Chief Exec Chief Salesperson
There is a clear diversity deficit in the Boardroom. Too few salespeople occupy the highest office.
A manifesto of my blogging here is to redress this particular imbalance.
In the past this issue has gained traction in another guise. Last century there was a debate over which type of business enjoyed the greater success; left-thinking or right-thinking ones. This was a framing borrowed from the human mind.
With “left-brained” claimed to be more logical, analytical, and objective, “right-brained” said to be more intuitive, creative, and subjective.
Whether this is in fact a myth, unsupported by science, is fairly irrelevant to the business modification. As this lateralisation was boiled down to numbers versus customers. You’re either driven by Finance or Marketing. Companies seemingly inevitably led by a polarisation to one of these two binary options.
Catching up with today, the ceo role job spec is extendable to include their requirement to be Salesperson-in-Chief.
A classic level (aka rank) selling tactic is to get buyer/vendor chief execs talking.
Head honchos are in post who’s appearance on deals salesteams can try and prevent. When I’ve heard of this, the main reasons given are that they talk too much, and offer discount. At the other end, there are also those for whom getting involved may feel beneath their pay grade.
Yet as a generally applied measure, I’d say it can be a real winner. Worth encouraging and cultivating.
And so I come to pleasant experience of a chief exec I happened to rate.
From the tech sector, but not necessarily targeting a tech marketplace or buyer.
As part of their ongoing management of objectives – where they’d seek a sentence on a particular project or action point’s status – they would often then ask those in sales;
“what call can I do for you to help you make progress, move a block or unlock a door?
This may well be a question you’d welcome fielding from the apex of your pyramid. If so, and you’re not currently hearing it, then suggest it. And know too how you’d answer it…