How to get a meeting with an executive

Initially, in my enterprise sales career, I struggled a lot with getting a meeting with an executive….

It took quite some time for me to realise my mistakes….

Based on my experiences and talking to elite salespeople, I have developed 3 step process to get the attention of C-level executives

Step 1: Go in warm

Most executives don’t respond to unknown people as their days are very busy with internal meetings and other priorities?

It’s always good to establish some level of reference with executives, it increases the chances of a response

How can you do it?

• Find out someone with whom you are connected who is connected with the executive (Mostly you will find on LinkedIn)
• Someone from your company is connected with someone in the prospect company. You can ask for an introduction and eventually referral to the executive

Why does this work?

• Executives are most likely to accept meetings or respond when the proposal comes from someone they know…

So always go warm whenever you can

Step 2: Leverage your executive, but thoughtfully

Executives are most likely to respond to the request coming from another same-level executive….

If the executive from your company is connected with an executive from a prospective company, ask for help

This can help but be thoughtful in using this as an option and keep this as a last option…

Step 3: Customise your message?

Who doesn’t love personalised messages? Executives are bombarded with marketing emails and promotional emails, if you want to differentiate your message then

• Don’t go with a standard letter or message
• Put in the time to think about the message
• Respect your prospect with your homework

Write something that’s completely custom that takes her needs into mind and you get 3-5 seconds to go in her interest and her attention

For example?

• You can reference something she’s written, said or talked about publicly….
• You can provide a piece of value, maybe something about her competition….

I hope you had a great reading, if you find it useful, please share it with fellow BDRs and SDRs and help them to fix up their meetings with senior executives.

Umesh Khadela