Different Up There

(Photo of Sulphur Mountain near Banff, Alberta, Canada by RJJ Photography, Creative Commons license)

In an online group about business coaching, someone accustomed to working with businesses having up to tens of millions in annual revenue found himself scheduled to meet with top executives at a company with revenue of about a billion USD. He asked for suggestions about how to approach this potential new client. They are, after all, in an entirely different league from his usual clientele.

For the past dozen years I've worked closely with an elite dealmaker. Our targets are in this size range (and above). I'm often the one who gets us into meetings with the top execs. Here’s the short version of how different it is up there, dealing with the executive suite in a business that is truly big.

Usually the first 10 minutes is spent establishing a personal connection of some kind. It can be discovering that you both love car racing or are both private pilots or golfers or whatever. Then it's right to the point.

What Do They Want?

The companies most business coaches target tend to think at a modest scale. You can show them something formulaic and impress them. As long as it’s beyond what they have already, it can help them considerably. (I have tools to facilitate coaching with businesses at that level by taking in financial figures and automating analysis to find where we can make the biggest improvements most quickly. That frees up more of my mind to think about parts of their situation that can’t be so easily reduced to numbers.)

Truly big companies are not looking for something formulaic. They can crunch numbers and follow standard operating procedures very well themselves. They are looking for an edge they can't get anywhere else.

What Can You Offer?

Formulaic tools are only a foot in the door with them, especially when competitors have access to your help with the same tools. The one or two issues they want you to concentrate on are also only starting points. Chances are that those one or two issues are the tip of an iceberg. It’s best to make sure any contract you sign leaves room for your scope to expand so you won’t have to renegotiate when the full scope of what you’re getting into emerges.

When you’re new in business, it’s tempting to try to sell the features of what you offer. Then you go to seminars that tell you to put emphasis on the benefits of what you offer.

In the rarified air of the executive suite at truly large companies, none of that matters. What they care about most can be reduced to one question: What value can you add to the business?

In this context, value is increased profit margin and/or increased competitive advantage. Often the latter is more weighty than the former. My dealmaker colleague and I usually bring an invention to the table, but that isn’t enough. We also bring a clear picture of how that invention can add to their profits or give them a distinct lead over competitors.

How Do You Set Pricing?

You want to be dealing only with the top executivess. That puts you at the strategic level in your client. Also, unlike managers at lower levels, top execs aren't constrained by a budget someone else stuck them with. They decide the budget and strategy. They have the biggest leverage to guide the company.

If you only bill for your time, they will take it to mean you don't fully understand what it means to be operating at the strategic level and that could prevent you from getting a contract at all. They don’t need or want a commodity from a catalog. The deal is more collaborative, flexible, creative, maybe even daring.

The most lucrative contracts in the strategic sphere are based on a slice of the value you add to the business. It isn’t as simple as it sounds. For example, you can’t base the contract on profit because that number is too easily manipulated. I gave the business coach a couple of suggestions about pricing.

Consider Not Flying Solo

Usually I also suggest bringing someone else in who balances whatever is your weakness.

My dealmaker colleague is great at ideas, finding ways to add value and crafting deals. When he meets with top executives on his own, they worry about how all those grand ideas will get implemented. When we meet with them together, after the introductions I say very little. (If you know me, you know how hard that can be for me to do.) I mostly sit there quietly being the rocket scientist in the room. The executives trust that whatever the deal is, I will make sure it gets delivered. We can see their shoulders relax and the whole conversation goes better.

One Last Thing

Last but not least, no matter what you think you’re going to do, be prepared for it to morph. As the meeting progresses, the executives may take a mental leap from what you brought in the door and ask whether you can deliver something other than what you brought.

If it’s within your capabilities, ethical and worthy, there isn’t much sense in digging in your heels, is there? They have the resources to change the world if they choose to, and maybe you’re exactly the enabling spark they need. You may walk into the room hoping to start a project and instead take the first steps on the adventure of a lifetime.

It's different up there, sometimes in a good way.