The CEO's Role in Sales: 2nd Anniversary Edition with Alice Heiman
The CEO's role in sales is vital to the growth and success of any company. But many are unclear on what that role should be. In this episode, Alice outlines clearly 3 roles the CEO needs to consider.
The CEOs role with existing customers and prospects
The CEOs role as an evangelist
The CEOs role on social media
Alice starts by talking about the role with existing customers. Typically, the CEO only gets involved when there is a problem. By focusing on building strong relationships with the customer’s CEO or other high-level leaders and being proactive you have a greater opportunity to ensure things go well. She suggests writing notes of thanks, holding events, and making videos. She notes that you can’t do this for all customers and that the sales leader and team should prepare a list showing where your efforts will have the most benefit.
She talks about the importance of the CEOs role with prospects. It’s much less likely to see a CEO getting involved with prospects but Alice reminds us that no one can bring confidence to a deal the way a CEO can. There will be times when the CEO should be positioned with the most senior-level people to provide their vision and insight as it relates to what the customer is trying to accomplish.
Next, she mentions the role of evangelist, it is one Alice knows some CEOs are reluctant to take. By sharing your thought leadership, industry insights and talking about your great company you can create a draw that will make you the chief lead generator. She recommends appearing on podcasts, speaking at conferences, appearing on a panel, moderating a panel, or holding a webinar.
The third role is the CEOs role on social media. She insists that utilizing social media, particularly LinkedIn, allows you to expand your reach and connect with stakeholders in your industry in a way that drives demand. Being present on social media will help you build your brand and your company's brand.
As CEO, Alice recognizes the amount and variety of work you have to do and recommends outsourcing or delegating the things that others could do better to free you up to take the role in sales you need to take and work more on things that energize rather than drain you and are truly in your genius zone.
Chapters
00:59 Importance of CEO's role in sales
03:03 CEO's role with existing customers
04:15 CEO's role with prospects
08:50 CEO's role as an evangelist
10:39 Ways to evangelize, podcasts, conferences, webinars, videos
14:49 Importance of CEO's presence on LinkedIn
17:36 Outsourcing social media management
20:01 Connecting and interacting with customers and prospects on LinkedIn
23:05 Conclusion and gratitude for two years of podcasting
About your host
As Chief Sales Energizer, Alice is internationally known for her expertise in elevating sales to increase valuation for companies with a B2B sale that have exceptional growth potential. Spending her time strategizing with CEOs, company leaders and their sales leadership to build the strategies that find new business and grow existing accounts is her passion. Her clients love her spirit and the way she energizes their sales organization. Alice also serves on the board of several growing companies to energize and elevate their sales. When she is not guiding CEOs to elevate their sales, she can be found hanging out with her family, walking, snow skiing, sailing in Lake Tahoe, volunteering in the community, or reading a book in her backyard.
You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.