PRESENTED BY

HOW TO REACH DECISION MAKERS

Carol Roth

Carol Roth is a business strategist, deal maker and author of the

New York Times bestselling book, The Entrepreneur Equation. She

has helped her clients, ranging from solopreneurs to multinational

corporations, raise more than $1 billion in capital, complete more

than $750 million worth of M&A transactions, secure high-profile

licensing and partnership deals and create million dollar brand

loyalty programs.

2

First, I would switch your short-term goal from pitching a sale to

establishing a relationship. Purely transactional business is a bit passé.

To initiate that relationship with the decision maker, get introduced

through a shared connection. It will lend credibility to help bridge that

initial trust gap, plus move you to the “top of the pile” so the decision

maker gets back to you more promptly. You can check LinkedIn to see if

you have a relevant connection, or ask around in your professional,

alumni, personal and social networks to find someone who can provide

that critical introduction.

Jill Konrath

Jill Konrath is a recognized sales strategist, speaker and author

who offers fresh strategies and practical advice for selling to today’s

crazy-busy prospects. Both her books, SNAP Selling and Selling to

Big Companies are Top 20 sales books on Amazon.

3

You should never, ever contact a prospect to pitch a sale. It doesn’t work.

Sales is about helping companies achieve their business objectives. To

get on their calendar, send a series of emails/voicemails focused on the

business outcomes they can get from using your product/service. Pique

their curiosity by sharing the results similar customers have attained. And,

show that you’ve done homework.All this in 25 seconds max (phone) or

less than 90 words (email).

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Liz Strauss

Liz Strauss is a Brand Strategist, Community Builder, Founder of

SOBCon. She blogs at LizStrauss.com and Successful-Blog.com

4

Decision makers are busy people with their own goals and problems.

Getting to know their situation before you approach them is critical to

having a context in which to listen. So rather than chasing after 500

decision makers choose five and get to know their business before you

approach them. Meet someone who knows the decision maker to find out

the venue in which person most likes to consider new sales offers. Turn

your pitch into an invitation. Suggest a way that you might meet or talk for

a limited time (15 minutes) to see how your offer can move the decision

maker to his or her end goal (the one you’re already discovered.) Then

listen.

Bob Urichuck

Bob Urichuck is an International Professional Speaker, Trainer and

Author of two best selling books “Up Your Bottom Line” and

“Disciplined for Life: You are the Author of Your Future.” Bob has

been recognized as Consummate Speaker of the year and ranked

#7 in the World’s top 30 Sales Gurus.

5

Through a referral or introduction, and don’t pitch a sale, create a

relationship. The sale will follow.

Julie Steelman

Julie Steelman’s former clients read like a Who’s Who of big-name

corporate giants with Apple, Microsoft, Toyota, CBS, Sony Studios

and Universal Pictures in her rolodex. She generated more than

$100+ million in sales during her 30-year sales career. Julie is the

author of The Effortless Yes! and is known as The Sales, Success

& Bankability Mentor.

6

There are two ways to do this.1. Contact the decision maker and give

them something they want that will enhance their business or provide a

resource they can use. They will take your call!2. Make friends with their

assistant (if they have one) and get them to put you on their calendar.

Works like a charm!

Harlan Goerger

Harlan Goerger has spent the last 25 years leading hundreds of his

client’s companies to expansive revenue growth. He is the author of

“The Selling Gap” and “Bypassing NO in Business” and spent 20

years as a sales leader with Dale Carnegie Associates.

7

First I would never pitch, it makes you sound like everyone else that

wants something from you. As to contacting the decision maker, the best

is a personal introduction from a trusted connection. At an event, have

someone who knows both of you introduce you. Yes, you need to attend

functions where your clients hang out! Second best is a referral that

knows the decision maker. No matter how the connection is made, do not

pitch your stuff! I (decision maker) will walk away from you! Instead,

research the needs of the client and ask a question about that need and

their plan to address it. Yes, you now have my attention!

Kenneth Darryl

Brown

Kenneth Darryl Brown is President and CEO of eWeb 2 Sales and

Profits, a sales, profit and business development company that

shows companies how to leverage the web to increase sales and

improve profitability. Kenneth was selected as one of the Top 25

Influential Sales Leaders by InsideView this year. Last year, his

show, “The Passionate Entrepreneur“ was picked as one of the

best podcasts for small business by Anita Campbell’s Small

Business Trends. Ken is called, “The Sales, Web and Profit

Evangelist”.

8

First of all, I never “pitch a sale”. People always have their guard up on an

initial sales meeting. No one likes to be sold, but want to buy. My advice

is that you must focus on your prospective client. We have a conversation

(at least 2 conversations or more). We never “pitch” prospects. Our

approach might be different from some sales professionals. We listen,

listen and listen some more. We build rapport. We establish trust and

credibility. We focus on our best specific niche target. We promote our

uniqueness and prove to them that we can deliver profitable results.

Elinor Stutz

Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC authored the International

Best-Selling book, “Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship

Building That Gets Results”, Sourcebooks and the best selling

career book, “HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself

On Interviews”, Career Press. She provides team sales training,

private coaching and highly acclaimed inspirational keynotes for

conferences.

9

First, “sales pitch” doesn’t sit well with me – it sounds as if you are trying

to force something on another party. Instead, focus your approach on

getting your foot in the door to build a relationship/friendship in order to

qualify the business match. The first steps are to review the prospect’s

website to find what’s important to the company and where you might

have areas of commonality. Next, read the business news daily and apply

to the intended company, their competition and industry. By the time you

call for an appointment, you should have enough familiarity to make a

friendly introduction and ask for an appointment to become acquainted so

that when a need develops down the road, they will be able to place a

name with a face.

Lori Richardson

Veteran Sales Detective Lori Richardson sifts through sales clues

and business practices to uncover hidden problems and assets,

then delivers creative tactics with a fresh approach so you can

Score More Sales. She is a sought after speaker, prolific blogger,

sales trainer and multi-million dollar producer, and President of

Score More Sales – a sales strategy firm.

10

It’s relationship first, to understand your prospective client’s situation,

options, and needs. Building rapport and trust can happen through email,

the phone, video chat or in person – the main thing is that you use a

multi-facted strategy that works for their style of communicating. For

example, if they are very visual, don’t always talk by phone or send text

emails – offer them a graphical representation of their situation and ways

to solve it.

Diane Helbig

Diane Helbig is an internationally recognized business and

leadership development coach, author, speaker, and radio show

host. She is the author of Lemonade Stand Selling and founder of

Seize This Day Coaching.

11

Well, the whole idea of ‘pitch a sale’ bothers me. The first step in

contacting a decision maker is to realize that you are solving a problem.

Now that you’ve got that mindset do your research. The more you know

about the company and the decision maker the easier it will be to reach

out to them. Try to determine if they have a situation you can solve. If it

seems there’s a real possibility that you may be able to help them, craft

your message around that situation. Once you’ve done your homework,

try to figure out how you are connected to the decision maker. Who can

give you an introduction? This is why participating on social media,

especially LinkedIn, is so important. You’d much rather get an introduction

than cold call, wouldn’t you? If you have to cold call, decide whether an

introductory letter or a phone call are best. Please don’t prospect via

email. This is the hardest way to get in contact with a decision maker, in

my opinion. If you do cold call, remember you are trying to gain an

appointment. Respect their time, keep your message short and clear, and

ask them if they’d like to meet to explore the possibilities.

Sean McPheat

Managing Director of MTD Sales Training, Sean McPheat is

regarded as a thought leader on modern day selling. Sean has

been featured on CNN, ITV, BBC, SKY, Forbes, Arena Magazine

and has over 250 other media credits to his name. Sean’s latest

book “eselling® – How to use the internet & social media for

prospecting, personal branding, networking and for engaging the c-

suite decision maker” is a #1 Amazon bestseller.

12

The phone is still the best method but not in the way that you know it.

Many think that cold calling by shooting fish in the barrel and “working the

numbers” is the way to go but there is a more updated modern way. You

should first develop relationships via the internet and social media and

then you really have a valid reason for your call. Many gatekeepers will

not let you through if its a pure cold call but if you said something like the

following then the chances are that you’ll get through “Oh, James and I

have been discussing the latest widgets on LinkedIn and I thought it

would be easier for me to call rather than type out a long winded answer”

Ian Brodie

Ian Brodie helps consultants, coaches and other professionals to

attract and win more clients. He writes the award winning More

Clients blog, and recently released his Pain Free Marketing

approach to getting more clients without the pain and expense of

traditional marketing.

13

Well, the first thing is not to contact them to pitch a sale. Contact them to

do something useful for them – add value in advance of doing business

with them. Contact them to figure out whether working together would be

mutually beneficial. But don’t contact them to pitch at them. Yuck.In terms

of the best way to contact, it depends on the person. For senior decision

makers in larger companies, a personal referral or recommendation is

always the most powerful. Ask around or better yet, use Linkedin to find

out who you know who knows them. You’ll be surprised when you use

Linkedin at how often you do have a common contact who’d be willing to

introduce you.

Sue Watkins

Sue Watkins has spent the last 20+ years developing marketing

strategies and campaigns. She also founded SMBmarketer.com

and authors the blog Smart Marketing Basics () and tweets

regularly about small business marketing topics at

@SMB_marketer

14

Call them with important news or research that creates a sense of

urgency around a problem that you can solve..

Jacques Werth

Jacques Werth is President of High Probability Selling, Inc – a

sales consulting and training company founded in 1989 . The

company specializes in sales process improvement. They have

trained salespeople, sales managers, consultants, and business

owners in over 70 industries.

15

Telephone prospecting (not “cold-calling” or “pitching”) is the most

effective way to find prospects who want to buy what you are selling. The

most important factor is to accept “No” for an answer, rather than try to

change prospects’ minds. That way, you can contact 3 to 4 times more

prospects including some who say “Yes.”

Ken Thoreson

Ken Thoreson, Acumen Management Group, Ltd. president, is a

sales leadership professional who “operationalizes” sales

management systems and processes to pull sales results out of

thedoldrums into the fresh zone of predictable revenue. His

blog,Your Sales Management Guru, has been rated in the top 10

sales blogs in the United States

16

I like try these ways:  Ask a current client if they know the person you are

trying to meet and see if they will make an introduction for you. Check out

LinkedIn and see if there are mutual relationships. Make a phone call

before 7:30am, at noon, or after 5:30pm (many business owners work

longer hours than normal hours.

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