Demand Generation Machine

Well going by by the image, thats one corporate hierarchy that you don’t want to be going through to reach the top Selling into large organizations that have a deeper hierarchy can be a navigational nightmare for sales teams but lets face the facts. CIO’s, CTO’s and other C-Level or Vice President level are not the easiest guys to connect with especially in larger companies. There are the voice mailboxes, the spam filters and and the Knights-in-Armor also known as assistant to the VP to shield them from sales pitches and they do a good job at it. A C-Level decision maker maybe the only one who can give you the final nod for your product or service but may not always be the best person to talk to at length when you need to do your groundwork, understand the company’s requirements and discuss the base level aspects of how you can help them which can really take up time he or she doesn’t have much to spare in the first place. The route through influencers and working your sales through the hierarchy is sometimes the best way through depending on what you are selling. If you know even a part of the decision making hierarchy it makes navigating and striking conversations with the right people so much easier. Then why doesn’t everyone pull out an mini organization chart with 2 or 3 levels of contacts and then approach the company?

Well its not as easy as that. Its not very difficult to locate C-Level decision makers at larger companies but when it comes to deeper contacts at a more functional level it becomes harder to locate them. Determining who they report to or the roles within the department can be even more tedious and time consuming so for a sales person its simpler to locate a high level contact and then take your chances hoping you will connect. We have helped companies dig into key accounts they are focusing on to help locate and structure such mini charts around a specific role and although it is tedious, having a choice of contacts to connect within an organization can be a great asset. It’s worth the effort. The next time you have a key account you want to sell into, see if you can work out who are the contacts involved in the buying process, build out your chart and grow your options of how you are going to work your way to that final decision maker. Sell smart!