It’s Time to Get Our Sh!t Together: Cut Through the BS When Targeting Executives

After 15 years in the field (see this article where I touch on my path to CTO at Impact Networking, LLC ), one thing has become abundantly clear to me: the spray everything everywhere approach to sales doesn’t cut it and doesn’t get the attention of people in my role.

I recently accepted 200+ LinkedIn invites (cue the accept all or be selective on LinkedIn conversation!) and within 24 hours, I was bombarded with nearly 100 automated InMails! That will not grab my attention or any other executive’s on LinkedIn.

As a CTO who stepped back from client facing responsibilities (post sales, sales, sales support, management, etc.), I’ve been part of the pitch, part of the hunt, and part of customer success. I’ve been part of what’s worked first hand and now in my role, I get to be on the other end of the table.

You aren’t fooling anyone (that’s worth selling to)

Let’s cut through the bullsh!t. Enough of the blanket automated messages! Personalized messages are the way to go. There is a reason why tools like Salesloft and Outreach have metrics on personalization and what works. (Hint, use them.)

Do your homework. Research me, my company, my role, what we do, what we don’t do. Reference my videos, my articles, our posts, our company socials. Show me you know who we are, understand what we target as a company, and what we offer. Use your tools. Use your minds. I’ve implemented these tools at Impact, we need them, be smart with them.

Skip the BS perks

Let me be clear on the hard truth with these perks: I don’t need $25 gift card, I don’t need to get to know you, I don’t readily have 30 min for a quick intro, don’t thank me for connecting, don’t offer to buy me coffee.

Further, I know I’m the CTO, I know what keeps me up at night, I know I work for Impact…thanks for the reminders though. It’s all redundant and won’t convince me to spend my time with you. My calendar is based on priorities, if it's worth it, I’ll make time.

Be relevant and direct

Bombarding me about security since I’m the CTO? Did you check to see how your offer is relevant to what we do at Impact? If you haven’t mentioned DOT Security , our sister company who manages our cybersecurity services, you haven’t done enough research. Dive into what you offer, how it applies to what Impact is doing, and come to me with something compelling. You might have to research, but if we are such a good fit for what you are offering, tell me why!

Challenge me. Current vendors/partners of Impact too. What should we be doing that appears we are not doing? If you are providing services and your customer success team is looking to expand, align the message to what we are doing and more importantly, what we are not doing. Educate me.

What actually works

Want to get an executive’s attention? Here is what works for me (maybe not everyone):

1)??????? Reach out on LinkedIn: Sure, send me a message, but make it count.

2)??????? Pick up the phone: Will I answer, probably not the first few times. Leave a voicemail, make it personal, don’t use a recording, and be direct. Don’t hide your number, don’t fake the message, be genuine.

3)??????? Send an email: Mention the voicemail, the LinkedIn message, and anything else that shows me you’re not hiding behind your AI generated content. (I know, I’m a CTO.)

4)??????? Avoid generalizations: Tailor your talk track. Practice it. Own your craft. Challenge me and tell ME why I need to meet with you and not why it’d be nice to get to know me.

5)??????? Highlight the competition: Tell me what others in my space are doing and what they are excelling at. Teach me. I want to learn. I know you may not have all the answers, don’t try. Team selling is real and I am aware of a salesperson needing to bring in resources (I was once one of those resources).

It’s time to take your craft seriously and change the approach vs. the noise that’s out there now. AI can help, but it can also make it worse. Content overload. Have AI help you target what accounts you should be prioritizing. ( 6sense is a great AI tool for this, more on this to come in a future article.) Don’t have AI replace what you do, let it help and supplement your efforts.

If you are just taking the content and hitting send, AI is replacing you. The "Golden rule" of networking boils down to delivering value before making an ask.

Impact has always stood out because of our business model and transformation mindset, but that could have easily been negated if we didn't push towards this. Instead, our exceptional sales leaders knew we had to be consultative and focused on the client, and that’s part of how we became the multimillion-dollar company we are today. (I’ll be talking more about that in a LinkedIn Live later this month with Patrick Layton .)

Respect your time. Respect our time. Own your craft. Be productive. That’s how you get in front of the executives that need to hear your message.