You all know that when you are dealing with executives, you must be focused and to the point. Whether you are thinking of an elevator pitch, that concise 30 seconds where you need to get your whole story out, and get a swing; or perhaps an executive summary, where you need to cover all that matters in 10% of the content. Either way, it is all about being able to get the message out that matters to the executive, as succinctly as possible.
Executives are busy people. Not that the rest of us have a lot of idle time on our hands. But as we know, executives are driving a multitude of activities through various staff that they direct. And all of these reporting groups must able to operate to achieve a level of harmonious execution of the organization. It is only natural to expect that executives will sharpen the skill set to get things done.
When it comes to engagement with others, it means having barriers in place to block out random disturbances of all sorts, and having a rapid qualification process to determine how much time and attention to invest. It is more than once that I have heard an executive say “Do I really need to be here for this?” So if you are able to get in front of an executive to present your story, you know that your message needs to be bang on. Otherwise, the engagement is terminated before it runs to completion, or the executive simply picks up and leaves the room. Ouch!
Well, the reality is that there is an executive function in each of us. The executive function in the brain is nicknamed “the brain’s CEO”, and it oversees our ability to sweep away distractions and stay focused on a goal. And as the number of distractions continues to increase, with the demands of your job and your life expecting more to get done, you kind of expect that the executive function is pressed into action more often than not. It is no wonder that people are developing a natural predisposition to mentally blocking out random advertising messages. In fact, this tendency has been dubbed as “banner blindness”.
So where does that leave you, when you must get the attention of that prospective customer, with their executive function working away? There is only one thing to do. You must be completely focused on seeing the issues, exactly as that prospective customer sees them. It is completely like selling to executives, all the time. You have to do your homework. That entails a collection of activities, but it all boils down to being able to garner what the chatter is all about. Google analytics, existing customer interviews, partner discussions – whatever the sources – but you must be able to obtain and translate those insights into messaging and positioning that will resonate, in the briefest of timeframes. Otherwise, you will just get swept away with all the other noise. The executive function rules and acts automatically.