Know-How Exchange : Other

Ritesh,

Good points posted so far. I'd add this:

The CEO's specific situation and your specific solution will dictate how to start in your minute.

Imagine this: "Mr. Smith. I've spent the last 2 months analyzing your XYZ systems, your distribution network, your operations systems, and your offices in 43 countries. I've spoken with 51 managers in your company and they've provided me a lot of help.

Here's what our team has come up with. If you had our system in place, you could save about $3.2 million dollars a quarter."

You could do that in about 30 seconds. If you actually had this data and done this analysis, you would get a lot more time than your remaining 30 sections.

The situation may be totally different. For example, you might go in and say, "Ms. CEO, I've spoken with 22 of your managers about your IT provider in the ABC space. What I've heard: They come in, do their thing, do it cleanly, and add no value in terms of strategic thinking or over-and-above service. The reason I'm here is because our technical folks will do just as good a job with the technical specifications, but we think you should be getting more than just coding and wiring from your current provider. I'm here to speak with you about that. First thing I need to know is, does your assessment match that of your team? Tell me about it."

So before you meet with the CEO, come up with the most compelling reason(s) for him to engage you in a real conversation. You may not be able to show him $3.2 million in savings per quarter, but you should be able to come up with something real and compelling that should win you more time with him or her.

Good luck.

Mike

I like the response from Marcus (mbarber) best. The only edit I'd make is his reference to MILLIONS [of dollars].

You didn't specify if you're pitching your services to CEOs of small/young companies or Fortune 100 companies. . .

. . . so I'd change the word MILLIONS to CUSTOMERS. Or to keep it "vague but meaningful," try using a word like kajillions.

- Shelley ;]

Where are you meeting a CEO that you can only hold his attention for 30 seconds???

In the elevator, or standing in an airport bathroom?

If you had correctly mapped your customer's buying journey and aligned it with your company's selling journey, you would be progressing through the decision-making process with your prospect company in a way that meant these "accidental meetings" were not a critical part of your selling process.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for having an "elevator pitch" that you or any of your sales people can roll out at any opportunity to start a selling conversational process that gets you on that journey.

But the 30-second pitch MUST NOT be the CSF (Critical Success Factor) in your selling process. Otherwise you are surely headed for certain failure.

Review your processes. You need a better structured approach than reliance upon a 30-second pitch.

Read "The Leaky Funnel" by Hugh Mcfarlane for a quick understanding of proper alignment of the seller's and buyer's processes.

You won't regret it.

Good Luck

ChrisB