management, and training management experience dealing with companies ranging from start-ups to global leaders. He is currently president of his own sales training and consulting firm based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Preface

A Brave New World For Sales And Marketing

Part 1: When Do Executives Get Involved In The Decision Process?
Chapter 1: Executive Involvement In The Buying Cycle Chapter 2: Four Stage Of Sales Proficiency
Chapter 3: How To Do Highly Effective Research
Chapter 4: Drivers Of Executive Decision-Making

Part 2: How To Gain Access To The Executive Level
Chapter 5: Identifying The Relevant Executive
Chapter 6: The Dynamics Of Organizational Influence
Chapter 7: Gaining Executive Access
Chapter 8: How Do Executives Screen And Test Salespeople?
Chapter 9: Choosing A Path

Part 3: How To Establish Credibility At The Executive Level
Chapter 10: Closing The Credibility Gap
Chapter 11: How To Make An Executive Impression

Part 4: How To Create Value At The Executive Level
Chapter 12: Structuring Meetings With The Executive
Chapter 13: Going Once, Twice, Three Times. Sold!

Appendix 1: Guide To Customer Research

Appendix 2: Tools For Building The Executive Relationship