How to Build Executive Presence in Sales Meetings
Getting access to senior executives, the ones who control budgets or have authority, is critical to closing big deals faster. But gaining such access is incredibly difficult, and once you have it, it’s critical to maximize your time with the senior executive. That means understanding the senior executive’s business at a strategic level, bringing fresh insights, and perhaps most elusively conveying an “executive presence."
Executive presence in sales consists of three elements: confidence, competence, and communication, which means speaking the language of the C-suite, which differs from that of lower-level or technical buyers. The skill that forms the basis of successful communication with the C-suite is fast framing: a method for quickly structuring an answer to a problem, question, or opportunity before all the information is available.
Fast framing involves leading with the answer, then providing context, instead of building up to a conclusion the senior executive must wait for. Fortunately, fast framing is a communication skill that you can learn, practice, and master.
To learn more about selling to key executives, read this blog post on the RAMP framework, SBI's process for accessing and successfully selling to senior-level executives.
Fast framing pays off in four ways: it speeds up the executive's decision, creates clarity about the real problem, focuses the conversation on what matters most, and leaves space for you to adjust your answer as new information comes in during the meeting itself.
Most sellers who fumble with key executives often ramble instead of getting to the point, wing it instead of doing the homework, or try to answer alone instead of bringing the right expertise into the conversation. Fast framing is built to close off each of those, in three phases: preparation, the meeting itself, and follow-up.
