It's late, just about 11PM here on the East Coast and I'm watching/listening to the Nationals & Cubs do or die game. Let's Go Cubs! Not that I'm a Cub fan, but more of a hater for the Nationals. I guess that's what happens when you're a lowly NY Mets fan.
K, so I have no idea where I got this next hack from. I do know that it was not one of my ideas. Thinking that I may have read about doing this from some sales book that I read many moons ago.
Decision Makers
They come with many different titles. In most cases we are meeting with C-Level execs with titles of CFO. CEO, CIO and probably a few others. Most of us understand that in the first five minutes of any meeting, the Decision Maker is sizing us up. How we dress, what we wear, how we walk, how we talk, how we look, are all taken in to account in those first five minutes.
However, it can also be about what we read in our spare or business time.
You're probably thinking how can the Decision Maker know anything about what we read? True, the Decision Maker does not have a clue about what you read unless you perform a subtle hint.
K, that subtle hit would be to carry a copy of CFO Magazine in your bag. Years ago, I subscribed to CFO Magazine and to this day I still receive the magazine in the mail. Each month I'll replace the old rag with the new rag and take a quick read to see if there are any interesting articles that pique my interest. In most cases there may be one or two that I'll read.
Thus, when I'm off on a new appointment and I know I'm going to be meeting with a CFO. I'll make sure that I pull the CFO magazine out of my bag and lay it on the side of the table as I'm looking for my notepad or brochure. In some cases I may just leave that in my bag, making sure that the CFO header on the magazine is showing.
I can't tell if the magazine has ever helped me garner a sale, but I can assume that the Decision Maker did see the magazine and drew a conclusion from seeing it. In most cases I would assume that the Decision Maker would have thought, "interesting, this sales guy must really be in touch with what I do".
Over the years, there have been some articles that I've read from those CFO magazines that have increased my knowledge about the duties of a CFO. Thus, when you do have that C-Level discussion there will be times when you will understand their language and their duties.
My point is, if that's all you want to do is to carry around the magazine and use if for show and tell, it probably won't help that much. However, if you do read an article here and there and do the show and tell you'll have a much better conversation with that CFO.
You can also do this with CEO magazine, CIO magazine and any other C-Level magazines that you can find. Again, the key is too read the articles from time to time. You'll be amazed at how much this can help your career and those first five minutes.
-=Good Selling=-
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