• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Weekly Sales Tip
  • |
  • 303-741-6636
kla-logo

KLA Group

IT Sales and Marketing Agency

Menu
  • SERVICES
      • Digital Marketing
      • Custom Website Design
      • SEO Consulting
      • Email Marketing
      • Content Development
      • Marketing Coaching
      • Software Development
      • Our Process
      • Revenue Generating System
      • Digital Marketing Services
      • Sales Training & Coaching Programs
      • Sales Training Programs
      • How to Cold Call
      • Consultative Selling
      • Email Prospecting
      • How to Ask for Referrals
      • Lead Generation Training
      • Sales Coaching
      • Sales Process
      • Sales Hiring Coaching
      • Outsourced Sales Management
      • Sales Assessment
      • Contact Us
  • WHO WE SERVE
    • ConnectWise Evolve
    • IT Managed Service Providers
    • IT Solution Providers
    • Sales Consultants
    • B2B Companies
    • Phone System Providers
  • ABOUT KLA
    • About Kendra Lee
    • Hire Kendra Lee to Speak
    • Meet the Team
  • BLOG
  • RESOURCES
    • Books by Kendra Lee
      • The Sales Magnet
      • Selling Against the Goal
    • Ebooks & Guides
    • Events
    • Weekly Sales Tip
    • Thoughts About Generating Revenue
    • Coffee with Kendra
  • Contact us

How to Know if You’re Selling High Enough in the Organization

Published on August 3, 2017 Categories: blog, Sales Prospecting, Sales Strategy
Strategic Recommendations

Every successful salesperson knows that you’re supposed to sell to the decision maker. It’s one of the primary qualification questions in requirements gathering right out of the gate: who will be making the decision?

The contacts you’re speaking with are quick to affirm that they are indeed the decision maker. They ask key questions. They even share their version of the strategic need for your solution. But still your gut tells you, this isn’t the right person.

When you’re selling a solution that will impact how a company fundamentally does business, it’s critical that you’re talking high enough in the organization for the value of your solution and your company’s differentiation to be fully understood. But are you?

Will this person recognize the value you bring? Will they understand the nuances of your differentiation? Will the impact of your recommendations make sense to them?

One quick way to determine if you’re selling high enough in the organization is to watch how your contact responds to your strategic business recommendations.

  • If you are selling too low in the organization then your strategic recommendations will fall on deaf ears. It may not be because your contacts don’t want to hear your ideas. It’s more likely that they don’t fully understand your recommendations and can’t see the value of them for their company.
  • If you’re selling at the right level, your contact will engage in the conversation and ask tough questions to validate the believability of your recommendation. They understand the significance to their company. Now they have to determine if it fits their vision.

Here’s how to know when you’re selling too low in the organization.

Let’s say you’re talking with an office manager about moving their IT managed services from their current provider to you. There have been recurring issues that haven’t been resolved and the office manager is downright frustrated with the staff’s complaints. You know your solution is going to cost more and fixing the recurring issues isn’t the only benefit to their business of outsourcing support to your firm. You start to discuss how IT is not an expense. Rather, if you’re using it shrewdly, it can help grow the company in both revenue and profitability. You have ideas on how they can do that.

The office manager simply looks at you with a blank stare. You push on and share how you recommend she put a technology plan in place to address the business growth objectives and include a security plan to avoid ransomware and hacking that has become so prevalent. You talk about how important it is to think 3 years ahead and plan for growth.

She interrupts you with, “yea, that sounds expensive. What we really need is for the recurring issues to go away. That’s all.”

You’re talking to the wrong person.

In order to have your strategic recommendations and comprehensive proposals heard and their value fully understood, you need to talk with somebody who sets the vision within the company. Most likely that means the CEO or CFO in midsize companies, or the business owner in small companies.

If you’re selling below the C-level at a manager level, those people don’t have the right insight into where the company is going. They can’t comprehend the strategic recommendations that you’re making and how they can help forward the company’s growth. Nor do they have the budget to implement a comprehensive proposal.

If you have a strategic proposal that you want to get passed through a company, then you have to sell to the top level: the C-level, the CFO and the business owner. If you’re not selling high enough in the company, then your proposals will fall on deaf ears and never move forward.

Primary Sidebar

Join Us

The Secret to Increased Sales Productivity in a TikTok World Kendra Animated

Don't miss this opportunity to prospect and close sales faster.

RSVP

Get Your Guide: Build and Protect Your Sales Funnel

KLA 45 Ways

Use these strategies to protect your current clients while generating new leads.

Download It Now

Find Us On Youtube

Get Connected


Get Connected

Categories

  • B2B Lead Generation & Marketing
  • blog
  • Christmas Parodies & Holiday Blogs
  • Email Marketing
  • General
  • Revenue Generating Success Strategies 
  • Revenue Generating System
  • Sales Hiring
  • Sales Prospecting
  • Sales Strategy
  • Sales Tips & Tricks
  • Sales Training Development
  • Selling in Pandemic
  • SEO
  • Success Strategies
  • Videos
  • Website Design
  • Winning New Customers

Footer

Services

  • Digital Marketing Services
  • Sales Training
  • Sales Process
  • Hire Kendra to Speak
footer-logo

Resources

  • Blog
  • Coffee with Kendra
  • Events
  • Ebooks & Guides
  • Newsletter
  • Weekly Sales Tip
  • Books by KLA

About KLA

  • About Us
  • Who We Serve
  • Revenue Generating System

Contact Us

Call +1 888-305-0471Contact Us

Join Us

Subscribe OptionsCoffee With Kendra
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap

© 2023 KLA Group. All Right Reserved.

Talk with an Expert

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Lead Generation Syllabus

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Sales Coaching

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

How to Ask for Referrals Syllabus

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Email Prospecting Syllabus

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Consultative Selling Syllabus

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

How to Cold Call Syllabus

Name
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.