In my experience a purely tactical executive does not grasp strategy easily. Here's a good example. I have a client right now who has just started a brand new magazine. The salespeople find it nearly impossible to reach the advertisers they want in the magazine. This is a market with 80 plus competing advertising vehicles. To meet this challenge, I changed the name of the salespeople so they would have less threatening titles.
But here's the point: An expedient salesperson would say: " Why would I want to relay all that when all I want to do is sell them advertising?" The strategic executive would comprehend that this approach would actually get you into conversation which would build some fellowship and interest before trying to directly sell the candidate an ad. The strategist checks out every challenge as an opportunity to out-do and out-think competitive forms. This will be displayed 10 more ways during the upcoming pages. When your salespeople or yourself approach a client, what do you want them to achieve? What is your strategic target? When I ask executives that question, most of them answer wisely, "I want to make a sale." And then I ask them to think strategically, "What else would you like to accomplish?" And they reply, "What else is there?" And then the dialogue goes like this:
Me: Would you like to be reputable? Them: Well, of course I'd like to be reputable.
Me: Would you like to be trusted? Them: Well, of course I'd like to be trusted.
Me: Would you like referrals? Them: Well, of course I'd like referrals.
Me: Would you like a preemptive plan for when your competition tries to undercut your pricing? Them: Well, yeah, that's a great plan.
Me: Would you like to be perceived as an expert? Them: That could be valuable, yes.
Me: How about authority, would you like to have authority in that meeting? Them (the tacticians): What does that mean?
Me: Hang with me here a second. How about brand dedication? Is that important? Them: Heck yes.
Me: What about some urgency to buy now, would that be a logical thing? Them: Yes. That would be great.
If you even think about these objectives, doesn't it automatically change how that meeting might go? So much of this is left up to the individual salesperson-every time. What if you, as the leader of your company, could devise a way to accomplish all those strategic objectives, and do them every time anyone in your company is in front of a buyer? How much more powerful would you be over your competition?
But here's the point: An expedient salesperson would say: " Why would I want to relay all that when all I want to do is sell them advertising?" The strategic executive would comprehend that this approach would actually get you into conversation which would build some fellowship and interest before trying to directly sell the candidate an ad. The strategist checks out every challenge as an opportunity to out-do and out-think competitive forms. This will be displayed 10 more ways during the upcoming pages. When your salespeople or yourself approach a client, what do you want them to achieve? What is your strategic target? When I ask executives that question, most of them answer wisely, "I want to make a sale." And then I ask them to think strategically, "What else would you like to accomplish?" And they reply, "What else is there?" And then the dialogue goes like this:
Me: Would you like to be reputable? Them: Well, of course I'd like to be reputable.
Me: Would you like to be trusted? Them: Well, of course I'd like to be trusted.
Me: Would you like referrals? Them: Well, of course I'd like referrals.
Me: Would you like a preemptive plan for when your competition tries to undercut your pricing? Them: Well, yeah, that's a great plan.
Me: Would you like to be perceived as an expert? Them: That could be valuable, yes.
Me: How about authority, would you like to have authority in that meeting? Them (the tacticians): What does that mean?
Me: Hang with me here a second. How about brand dedication? Is that important? Them: Heck yes.
Me: What about some urgency to buy now, would that be a logical thing? Them: Yes. That would be great.
If you even think about these objectives, doesn't it automatically change how that meeting might go? So much of this is left up to the individual salesperson-every time. What if you, as the leader of your company, could devise a way to accomplish all those strategic objectives, and do them every time anyone in your company is in front of a buyer? How much more powerful would you be over your competition?
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