G
G

goodoge

District Manager

Contributor
Fire Starter

Handling Objection With Decisonmaker(CEO/Owner)

How do you guys handle the main decisionmaker when you get them on the phone? I have trouble trying to convince them to work with me. I sell payroll/HR. I often get the line "I don't handle that you need to speak to Payroll Patty at my company" but thing is..if I could get the Ceo involved early in my sales process I would close way more. Loooking for someways to push back on them. thanks!
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18 comments

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CuriousFox
WR Officer
7
🦊
Then you contact who they tell you to contact and cc them on all correspondence.
UserNotFound
Politicker
6
Account Executive
Exactly what I do.. take that as a green light to let Payroll Patty know the CEO asked you guys to connect, and keep CEO in copy so that Patty knows not to be a (can't think of a PC word).
Incognito
WR Officer
5
Master of Disaster
Hi so, I deal with this all the time. I’ll talk to the owner and they will refer me to the controller/CFO, who *is* in charge of what I sell but cannot pull the trigger until they get the owner to agree. 

Still need to sell Patty first.

Make her your champion so the owner says yes real quick. If you’re memorable, polite, and charming with the owner - it’s even quicker. 

Can I get cock blocked by the owner’s golf buddy? Absolutely. But if I sold Patty well enough, people like money more than potentially saying no on the golf course 🤷‍♀️
SerialBiller
Executive
0
Account Executive
Fuck patty, she's an energy vampire and she will haunt your dreams
CoorsKing
WR Officer
4
Retired King of the Coors Knights
Well why should he/she work with you? I normally communicate very different with C-levels vs the rest of the org. I ONLY talk to them if I have a solid business case, in their terms, that explains why working with me will help them increase revenue, increase security, or decrease friction. 

I also don’t try to make them my point of contact, they don’t have time for that. I would say “I’m working with <name> but want to quickly walk you through why this is impactful for <company>.” They probably won’t be your champion but at least now they may not block you.

Im thinking you may just be communicating wrong with the CEOs. They don’t care about the nitty gritty details. 
MinisterOfChaos
Politicker
2
Commercial Account Executive
High-level, bullet-pointed, text speak.

A CEO most likely doesn't care about HR /payroll software; he hired someone to handle that for him.

"...at least now they may not block you." Such a key; they've given implied consent for the organization to move forward with discovery/PoC
goodoge
Contributor
0
District Manager
I like this bullet point approach
BillyHoyle
Tycoon
3
Senior Account Executive
What size companies are you selling into? I'd usually leverage that into a meeting with Payroll Patty... "Hey Patty, CEO Carl had asked me to reach out to you in regards to X,Y,Z. Do you have some time later this week to sync up to see if this makes sense to explore further?"
Diablo
Politicker
2
Sr. AE
This make sense and we can expect Patty to atleast reply now, if we can copy the CEO, it will do magic.
goodoge
Contributor
1
District Manager
Started using this method recently. I tell CEO about it and then I frame it to payroll as hey..ceo asked us work together on this one
goodoge
Contributor
0
District Manager
Forgot to answer 50-200 employees
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
2
sales
or he trust payroll patty to give him decisions to make and hes trying to help you. focus on selling Patty.
UrAssIsSaaS
Arsonist
2
SaaS Eater
I would start with nailing down why they should work with you. Sounds like you might not be confident conveying why they should say yes to you. 

Go listen to top AEs on your team and replicate their language.
justatopproducer
Politicker
1
VP OF SALES -US
Yep, if they say to contact patti i say “perfect, whats the contact info and would you mind that I cc you on the email so they know we spoke and are looking to move forward with a qoute atleast?” Essentially take away the chance they are just passing you to someone else. I would also ask them to participate in the discovery since patti may want x,y, and z to change and the ceo’s needs or wants are much different. Or, i’ve used “I thought you may say that, but many times my solution replaces your payroll and hr team so me contacting them first typically doesn’t go anywhere. Are you open to the idea of outsourcing their jobs through tech or are you happy with how things are now regardless of ROI? Something along those lines but you have to feel out the person youre speaking with. I work in the same industry unfortunetly.
TheHypnotist
Executive
1
Sales Manager
talk to existing customers, find out what payroll patty normally bitches about to the C.E.O. - incorporate this into the pitch you are using with the C.E.O's.....
goodoge
Contributor
0
District Manager
I do this all the time and I honestly prefer it. And it has worked, however, I’m getting road blocked when it comes presentation time. The owner won’t come on the presentation. We also sell stuff which makes payroll Patty feel her job is threatened. And if the owner sees the costs of the program/hr stuff they’d be see a chance to save $ and streamline.
justatopproducer
Politicker
2
VP OF SALES -US
Yeah you have to win Patti over on this also. I tell them im their partner, here to help them and what they do. Two heads are better than one, and if I can take much of the mess you rather not handle off your plate so you can focus on your employees and their matters and not the admin crap i know you hate.
goodoge
Contributor
0
District Manager
This is is money

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