How to Persuade a Powerful Executive
You have a service to offer, a product to sell, a cause to fundraise or a point of view to advocate. It might be worth the attention of a powerful person. But they are on airplanes and in boardrooms; they’re powerful because they don’t get easily distracted. Let’s say you get the introduction. How do you move from being on the radar to getting in the plan?
Between flights and crises, the powerful executive I was trying to connect with had rescheduled our meeting several times. When the time for our call eventually came last week, I fully expected another last-minute email from his assistant, telling me we had to move it once again. But there we were, on the phone.
He expected my pitch. But like a good pitcher, I changed speeds.
“It’s good to connect,” I said calmly. “How has your week been?” I asked with genuine interest.
His answer betrayed stress and fatigue, so I decided to push just a bit.
“What’s being affected?” I asked.
He jokingly said something about growth being great but he wouldn’t be surprised to find his clothes out on the lawn one night.
Even though it was lighthearted, we had gotten personal. That built trust, but I would lose it if I didn’t bridge his expectations and the reason for our call: my pitch.
The focus of my pitch wasn’t me or what I do; it was about a challenge I anticipated he might have based on the research I’d done on his company and others like his.
“Perhaps our findings about leadership development could help to alleviate some of your stress,” I said sincerely.
And then I continued: “We’ve found that leadership development, succession planning and employee engagement are executives’ greatest concerns related to organizational health. These show up in different ways. One is what we call mid-level leading—the need for managers and directors to increase their capacity to lead change and cascade accountability. How do you see this showing up in your organization?”
I knew the umpire had called my pitch a strike based on the level of interest in his response. We were now ten minutes into the dialogue and had accomplished the two most important steps:
1. We had space to be personal. Executives are human beings. Whether through a compelling story or a personal question, emotion will engage their attention. Yes, getting personal is a risk. But so is not being engaging.
2. Anticipate and isolate a challenge. Salespeople have known for years that questions generate interest. Open-ended questions, however, have greater impact for a focused, busy person today when we allow them to respond to a targeted concept.
The persuasion process begins with dialogue that links needs, strategy and personal emotions. Connecting the dialogue to your point of view requires three final steps:
3. Use insights to provoke new thinking. Your insights will help the listener recognize they may not have all of the answers. Interjecting research findings and innovative ideas demonstrates you can be trusted for your leadership.
4. Blend the recommendation with existing progress. Most executives are biased toward their own approach. Your ideas should complement established activities and affirm their value.
5. Vision-cast a personal solution. Details and next steps seem most feasible and exciting when described in personal and present tense. You might say something like, “How would this look to you? First, we join you at an upcoming senior leader meeting where you talk about the importance of developing the capacity of leaders…”
What executives are you trying to move? What approaches have you found work best when making the pitch?
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