Continuing our 5 Reasons series, this month we talk about why CSMs are often stuck at lower levels of customers’ organizations–and as a result can be blindsided by strategic decisions they never saw coming but can cause unexpected churn. And they can also miss important upsell and cross-sell opportunities because they are not plugged in to the decision makers.

Here are five reasons why CSMs are unable, unwilling, or unsuccessful at connecting with decision makers, with solutions for each. We’ll start with the basics: they don’t know who the decision makers are.

1. They don’t know their clients’ org charts

I’m always concerned when CSMs report they have a great relationship with just one contact. That contact may leave the organization entirely, move to a different job, or lose influence within the organization, and then what? And if that single contact is a project manager or even a director of the organization, that may not be high enough to be in the know.

Train CSMs and require them to map an org chart high enough to reach the decision makers. Once they have a good relationship with their contact, it’s not difficult to obtain that information: simply ask for it.

Lesson: Require recent org chart information for every customer

2. They are shy about going over the heads of their contacts

Even when they know who the decision makers are, CSMs can be reluctant to speak to them for fear of offending their contacts. Of course they need to protect their primary relationships, but cultivating connections with decision makers is essential. Show them how they can request an introduction from their contacts, ideally at a time when things are going well and the CSM can highlight the contact’s contributions. Once the initial contact is made, it’s easier to reach out directly.

Lesson: Mandate regular touches with the decision makers

3. They don’t know how to talk to executives

CSMs may get time with executives–but when they do they may not understand that they need to speak a different language and use a different message. Unlike the CSMs’ usual contacts, decision makers are not in the thick of operational details: instead, they care about ROI and strategic goals. This means that the CSMs need to understand the strategic goals, which their usual contacts may know, but which may benefit from a direct discussion with the decision makers.

And they need to couch their messages in terms of the strategic goals, which may require a rearchitecture from the usual QRB decks, and in any case deep customization for each customer.

Lesson: Train CSMs to understand and address strategic goals

4. They are asking for big chunks of time

Executives are busy. One of the best ways to get on their calendars is to ask for very short meetings (and have the right message, as described above). It takes time (see below) and skill to craft a short message but that’s the best way to earn decision makers’ attention and interest.

Also, CSMs’ natural styles tend to be more casual, friendly, unhurried. They need to flex to a more direct, straightforward, even blunt style.

Lesson:  Train CSMs to flex to a direct, abbreviated style

5. They are too busy with menial tasks

Preparing for a short meeting with a decision maker takes a long time. Are you doing everything you can to provide appropriate metrics and tools to streamline the prep? And are you expecting the CSMs to perform all kinds of other, routine tasks that sap their time and energy? If connecting with decision makers is important to you, and it should be, free up CSMs’ time to conduct remarkable meetings with them.

Lesson:  Automate tasks to free up CSMs’ time for executive conversations

What do you encourage your CSMs to reach out to executives? Please share in the comments.

(And if you need help, we can help.)