3 Tips to Get Executives’ Attention
CSMs are often asked to “go higher” and maintain relationships with executives. Many do not succeed. One big reason is that CSMs are often mired in operational issues, riding herd on support cases or managing service issues. But another, deeper reason is that they may not know how to create and maintain relationships with executives. Here are three simple and powerful ideas:
1. Keep track of who they are
Create and maintain an org chart of our customers. Understand the scope of each of your contacts and their reporting structure. Both can change over time so this requires ongoing attention.
2. Get introduced
The best method is to get introduced by one of your contacts, and the best time to do that is when you can point out a success, which you will virtuously and generously attribute to the contact. (Getting introduced to an exec during a crisis is not ideal, but arguably it’s better than never talking to them.)
3. Address their business pain points
Executives’ concerns are different from those of operational contacts. Executives, typically, could care less about a particular bug or the date of the next release. What they care about is whether your service or tool is helping them accomplish their business goals. Make sure you know what their goals are, and organize your conversations them.
And you would think that executives only want to hear about successes. That’s not true! They want to solve problems so don’t obfuscate: talk about the problems and how you will solve them.
What techniques do you use to get executives’ attention? Add a comment.
You mentioned their business pain points. I would also try to find out what their companies short and long term goals are so if possible they can be conected them to the services we provide.
I would also share some background on the people supporting their teams if appropriate. Leave the names out, but share the titles, work history, etc. especially if it highlights breadth and depth of coverage and product and industry business process experience. Executives are often impressed and reassured to learn the person supporting them has more experience than their own team.
I would also offer to visit them – yes, face to face. If they don’t want to they will say no and you can zoom. But so few people from technology companies go to visit their clients just to listen first and then collaborate with them. Most only show up when they have something to sell. Especially now. Don’t be surprised when the executive says “wow – no one from your company has visited in xxx years”.