Seven Steps to Establishing Credibility with the Executive Decision-Maker

We often hear that talking about you and your product is the most common mistake made when calling on a senior executive. But that is only part of it – the bigger skill set that many sales professionals overlook is their ability to establish credibility.

We only have one time to create a positive first impression. There are a number of components to create a positive first impression. One of those most important components is your ability to establish credibility with an executive.

Credibility by definition means believable. In a business setting, being credible also means that we have knowledge, authority, and are trustworthy. Establishing credibility with an executive means that the executive does not think that you are wasting their time. Without credibility – you will get no where. So how do we convey that message? How can you introduce yourself and open a sales call in a way that quickly establishes your credibility

Your ability to establish credibility in a sales meeting often begins before any verbal communication transpires. How you dress, look, your confidence and your preparation clearly will impact how professional an executive will perceive you. Beyond that, as sales professionals we must convey to the person we are meeting with that there is value. Too many sales executives want to pitch and sell and forget to engage and solve customer issues and problems.

At ValueSelling Associates, we know that it is important to add value not only to the businesses that we work with but also to the individuals we serve. One way to establish credibility is to focus on that value first – creating a compelling reason for the executive to engage with you.

At ValueSelling, we have broken down the credibility introduction into seven components. These components of how to open a sales call with a credibility introduction are outlined below:

1. Objective: Mr./Ms. Executive, I'm here to talk to you about how I might be able to help you with the (revenue, profit) challenge that I uncovered in my research about your business. The key to your objective is that it has to be a relevant and realistic value statement that is focused on the prospect’s issues and problems. It is customer specific and should capture your prospect’s attention.



2. Transition to Reference Story: It may be helpful for me to illustrate how I do this with an example from one of our current customers. Would you like to hear about it?



3. Business Issue: You may be familiar with XYZ Corporation (I usually use one of my most recognizable customer names). When I first met with them, they identified a significant challenge with (revenue, or profit), due to (competitive, quality, time to market, or cost management) issues.



4. Problems: It turns out that we uncovered three major factors contributing to their challenge, they were (people resources or skills), (process iterations and breakpoints), and (technology out of date with their current situation.)



5. Solution: We delivered a solution that ramped their team up to speed on (fill in) skills, augmented their staff with ours to overcome the knowledge gap, and redesigned the (fill in) process and infrastructure to address the problems they identified.



6. Value: As a result, they cited a significant XX% increase in (revenue or profit) with an YY% increase/decrease in (competitive, quality, time to market, or cost management) metrics.



7. Transition Back to the Prospect: But that was their situation, I'd like to talk more about your situation. What do you think the major contributors are to the (revenue, profit) situation here at your company?
   

In today’s crowded marketplace, establishing credibility is more important than ever. Without it, you will be dismissed and may never get an audience with that executive again. Being prepared is not only respectful of the executive’s time, but it will also take you further in the engagement process.

You'll notice there are several places where you must "fill in the blank" to complete the reference story. Many of our clients today create different credibility introductions for the various segments of their marketplace.

Engage your colleagues to see if you come up with good stories that you can practice and deliver with eloquence. Create more stores by engaging your current customers; ask them about what value you have created or added in their businesses and lives. Be prepared to provide good, strong value statements in your objective to enable your opening to be customer centric and much more effective.