Learn more about Colin Shaw: Join over 85,000 people on our LinkedIn Newsletter list or visit our website for more great podcast episodes.
Listen to the podcast:
Sanjay Patel has a pickle, and he wants our help. It’s a simple question but a profound one: How do you get the senior exec to buy into your program?
In other words, how do you deal with senior management?
We all get very nervous when we’re going to see important people. Twenty years ago, or so, I had a 24-hour period where I had to wear a heart monitor so my medical team could see how my heart reacted in my daily life. On this particular day, I presented to the CEO and the C-suite on one of the major programs I was running. This meeting demonstrated the most beats per minute that day.
However, my heart rate wouldn’t be so high if I wore it now. One of the things we forget when we see these senior people is that they’re people. Here’s how to deal with them effectively and get what you want.
It Starts with Confidence.
Senior people are clever people (usually) and ambitious (again, usually). They worked to get where they were, and there were topics they knew a lot about. However, in my experience, they don’t usually know a lot about Customer Experience.
So, when you talk to them about an experience program or any program in which you know more than they do, it is essential to remember that they can learn from you. They wouldn’t waste time talking to you otherwise.
Therefore, my first advice is to respect your expertise. You need something from senior management; they have more power than you, but you have more knowledge about this area. So, believe in yourself. After all, if you don’t believe in what you are saying and have confidence in your ideas, then why should they?
Avoid talking down to your audience.
There is such a thing as too much confidence. In my experience, some people trying to establish credibility will err on being too technical. They are also jargon-heavy in their communication.
However, if you get too technical or drop too many CX acronyms to sound like an expert, the risk is that you look like you are covering for something. Instead of looking knowledgeable, you look like you are hiding or compensating for your shortcomings.
I would advise you to understand what the CEO cares about most. For example, if the CEO is tasked with cost-cutting in the organization, frame your expertise through the perspective of how CX programs save costs. If the CEO is interested in growth, talk to them in those terms. Conforming your message to the level of the senior manager’s understanding and motives will help you get through to them.
This principle stands for all kinds of persuasion. If you try to persuade your child to eat broccoli or the CEO to sponsor your CX initiative, the most important thing is to understand what that person wants. You can tailor your pitch to meet their needs by understanding their needs.
For example, when pitching a program to my organization, I needed to get people on board with my agenda. I supervised customer service, and my initiative was customer service-related. However, my counterparts in the organization had different responsibilities, so selling them on a system that would overhaul customer service needed to be reframed.
The organization wanted every department to reduce its full-time equivalents (FTE), which, in corporate terms, meant they needed to reduce the staff. So, for my program presentation, I focused on how its benefits would help the other departments reduce their FTE.
In other words, I framed the conversation around what was important to them. This maneuver is essential when you are trying to persuade people to do something.
Keep the questions simple.
One surprising thing I learned over the years is that the higher you go, the simpler the questions. For example, questions like, “What experience do we want to deliver?” or “What drives value?” are simple questions. However, those simple questions are the ones that engage the senior team.
Avoid getting into complex questions. They can convolute your message at this level.
For example, I had a clever fellow on my team, but he always had to prove it. When he talked to me, it was as if he wanted to show that he was more clever than me. He had excellent solutions, but when he explained them, I didn’t understand what he meant.
So, I asked him to imagine he was down at the pub with his mates who didn’t know a thing about the topic and explain it to me as if I were one of them. He tried, but he couldn’t do it. Being technical was his way of showing that he had value.
The higher you go, the less important it is to appear clever. Everyone is brilliant there. What is essential is to be clear and relevant to what is important to that audience.
The reality is, in my opinion, that the further up you go, the less you have to do that. And actually, it’s the simple killer question that is the important one.
You have probably experienced this yourself. Have you ever seen a slide presentation that was really long and very technical and thought, “How much longer is this thing?” That is an example of being too technical.
Plus, too long is no good either. Shorter is important. If, for no other reason, senior management time is short, so get to the point quickly. Be concise, think about what you are saying, and be ready to answer the question, “What is the point?” at any moment.
Use lots of examples.
Examples of things that have happened in the organization or with customers are essential. These examples help demonstrate your points, and their stories are often digestible in a way that serves your goals.
In some cases, you might want to use the audience’s examples. For example, I’ve discovered that asking people about a good or bad experience they have had as a customer and having them explain why helps demonstrate the role emotions play in an experience. Once the person realizes that much of what made an experience good or bad was emotional for them, they have a much easier time understanding why emotions matter in a Customer Experience.
Have an opinion.
I often tell my people I pay them to have an opinion. So, if you have one, you should state it, particularly when senior management asks.
You might notice that some senior managers ask tough questions. It might even feel like a test.
That’s because it is.
Senior managers want to know your commitment and knowledge regarding your proposal, so they might ask very direct questions.
Additionally, it’s okay to disagree with senior management, respectfully, of course. It is also essential to have reasons why you disagree that you communicate clearly.
Whatever you do, be straightforward. Senior management doesn’t have time for anything less than your honest opinion. They can smell the other stuff from a mile away; they have been dealing with less-than-honest opinions their entire career.
It goes back to that opinion. They pay you to have one, so have it.
Remember these general rules for senior management’s main concerns.
I have mentioned before that senior managers are very focused on numbers. This concern is shared amongst most of them across industries. Therefore, ensuring that your presentation has numbers associated with it and supported by data is critical to your success.
Another common concern that senior managers share is having a vision for the future, whether that’s in a couple of years or a few more than that. They want to know how their moves today will affect the company’s position in 18 months or more.
Now, that is not to say that if there is an immediate problem, they aren’t interested in how your actions will affect them tomorrow. However, they are also interested in the longer-range effects, so don’t leave those out of your presentation.
Senior management is also often thinking about how to solve future problems, as well as what those problems might be. Therefore, when you are talking about your solution or program, ensure that it includes probable threats that might be present in your industry in the not-so-distant future. Having solutions for those problems is a good idea, too.
Also, it is important that you have your facts straight and supported. Senior managers are not likely to believe you because you said so. Having evidence for your claims from reliable sources will help them believe you faster than taking your word for it.
So, to summarize, there are a few things to remember regarding convincing senior management to see your way of things. The key things to remember are to understand what drives the senior management’s decisions, the future problems they will want to know about, and what they envision in the mid- to long-term range. Also, be sure to ask questions that give you more insight into these areas, as well as personal examples that will help the managers know what you are trying to do with your plan.
Remember, Sanjay, persuading senior management to undertake your program is a sales job. So, sell them on your idea. Using sales techniques like the ones we mentioned will help you get there, too. Good salespeople meet the needs of their potential customers. Explain how doing what you want to do meets those needs, and you are likely to get the sale.
Colin has conducted numerous educational workshops, on how to improve your Customer Experience, to inspire and motivate your team. He prides himself on making this fun, humorous, and practical. Speak to Colin and find out more. Click here!