business - Seven Things Every CEO Should Know | Entrepreneur (2024)

At some level, of course, all business leaders must"sell." But why do so many CEOs, owners and presidentseither remove themselves from the sales process altogether, orlimit sales exchanges to "closing" or "top-dog"meetings?

The answer is that most leaders of companies have gotten used todelegating. Even though they make a habit of exercising theirsignificant analytical, interpersonal and persuasive skills duringinteractions with employees, suppliers, board members and other keyplayers, most CEOs find a way to rationalize away any personalcommitment to ongoing involvement in their organization'sselling activities. Maybe they've forgotten the importance ofselling; maybe they feel they've outgrown the world of sales;maybe their idea of selling is coming in at the end of the processand hobnobbing with a client or prospect.

An elite group of dynamic, revenue-focused CEOs knows better.(I'm interviewing a group of them right now for an upcomingbook.) They know there's much more to a sale than a close, andmuch more to a relationship with a customer than schmoozing. In myexperience, CEOs who get out there and sell tend to do so in verylarge volume indeed-by adhering to the following principles, all ofwhich can and should be adopted by entrepreneurs.

1. Personally and consistently modelthe ideal sales process. Talk about a morale-builder!Everyone needs role models. Who plays the role better than the headof the company?

2. Establish personal visibility withinthe marketplace. Imparting a touch of personalaccountability and a sense of mission enhances theorganization's brand(s), image and reputation.

3. Personally monitor changes in themarketplace. There's nothing like talking tocustomers directly about how they're using your product,service or solution. Leaving this to the marketing department or ateam of consultants can lead to missed opportunities and aslower-than-necessary time to market for new products andservices.

4. Constantly build interpersonalskills to secure one-on-one loyalty from customers. TopCEOs send personalized, handwritten thank-you notes to each andevery one of their colleagues at client/customer organizations.(Don't underestimate the power of a hand-written note-these canbuild truly extraordinary customer relationships.)

5. Increase the amount of high-marginadd-on business. Often, this occurs when a CEO assumesdirect, personal responsibility for connecting with people at thehighest level of the target organization and building long-termpartnership plans.

6. Call a meeting of your best(noncompetitive) customers. Not a fiscal quarter shouldpass when you don't have a customer "touch point"that will keep you and your ideas in the "top of themind" category. Customer summits are a great way to dothis.

7. Send a gift that dramaticallyillustrates the value of the relationship. Here's areal-world strategy I love: Get a fancy coffee mug with yourcompany's logo on it, place your signed business card inside,and attach a large "Sale Price" tag to the handle. On thefront of the tag, list the hard-dollar value that your businessrelationship has delivered; on the back, list theharder-to-quantify soft-dollar value that has accrued to yourcustomer. Send the mug to the CEO of your top customer. Then repeatthe process for the next most important customer after that.

So what would happen to your own "top line" if youtook action in each of these seven areas? If you modeled the idealsales process for others? Established a personal sense of missionthat reflected well on your organization? Monitored changes in themarketplace firsthand? Sent handwritten thank-you notes? Calledmeetings for the express purpose of building long-term partnershipplans? Held an event to honor and celebrate a group of keycustomers? Sent a gift that dramatically illustrated the valueyou've already added? My guess is that if you did all thesethings on a consistent basis over the next 60 to 90 days, you wouldgain additional high-margin business, and you'd build massiveloyalty within your customer base.

The moral of the story: When CEOs sell, two great things tend tohappen. First and foremost, more deals (and bigger deals!) close.Second, every employee gets to witness top-down involvement inPriority One: revenue-generating activity. Let's face it: Whena CEO, president or owner does something, everyone in theorganization takes notice and perceives that activity as important.So if you're a CEO who wants ground-level selling to take onadded importance, hit the phones and make some cold calls in avisible way. If you're a salesperson who wants to hit the top,start selling like a CEO!

Anthony Parinello is the author of the bestselling book Selling to VITO, the Very Important TopOfficer. For additional information on his speeches and hisnewest book, CEOs who Sell, call (800) 777-VITO or visit www.sellingtovito.com.