First, if you deal with executive assistants correctly, they will often give you what you want. Never try to bully or B.S. the executive assistant, you want to include them in your strategy of getting in the door.
Here’s a technique I’ve used...
When doing prospect research I uncovered a large nationwide auto lending institution that was a good opportunity for our product. I found they had stopped doing business in fourteen states because of lending risk and our product was designed to mitigate risk.
I decided to include the decision maker for this organization in an online survey. I then designed survey questions around problems my research showed they experienced.
The title of the survey was “Have a Latte and Goody on me”. All the person had to do to receive a $10 Starbuck gift card was to simply complete a 10 question online survey… pretty simple.
The targeted decision maker responded and his survey confirmed their desire to expand, but needed a risk mitigation solution. Now I had my opening and I wasn’t simply going to drop a Starbucks gift card in the mail.
I found out the name of his executive assistant and gave her a call. After introducing myself I informed her that her boss had responded my online survey and by doing so he was to receive a $10 Starbucks card. I told her I wanted to do something special for him and asked if she would assist me. I asked if there was a Starbucks close by and she said yes. I then asked, if I send you a $50 Starbucks card would she pick-up his favorite latte and one for herself? I told her she could keep the remaining money on the card as my way of saying thank you. I then said, one more thing, I’d like you to coordinate the latte delivery with a basket of Mrs. Fields cookies I’m going to have delivered, can you help with this? The executive assistant was now helping and coordinating everything on my behalf.
Along with the $50 Starbucks card I enclosed a letter the executive assistant was to hand deliver to the decision maker. It was a simple Thank You for completing the survey with not a lot of product details other than stating our product would mitigate the risk they had experienced and hoped we would have an opportunity talk at some point.
The day he received the latte and cookies I received a call. He laughed and said how he liked how I got his staff to coordinate everything and wanted to know when I could come to his office to discuss our solution.
Oh, and I closed the sale in record time…
Here’s a technique I’ve used...
When doing prospect research I uncovered a large nationwide auto lending institution that was a good opportunity for our product. I found they had stopped doing business in fourteen states because of lending risk and our product was designed to mitigate risk.
I decided to include the decision maker for this organization in an online survey. I then designed survey questions around problems my research showed they experienced.
The title of the survey was “Have a Latte and Goody on me”. All the person had to do to receive a $10 Starbuck gift card was to simply complete a 10 question online survey… pretty simple.
The targeted decision maker responded and his survey confirmed their desire to expand, but needed a risk mitigation solution. Now I had my opening and I wasn’t simply going to drop a Starbucks gift card in the mail.
I found out the name of his executive assistant and gave her a call. After introducing myself I informed her that her boss had responded my online survey and by doing so he was to receive a $10 Starbucks card. I told her I wanted to do something special for him and asked if she would assist me. I asked if there was a Starbucks close by and she said yes. I then asked, if I send you a $50 Starbucks card would she pick-up his favorite latte and one for herself? I told her she could keep the remaining money on the card as my way of saying thank you. I then said, one more thing, I’d like you to coordinate the latte delivery with a basket of Mrs. Fields cookies I’m going to have delivered, can you help with this? The executive assistant was now helping and coordinating everything on my behalf.
Along with the $50 Starbucks card I enclosed a letter the executive assistant was to hand deliver to the decision maker. It was a simple Thank You for completing the survey with not a lot of product details other than stating our product would mitigate the risk they had experienced and hoped we would have an opportunity talk at some point.
The day he received the latte and cookies I received a call. He laughed and said how he liked how I got his staff to coordinate everything and wanted to know when I could come to his office to discuss our solution.
Oh, and I closed the sale in record time…
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