The Apotheosis of the Hero: Tips for getting CEOs to make Buying Decisions

As I’ve spoken with more members of Collective54 about their Go-To-Market strategy, there is a common theme. Their primary Buyers, their Heroes, are typically C-level executives, but rarely the CEO. This is true of professional services generally, as CFOs, COOs, CIOs and CHROs dominate the landscape of Buyers. Proserv firms vary in their capability to engage and stay relevant with CEOs. If you are wondering how effective your team is at engaging CEOs, there are two leading indicators to look for.

• Sales cycle length: CEOs have more power to eliminate red tape and get deals done. In a recent deal review, a Founder and I found that a deal was slowed because of the CFO’s risk assessment. It led to delays as cumbersome risk mitigation plans were devised and approved. CEOs are more often risk takers than CFOs and can push deals along in parallel, and in spite of, risk mitigation plans being ironed out.
• Deals lost to no decision: In Professional Services, No Decision is a common competitor. But if you look at deals lost to No Decision, you will see that often the CEO was not involved in this decision. When CEOs are involved deals get done, whether for you, your competitor or through internal resources.

None of this is to say that the CEO should be our Hero. Only that we need to help our Hero engage the CEO through the deal. Bring them into the deals at the right time. Provide them the right information. Convince them that the Hero is ready to lead the initiative forward. When KPI reviews with Founders indicate that these two KPIs are off, we focus on one key initiative that we call The Apotheosis.

Apotheosis

We focus on the Apotheosis of our Buyer. An Apotheosis is a transformation of a Buyer into the leader that will solve a problem. This is overlooked in most sales campaigns and is a silent deal killer. Buyers, even C-Level executives, can’t always persuade and motivate the CEO to follow them into the implementation. Sales teams should be expert in enabling Heroes to position themselves as leaders that should be followed. We do this by equipping Heroes with three tools to convince the CEO that we are ready to act.

• Three Tests: There are Eight Tests that Heroes must pass to win a deal. You can read about all Eight in The Buyer’s Way or we’re happy to talk you through them. Three of them are common tests that CEOs pose to Heroes as they try to solve a problem. The first, “Will it matter?”, answers whether the pain of change will be worth it. “What are others saying?” answers whether the solution, and solution provider, are credible. CEOs want to know that they are associating with credible partners. “Will they follow you?”, answers whether your Apotheosis is complete. When CEOs feel they have received answers to these questions, they will more willingly help get the deal done.
• Business Case: CEOs will want to see the ROI of an initiative. When it will pay back, and how far it will drive EBITDA and enterprise value. The key is to bring the Business Case to the CEO to have him or her provide feedback on the calculations. If they begin to see the deal as a strategic value driver first, they are more likely to engage and help get the deal done.
• Close Plan: Many implementations go haywire, and CEOs are leery of boondoggles that distract from the mission. Successful sales campaigns include a Close Plan for our Hero. The Close Plan helps show the CEO that the Hero has things under control. The weeks leading up to, and through, implementation will go smoothly, and the disruption will remain limited.

If your firm is struggling to engage CEOs in the most appropriate way, consider your team’s effectiveness in leveraging these three critical concepts. Sales teams that do close deals more quickly and lose less often to No Decision. If you would like to discuss more about how following The Buyer’s Way can help your team implement these initiatives, reach out any time.