What is the most creative thing you have done or have seen others do to secure a meeting with an exec?
Example:
A few years back one of my reps and I were researching a company and targeting the CIO. While we were doing our research, my rep found an article that referenced the CIO as the “Velvet Hammer”. So I told him, he 100% needs to send her a Velvet Hammer.
His initial response was, “I can’t do that. Would it be too unprofessional?”
My response was, “We are not engaged in the account and we have nothing to lose but all to gain.”
He wanted the weekend to think about it.
Well, Monday rolled around and he told me he and his wife went to a hardware and fabric store and created a velvet hammer and made a customer box for it. He then sent it to her with a hand written note.
Two days later he received an e-mail from the CIO with the subject line: You made my day
In the body of the e-mail, she mentioned how it made her and her family laugh and she was going to put it up on her wall in her office.
@greg.nishihira. I had a similar story when we needed to engage a large client cold. Our target CRO publically stated that this company was going to take market share from a competitor but after 8 months they hadn’t made any real strides.
We created a Checkered flag in the company’s branding and sent it to the executive and all of his peers. With the message " beat CompetitorX using Data Science." Using email tracking and we saw 3 or 4 of the peers actually forward the message to the executive.
He fully admitted he wouldn’t have taken the call if we hadn’t created some peer pressure. But we did get a meeting that ultimately created a large close.
Funny enough I used a handwritten note, and I’m convinced that mattered as well.
Love it @jack. You definitely rev’d up my creative engine!
Quick note regarding handwritten notes…
Many years ago when customers had “use it or lose it” budgets, my strategy was to have my name come across their desk when money became available.
Since photography is a hobby of mine, I created a bunch of cards with some pics I have take.
Anyway, I sent a note thanking an exec for his time with one of my cards. I have been to his office multiple times and my card was on his desk (more for the pic than the content LOL!). A few weeks passed and he called me to say he had 350K he needed to spend and if I could help help add more license to his contract.
Another example was one where we lost an account.
I sent the CIO one of my cards congratulating him and his team on making a decision, etc.
The CIO sent me a note with a subject THANK YOU.
not to bore y’all with the content of the e-mail, but he made it a point to thank me for the handwritten card. He also mentioned, he would like to find some way to bring us in to solve other problems outside of the project we bid on.
For an exec to go out of his way to send me a note when we lost the business to thank me for a card I sent shows how a small action like sending a card can impact anyone.
During a trip to the Houstin Galleria a long time ago, we came across Build-a-Bear. I was so taken with the end-to-end experience that when I got home, I researched the CEO and sent her a thank you email at about 1 am. She responded 5 minutes later and we went back and forth all night. She offered to fly me up to corporate to meet the execs and interview, but it wasn’t a good fit. However, we stayed in touch for several years until she retired, and I eventually introduced her to a toy company I was consulting for, and we all had lunch in OKC together. She was great. Like everybody’s favorite grandma. I loved her.
Being a life-long magician, I have also performed magic on virtual calls to get higher level intros. Almost always works.
Have frequently sent formal handwritten apologies to leadership at very disengaged accounts, That almost always get a very appreciative response and starts a conversation.
I think you need to think creatively about follow-up after the exec call. I once sent a chocolate cake to some leaders after an important pitch so I could get them around a table talking about me and my offer.
I kid around with folks. It just depends. I keep a lot of fun props around me at all times. So if they bring up money, I’ll make a stack of $100 bills appear. If they have themselves muted while talking, I’ll remove my ear and hold it up to the screen. Sometimes if they are talking down to me, I’ll put a dummy on my lap and do bad ventriloquism. It really just depends.
Oh man…I was able to book an in person, Executive Briefing, between my customer (Who was CTO at the time) and with the EVP of NA Sales of Oracle. This used to be a very big deal.
The day of the meeting, my customer came down with food poisoning and asked me to represent him to this EVP! Although I didn’t have to get creative to book this meeting, I could have easily canceled that meeting, since my customer was sick but instead, I went and represented my customer!
This EVP treated me like I was the customer and fired off questions that had to do with: Install, Support, Tech stack, Cloud strategy, budget, etc… Thanks God I was prepared! It turned out to be a VERY productive meeting, in so much that I was able to book the next in person meeting: This EVP flew to Tacoma WA to meet with the extended Executive Team!
Fun stuff. I once was working a booth for our company at a trade show and I was trying to get a meeting with the CMO of Bank of Montreal (BMO). Our booth was situated right next to the buffet line, so I sent him an email that creatively tied our solutions to the dishes in the buffet and that a) got him to laugh, and b) take a meeting, which ultimately let to a nice deal. I guess for me these execs are so used to being bombarded with boiler plate outreach that if you can be creative and funny - while also articulating your value prop or delivering value - then you have a much better chance of being noticed.
@andrew.gibian you got me thinking about a bet I made with a VP to get a meeting during an trade show event.
As you probably guessed it, the trade show was in Las Vegas and a buddy and I just happen to walk by a roulette table and stood next to a guy who had his name badge hanging out of his pocket. So naturally I asked if he was here for the show. (Obviously he said yes). As people were placing bets, I told him to put $20 on black 13 (which is my favorite number) followed by the following bet:
1.) if it hits, you owe me a meeting
2.) if it doesn’t hit, I’ll pay you back the $20
