When you’re selling to the CEO, the CFO, or the CMO, there’s a lot going on that can make you nervous. After all, this is the person who makes the final decision. They’re often tired from overwork, and they see more salespeople then they’d like to each day – so you’ve got to make it count, every time. Today sales trainer Sam Manfer has five tips for us that will help you build the confidence needed to sell to these power players.

Keep learning your trade. The three areas of continuing education are selling skills, people skills and your product/service skills. As you learn more about any one of the three, you will become more assured of yourself.

Prepare for the encounter. Get coaching from someone about the person you will be meeting. To avoid biases, I call the person directly and ask him/her the expectation they have for the meeting saying, “So that I don’t bore you with a lot of grizzly details you don’t want to hear, what would you like me to be prepared to talk with you about?” It will amaze you how this warms-up the other person.

Approach the meeting with a quest to learn. It will take off all the performance pressure. All you have to do is prepare questions. If he already told you in the pre-call, confirm what he told you to be sure. Then dig into the details. Once he tells you the tune he wants to hear, you can sing it with passion. Why worry yourself about what to say when, if you ask and listen, they will tell you what they want to hear?

Prepare yourself. People with the power to say yes or no are intimidating. This is fear. Fear means you are thinking negatively about the upcoming event. Since you don’t know the future, project positively. That becomes excitement. What you think the other person will think of you comes through in your walk, your posture, your language, and your tone. So be thinking great results and it will pump up both of you.

Advise yourself as you would your child or a close friend about being confident. If your daughter told you she was nervous about an upcoming interview, what advice would you give her? Well, you are that child and you have the answers to your own power. You just have to ask yourself, “What can I do? Then listen.

Sam Manfer delivers keynote speeches and in-depth selling workshops for those anxious to increase sales. His hands-on coaching turns individuals and sales organizations into selling whirlwinds. Follow Sam's C-Level Selling Blog for more insights.

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