The case at hand was brought by the CEO of a company whose services were innovative and easily won him meetings with CMOs. However, despite their enthusiasm for his offering, this CEO was often left in “we’ll get back to you” purgatory. He wanted to close more deals.
If I were in your boat, I’d offer potential clients a workshop whereby your people engage their decision makers to explore the benefit of your service and distill whether it is a good fit.
It’s our third meeting together and I understand the strength of your business value proposition. In my opinion, what is at issue here is the institutional inertia of the sales targets. In other words, though the CMO loves your service, he or she can’t get the company to move on it. If I were you, I’d offer to solve this decision-making logjam by helping them answer the key question: is this service right or wrong for the business? I have had success in offering paid workshops where we engage potential clients on multiple levels over many days and drill down on this key question. When the dust settles, they can know with newfound certainty if it’s a good fit.
In my experience, a potential client does not always decide to engage my services after a workshop. In that case, at least my company earned revenue facilitating the workshop while delivering the value of decisiveness to the potential client. Yet more often, the relationships established in the workshop phase naturally lend themselves to inking the deal. Then, I find myself in a situation where I understand the context surrounding the client’s needs – a powerful place from which to deliver exceptional value.
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