Why You Should Call High

You can be successful in complex, enterprise sales by starting high and working your way down an organization or by starting low and working your way up. Both work, and which strategy you choose to implement is usually determined by what you’re most comfortable with.

However, in today’s world, right now, if you are a creative salesperson, I believe the smarter play is to call high. Here are 3 reasons why:

Reason #1: CIOs & CFOs are being asked to balance risk & reward

According to a Deloitte report, a CFO’s top priorities in 2023 are cost management, financial performance & growth. And, according to an Info Tech report, CIOs are being advised to “think like chess masters with the strategy of playing both sides of the board, simultaneously attacking the opponent’s king while defending your own.”

What I saw when I read those articles was overlap. BOTH positions, CFO & CIO, are being asked to balance risk (protect the enterprise) AND reward (growth, market share opportunities).

If true, this is a GREAT time for strategic salespeople. Goals at the C-level are aligned right now and that’s not always the case.

Our opportunity, and the needle we have to thread, is to make an overwhelming case of how our solution addresses both risk and reward. The creative salesperson who does that best has the advantage.

Reason #2: CXOs are out of their comfort zone

Whenever senior executives are asked to do things outside of their traditional role, it takes them out of their comfort zone. And that creates new sales opportunities for strategic sales executives and relationship managers.

Here’s an example: Some CFOs and CIOs are currently being challenged to better utilize AI, to rely on it more for decisions and action. Requests like this make executives amenable to new information and expertise they might not have.

Reason #3: Faster qualification & easier inside referrals

There’s a lot of uncertainty in organizations right now. Some at the executive level and a lot at lower levels. But, your best shot at knowing whether your ideas will have any legs with this organization still resides with the senior execs.

And, if there is a possibility, multiple stakeholders at multiple levels will still get involved. It’s always been easier to get an inside referral down from above than the other way around.

Lower level employees see too much risk referring you up the ladder until they absolutely trust you. And that takes time. Higher level execs on the other hand, don’t feel that risk pushing down. They're used to pushing things down the ladder. Approval to meet with you is almost always certain when it comes from above.

For these reasons, I think calling high is the better play. The key will be deep research and creative thinking to connect what’s going on in their world with potential solutions from you. That’s where I’d be putting my efforts.

Good luck and have a great week!

Bob

P.S. Is there a sales topic you’d like me to cover? Please send me your suggestions. I’d love to see them. [email protected]. Thanks.

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