What Executives Expect You To Know

Connecting with executives and decision makers in today’s business world has never been more challenging. And it’s no wonder.

Their schedule is packed from the time they walk into their office in the morning until they leave the building that evening. They race from meeting to meeting and take call after call. Several years ago I read that the average executive has at least 40 hours of unfinished work on their desk at any given time and I’d bet that that figure has increased.

That means if you are fortunate enough to secure a face-to-face meeting with a key decision maker, you need to be ready.

According to Nicholas Read and Stephen Bistritz, authors of Selling to the C-Suite, here’s what they expect you to know.

What are the most recent trends in your prospect’s industry?

What is their position within the industry? And how does this compare with industry leaders?

What are the prospect’s goals and/or mission?

What are their key business drivers and initiatives?

What payback will the prospect achieve if the initiative is successfully implemented?

This is your pre-meeting homework assignment.

You may not be able to fully answer every question but investing the time to do the necessary research will help you develop key questions to ask that prospect. And those questions will help you fill in the blanks.

This research will also show that you respect your prospect’s time because you won’t have to spend time asking basic questions about their business.

Today’s business executive does not have the time to spend educating you.

They expect you to be informed.

They expect you to be armed with relevant information.

And they expect you to be able to offer a solution that will help them achieve their goals.

Is it a lot of work?

You bet!

But the payoff is tremendous.

What about you? How do you typically prepare before a face-to-face meeting with an important prospect? Please feel free to leave your comment.