Executive management is Running Hard!

Interruptions.  in the late 1990’s I was running the daily operations of a 75 Million Dollar Reseller.  It was busy.  Each morning I would head into work with a million things on my mind.  I made it a point to arrive early – before all of the confusion hit.  My planner was my best friend first thing in the morning.  Mapping out the day, confirming meetings, checking on metrics and project status, new employees starting, problems to follow up on…a million things had to be scheduled.  30 minutes later, I had a plan…

Plans are great, until the day really starts…suddenly, everything is an interruption.

So which ones will actually get my attention today?

(Join me to explore the important lessons we need to learn from the Target IT Guy…this is not technical!) – note, you’ll need to sign up for the Insider’s Circle Free trial and I will email you about the upcoming online event.

Is your Assessment Just Another Interruption?

This is exactly what happened at Target.  Executives in the retail sector are scrambling…Look at Wal*Mart…This morning’s CIO journal reports on the unstoppable “Big Box” retailer being forced to come up with something new:

“Wal*Mart is facing a sustained drop in store traffic, said it would accelerate its spending on its online presence and smaller-format stores meant to be more convenient for short shopping trips.

The company booked nearly half a trillion dollars in sales for its just-completed financial year. But Wal-Mart’s big-box formula for success is under strain because of a change in shopper habits, as consumers increasingly go online to buy clothes and electronics, while heading to dollar stores and pharmacy chains to refill on basics.”

Target is in the same business – they’re the number 1 competitor. They’re racing to catch up to Wal*Mart…Then some guy from SECURITY is down the hall yelling, “We need to do another assessment…can someone fund this?” But no ones going to hear him – online sales, cloud services, big data analytics, and social business trends are eating his lunch, looking for a new business model.

So How Do We Change All of This?

The message has to start where a person is already thinking.  Did you catch that? This might be one of the most important marketing concepts I could give you right now…try to interrupt this guy with your product today, and you’ll get, “THE HAND.” That’s the economic buyer, holding up his hand, in a, “Not right now, son,” sort of fashion.

Your message has to somehow start with their current mental occupation!  The marketing and selling process MUST grab that person, in the midst of their busy day, with a focus on what they are already thinking about and wanting, and then lead them to what they really need.  It’s a gradual process of gaining permission to have a voice. It’s a marketing process…

You can know everything about your product or technology, but if you don’t know where your CIO is mentally, it’s going to be hard to move forward.

Did the IT Guy Screw Up?  Well, he did, simply because he didn’t understand what it takes to sell senior management…What can we learn from this?

Join me next Tuesday to explore this…what should CIO’s take away from Target…”What should sales and marketing people learn from the IT guy who did not get his assessment approved?”  Link below…

© 2014, David Stelzl

HERES THE LINK: JOIN ME TO LEARN FROM THE IT GUY THAT FAILED TO SELL HIS ASSESSMENT  (Note: You’ll need to join us in the Insider’s Circle to view this! But it’s free with a TWO MONTH FREE TRIAL!..