Cold Calling Top Dogs: Getting Stuck in the Chain of Command?

Cold calling the executive ranks presents a mental stumbling block to even the best of sales professionals. In private conversations sellers reveal they have such respect for the chain of command that they will not violate the chain by going straight to the top. That one little thought is a big, big problem.

Why is a thought such a big deal? Gaining entry at a low level and working your way up the organizational ladder of your prospect companies is the long road to get to where you want to go. The reason is that the people who sit in the jobs between you and executive-level decision makers have such a respect, even fear of the chain of command that they mentally have a hard time helping you make the climb. If your practice is to get into your prospect companies any way you can and then on a wish and a prayer hope you can work your way up the ladder then you are basing your livelihood on false hope. That practice is ineffective at best.

The question then becomes now what, what is a seller of products and services to do?

You must commit to a paradigm shift in your thoughts. This sounds easier to do than it is. But if you make just one small change in how you think - you will experience a significant increase in your ability to attain face time with executive-level decision makers. Shift your thoughts from seeing yourself as a not-so-valuable, low-level sales professional who must patiently work within the chain of command of your prospect companies - to seeing yourself as a game changer, a valuable, high-level provider of business solutions who prospects desperately want and need to see. Acknowledge to yourself about yourself that you in fact are a Top Dog in your business arena that is appropriately placed in conversations with Top Dog decision makers.

As you make this mental shift, expect to feel uncomfortable. Discomfort is normal as you make any change. But take hope and move forward with the confidence of knowing the faster you own the new way of thinking the faster your level of comfort will increase. I interviewed sales professionals who cold call executives as a matter of habit. The purpose of the interviews was to capture the very thoughts they think. There are more than a dozen beliefs they have that other sellers do not. Here are a few of those thoughts that make the difference between those sellers who get in at the top and those who do not:

I present powerful solutions for important business problems.

I feel powerfully important.

It is OK to feel powerfully important.

Let the confidence of those who have made this important shift in thinking be greater than your doubt. If you have unwittingly convinced yourself that your only option is to start low and follow the chain of command up know this: you can convince yourself to prospect the executive levels directly because that is precisely where you belong.