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Perspective on Prospecting: Call High or Call Low?

Posted by Cindy Littlefield on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 @ 06:54 AM
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The other night I saw the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness."  (Note: their spelling not mine.) It is a brilliant father/son movie that was a real tearjerker.  At times hard to watch. 

It's a true story about Chris Gardner, who is in a dead-end job selling door to door in the early 80's.  He can hardly pay his bills and put food on the table.  He discovers a highly competitive internship at Dean Witter and applies - 6 months, a "training period" & no salary.

In the internship, he has to sell investment products into large companies.  He is given a list of prospects and told to start making calls from the bottom of the list to the top.  The list was in order of total capital investment. 

He soon learns that starting at the bottom of the list is getting him nowhere.  So bucking his instructions, he goes directly to the top of the list and makes a call.  He gets a meeting with a top level executive and develops a relationship.  He doesn't get the executive's business, but he networks his way through the executive's friends and (SPOILER ALERT) earns himself the single position. When I saw that I thought what a brilliant move, starting at the top of the list.

It got me thinking: In your Reps outbound calling efforts, who do they start calling first?  Do they call the top of the food chain or somewhere in the middle?  Or do they call both? 

Nigel Edelshain shares his point of view in his ebook; Prospecting is Changing: Ideas to harness this change and tilt the playing field your way. Nigel argues:

Call "high" or call "low"? Both!

"High" or "low" is relative. Depending on the type of product you are selling "high" does not always mean the CEO!

I've noticed in the technology industry specifically that to counteract lengthening sales-cycles companies have repositioned their products so they can be purchased at a lower level in an organization. In these circumstances it does not make sense to call the CxO suite when appropriate decision-makers who are more accessible reside at lower levels in your target accounts.

On the other hand, you do not want to call too low for your product and "work your way up" to the decision-maker you need. This approach inevitably fails. You have to convince people at lower levels to give you access to their boss - something people rarely feel comfortable with.


Nigel talks about focusing tightly on the highest probability buyers and the need to develop a "prospect profile" identifying: which markets and which individuals you are targeting within those markets.

So should your Reps be selling top-down or bottom-up? It depends on your market. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Will calling high lengthen or shorten the sales cycle?
  • Will calling low require your Reps to bargain for access to the decision maker?
  • Should you tell your Reps to be a Chris Gardner and throw caution to the wind and just go for it or do you want them to follow a process?

I would love to hear your thoughts on what is most effective. Thanks for sharing!

(Photo credit: A-m-z-xO)

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COMMENTS

Cindy: great post! You're right--calling high in the organization doesn't always mean the CEO (or CXO). In selling into large organizations, I've made assumptions about senior executives that have proven false. Namely, that they're influential within their organizations (sometimes they're not); that they're the decision maker for a given project (not!); and that they're "in the loop" for the purchasing process (not always!). Social networking tools enable salespeople to more reliably understand how patterns of influence work and most important, how value is transferred within and between organizations.  
 
 
 
For further background, here's an article I wrote on the topic, Is 'Call on the CXO' a Winning Strategy for Salespeople? http://www.customerthink.com/article/is_call_on_cxo_winning_strategy_for_salespeople

posted @ Thursday, July 23, 2009 9:48 AM by Andrew Rudin

Cindy, 
Great Post. 
This is an age old question.  
Calling high is the best option, provided you have enough information to understand the problems faced and goals of the CXO. 
 
If you can't provide a relevant value position, specific to issues they care about--do NOT call high. 
 
Yes, there are standard problem-based approaches in some industries: Technology Product companies want to decrease time to market..etc.. Problem is you're taking a chance that they care about a particular issue, without knowing for sure what their real issues are. 
 
Without real data on the account and contact, you risk broaching a topic that they have just found a solution to or have dropped to the bottom of their priority list because of other fires they need to fight. 
 
Calling high and not being relevant and useful is the fastest way to lose an opportunity. 
 
Do Account research, watch for triggers that create a need for you solution, and create a contact strategy based on it. 
 
In summary, you should only call high if you can make an impact and solve a problem they care about.  
 
If you don't have the account background, it's fine to call technical team members and ask for opinions about approaches and technology solutions. They will be happy to talk to you and--as long as you are not selling--and will provide great background. Use the information they provide to create a plan of attack for the C-Suite. 
 
As a side benefit, these folks won't block you and often become advocates.  
 
pat 

posted @ Thursday, July 23, 2009 2:09 PM by Pat Shaughnessy

Mindset and posture may also matter. Some salespeople don't identify with the "C" suite and on the flip side, some only identify with top executives. People tend to sell to and buy from people like themselves.

posted @ Saturday, July 25, 2009 4:39 AM by Rick Roberge

When cold calling we always start at the CEO/ COO. Understand that we are not trying to sell to the C-level, but what helps is when the CEO/COO or their executive admin refers us to someone else down the chain. Then using powerful words like, "Your CEO's (their name) office asked me to contact you..." The power of the referral always works. Would you take a call and listen to someone if they were referred from your CEO's office?

posted @ Monday, July 27, 2009 8:26 AM by Jeff Constable

Everyone has great answers to my question. I agree with everyone and especially Jeff, Calling into the CEO/COO not trying to sell to them has been very successful for me over the years. The power of the referral does work. Knowing your value prop, how to position and using social networking are the key to good salesmenship.

posted @ Monday, July 27, 2009 10:02 AM by Cindy Littlefield

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