Why (and how) to not fear leaders when we pitch
Through November and December, I joined CEO and founder of Sales Rocket Fuel, Chris Bogdan, as co-trainer of his battle-tested 4.9/5 star rating course which went viral on Maven. Together we trained four cohorts of account executives, account managers, and sales leaders across a combined 20 sessions on everything that helps sales people thrive: mindset, strategy, and goals, time management, confidence, and getting buy-in on ROI with key decision makers.
Working alongside Chris, I learned and confirmed a lot about persuasion, something I’ve taught as an MBA school business communications professor and practiced as an entrepreneur and correspondent for global publications like the Economist, FT of London, and Guardian. (Anything I wrote and published started with a pitch.)
In this week’s post, I’m sharing five mindset shifts and tactics Chris swears by and that I’m applying to my work too. That opening conversation defines everything that comes next.
See the leader as a person
To effectively pitch, think of your audience as a person vs. a powerful, intimidating figure with a C-suite title. Doing so guides your strategy, language choice, even how you feel (and seem) when you show up. The key? Discover their company goals and struggles. Discover what they personally need and want to help guide which part of your expertise to leverage and bring forth. This information often requires your research and support from someone inside, which comes next.
Have a champion
To understand a leader well and why they’re meeting us anyway, a champion can help advocate you, your product or service, and teach you how to communicate.
Chris suggests asking simple questions like, “tell me of a meeting that went really well with this leader — and why?” “Tell me the words/approaches this person dislikes.” “What else tends to lose them?” “What main questions/concerns must we address to stay relevant?”
This pivotal intel can guide the structure and strategy of the message itself. “95% of people don’t take the time to ask,” Chris notes. “But leveraging champions as internal advocates is a game changer.”
State the purpose simply and high up
Many of us resist stating our ask out of fear of being too direct. (If you’ve grown up in a culture, like I did, where directness seems rude or pushy, the feeling intensifies.) And yet without saying why we want to meet, we remain ambiguous. Stating within the outreach and at the top of your meeting the main purpose for being there comforts the leader you’ll not waste their valuable time, which can boost your confidence.
Keep the purpose statement simple, something like: “Our initial research and team conversations show X is a priority. We’d love to share how we’ve helped other clients overcome similar challenges, and learn how success looks to you.”
Leverage the power of proof
Chris drives home to each cohort the need to replace anything fluffy (jargon or otherwise) with the power of proof. Be substantial vs. vague.
Proof can include: Customer stories, ROI investment, data showing vs. telling what has worked for other same industry clients. “Use video testimonials, reference calls, or other power moves where it helps,” he says. “People believe client results and reviews far more than most sellers.”
Listen more. Get curious
In any sales meeting, listen more than talk. Targeted, open-ended questions (ones that yield a thoughtful, reflective answer vs. a ‘no’ or ‘yes’) help us connect and learn more deeply how we can help. Questions yield specific answers, and which questions to ask happens naturally, once you better understand the executive’s goals, challenges, and situation.
For instance, a recent outreach of my own with a former client revealed a hidden struggle: A need for listening better and saying less vs. a need for reducing public speaking fear, as I’d first thought.
The insight came from me asking about my client’s work and getting curious about his successes. His biggest recent wins, I heard, came from staying persistent, asking more questions, and listening well, something he realized many leaders don’t do enough. Hearing this modified my offer on how I can potentially help this group.
I love Chris’ pragmatic and brisk approach to persuading leaders and that each call/meeting quantifies tangible ROI and results. He shows vs. tells how his service or product — whatever he’s selling — converts time into money. The deal becomes a no brainer. The entire conversation also becomes more lively, memorable, and fun, and timely too in this upcoming year of the Wood Snake, a rare and meaningful Chinese New Year which encourages creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, and boldness.
Many of us slog away at our persuasive presentations with well-curated slides and strategy. I see this in my coaching. But unless we see ourselves more as equals to our audience and think more about what’s in it for them vs. us, we risk wasting vital time with powerful people.
I’ve written on persuasion before here and here on the power of the intro. I’ll share other tactics I’m learning from partnering with Chris, including how to rebound when we hear that ‘no’ vs ‘yes,’ a place where many of us struggle, and tools like ROI calculators to bring in to every pitch.
Join Chris Bogdan and Sales Rocket Fuel in a future cohort? Add your name to the wait list or join here.
Debbi Gardiner McCullough has reinvented three times across three continents and three industries, most recently leaving academia after 19 years of service to train to become a coach. From Wisconsin, she owns and runs Hanging Rock Coaching and serves as a communications coach to leaders all over the globe.