There’s an old adage in sales about always calling high first. But is it always the right way to go?

First of all, let’s define who Mr. or Ms. ‘Big’ is, as it’s not always the CEO, or top dog, right? If we’re selling janitorial supplies the only time the CEO will notice what type of toilet paper has been purchased is, well, you can figure that one out. HERB is who we’re looking for; and HERB stands for Highest Executive Responsible for Buying. HERB could be a non-manager, a front line manager, or could very well carry a ‘C’ level title depending on the value of what we’re selling and how big the company is.

When calling higher than the level that will actually be involved in the investigation of the potential alternatives, expect to get pushed back down to the appropriate level. If we expect that will happen, we’ll not be nervous or defensive so it will actually be easier for us to get into a short conversation (using The Formula’s techniques) that makes HERB think that our other customer’s know something his or her company may not. Then when he or she pushes us down, that’ll be okay in most situations if we gain permission to check back with HERB to let them know ‘how it’s going’.

One last thing; when we ask for permission to check back, we need to get an email address and send HERB a quick note thanking him / her for sending us to their designate, copying the designate. We must make sure we say something to the effect that we’ll keep them abreast of the progress where appropriate. Make the designate understand we’ve discussed this in enough detail with HERB so that if we get pushed aside by the designate later down the road we can go back to HERB, and the designate will know it.

Next week, we’ll talk about when it may not be appropriate to start at the top.