Trying to reach senior level people requires strategies that typically do not work for others.
Consider these 4 secrets:
1. Send senior level people an email late Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.
This is one of the best techniques you can use, as senior level people don’t ignore email on the weekend. In fact, for many extremely busy executives, the weekend is the one time of the week when they will spend an extended period of time on email. This means an email from you may more likely be read on the weekend than it would be during the week.
2. Make sure your email is short and has a simple subject line.
CEOs and other senior level people are most likely viewing emails on a smartphone. This means the person receiving the email is making the decision as to whether they should read the email based solely off the subject line and maybe the first 5 words.
3. Call at the top of the hour.
Senior level people spend the majority of their day in meetings. As you can imagine, they typically start at the top or bottom of the hour. In addition, many meetings are conference calls. This means that for senior level people, the one time they might be in their office will be at the top of the hour.
Once you realize that the top of the hour is the one time a senior level person might be available, it makes sense to place your call at that time.
4. If you know their cell number, call shortly after 7 AM or after 5:45 PM.
Your goal in calling at this time is to catch them when they are in their car driving to or from the office. Yes, many senior level people are at the office well before 7 AM and long after 5:45, but you probably don’t know that.
BONUS TIP: Be sure to treat the gatekeeper — their administrative assistant — with the same level of respect that you would the CEO or senior level person.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
2 Responses
Mark’s listing of the best times to call — i.e., before or after “normal” work hours is brilliant. I know from experience that really works to talk with CEOs & other top executives.
Right on about the gatekeepers. They are smart, plugged in and will help a courteous caller.