Getting that first appointment with executives is definitely a tough nut to crack. So many salespeople end up not doing it at all out of fear of failure or they do it and they do it all wrong. Our awesome guest today, Ben Favier, is here to share with us some secrets in landing sales appointments with high level executives.

Ben has over 15 years of sales experience handling B2B and B2C sales, mostly with enterprise software sales. He has then decided to share all the sales tools, techniques, and tactics he has learned over the years through writing his recent book, How to Obtain Sales Appointments with Executives: Proven Steps to Land the Initial Sales Appointment with High-Level Decision Makers.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Ben:

Why another sales book?

Ben presents tactics, techniques, strategies, and mindset for the initial step of getting the first appointment with an executive, which he hasn’t seen in other books out there.

Ben says dialing for dollars is one of the biggest mistakes people make in trying to set up an appointment. Why? Because it’s not going to work. Eventually, you will get burned out.

How to change to a business management consultant mindset:

Salescopy writing and effective cold calling techniques

Some resources you can tap into:

• Frank Rumbauskas
• Tony Parinello on executive-level selling, how to do salescopy, and write effective emails and letters
• 42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives by Mari Anne Vanella

Some ways to obtain sales appointments with executives:

1. Get the right contact information.

• Look to get into new accounts or new departments.
• List 10-15 different contact sources.

2. Bullets and targets

• The targets are the executives you want to land the initial sales appointment with.
• The bullets are the ammos that you’re going to be firing in (sales copy or cold call scripts) in order to catch their attention and earn their time.

3. Use unique buzzwords that are relevant to your customers.

• Get onto their executive statements online.
• Identify what elements are relevant to them and how your solution applies to that.
• Craft that and pull it all together into a sales copy letter or cold call script.

4. Get past the gatekeeper.

• Work with the executive assistants. – Contact them and give a quick pitch. Pitch to them like they are the executive. Respect them like they are the executive.

• Peer-to-peer conversation with the executive assistant. – Call in as the appointment setter.

5. Email strategies to get an appointment with executives

• Get the subject line right. Be brief and direct to the point.
• The body of the letter contains a quick bio about you and your company.
• Use bullet points to nail down what you can do briefly and quickly.
• Make sure you gravitate your letter towards their line of business title and industry.

6. Faxes could still work!

Sometimes they’re not going to give you their email address for fear of getting hammered by email. Then you can send something through fax like a fax software service so you can easily fax from your computer.

Ben’s Major Takeaway:

Keep reading. Get mentors. Don’t just keep dialing for dollars without knowing what you’re saying. Get that training. Keep studying and going to seminars and you’ll get there.

Episode Resources:

Connect with Ben Favier on LinkedIn

Get Ben’s book How to Obtain Sales Appointments with Executives

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