I gained access to the top executive by solving a risk problem, not a growth problem, and saved them over $70M.

If you've been in key account sales for any length of time, you know gaining access to your client's top executive is an important step in becoming a Vital Partner to them, a vendor they can't live without. Having access to the executive starts to elevate the customer dialogue and allows you to find ways to impact their entire organization.

Most salespeople will try to gain access to their top executive by talking about revenue growth. It's a safe bet, as growth is the C-Suite's #1 priority. Not me. I've learned to start with risk first. While revenue growth is the #1 priority, risk is the #1 issue that hinders growth, especially in highly regulated industries.

By dealing with what really keeps them up at night, I'm not competing for mindshare in the growth conversation where there are hundreds of other vendors. If I can help them mitigate risks to their business, then that will allow them to focus more time and energy on executing their growth strategy versus putting out fires.

Several years ago, I was competing with 12 other vendors in my service area in an account that had 100s of suppliers across their global supply base. The top executive was not accessible at this stage and there was no reason to think he would be. After all, he was the Founder and CEO of a $5B global corporation, leading over 60 locations worldwide and ranked #1 in their industry, a position they had held for 20 years and counting.

So, at this point, I was a small fish in a vast sea of vendors. Why would he ever want to meet with me? But without a connection to him, our chances of elevating to a Vital Partnership would be next to impossible.

One day, a VP of Operations called me to ask a question. Same question he'd just asked the previous 4 vendors on his call sheet. The purpose of the call was to inquire about a specific capability. Can you do X___? If so, give me your plan and pricing and I'll follow up with our decision. He needed our proposal by COB the next day.

I could tell this was a hot topic that fell into his lap. Not something he was thrilled to be dealing with. He had an anxious tone, a sense of chaotic urgency in his voice. This seemed like an actual fire versus a fire drill.

I asked him, "How did this issue land on your desk? This seems like a regulatory matter." He explained, "This came from head of legal with the CEO's blessing. They want me to run point on this issue because the solution would need to come from my department's vendors like you." That was the opportunity I'd been looking for, a way to gain access to the executive by helping him mitigate a risk that could impede their revenue growth. First things first, I need to find out why it matters to the CEO and Legal, and see if I can secure a win for this VP and turn him into a solid Champion.

I called him back that afternoon to validate which relevant proof points he would need to demonstrate a suitable solution. I wanted to know how the CEO described the issue from an impact standpoint because I would use his exact language in our proposal when describing our solution. Next, I found out what the expectations were in terms of timelines, required capabilities, level of effort and scope. Finally, I quantified the business impact if the solution didn't work, what was at stake. I used the impact value to create my pricing and included it in my pricing assumptions. A conservative estimate put their cost of nonconformance above $70M.

The next day, we submitted our proposal. It met all the CEO's expectations and Legal's concerns. Our newest Champion, the VP, let me know he would present the short listed solution the following week. I knew he would pick ours because it was speaking their language and would be easier for him to present with confidence.

The following week, he awarded us the opportunity. The key reason came down to trust. The CEO heard what he needed to hear and believed he could trust us to deliver what he wanted to see happen.

The competition's playbook was to show him the features and benefits of their solution, told entirely from their point of view. Our solution was to give the CEO back his proposal, delivered by the Champion, written entirely from his point of view. It was his language that we just had to say yes to and put a price tag on it.

The total award was $5M+ annually in new project revenue. Most importantly, we helped our client save $70M. We also helped them protect their brand and reputation which could conservatively be valued in the tens of billions.

Executive Access is 1 of the 21 Growth Drivers in the Vitality Index, the Key Account Growth System. It belongs to the Domain we call Relationships. This one play, find an area that your client needs help in to mitigate risks threatening their business, is just 1 of 50 plays in this Growth Driver that we handcrafted for gaining Executive Access in your key accounts.

In the Vitality Index, we cover 7 Domains in all. These include 21 Growth Drivers and over 1,200 power plays, next moves, and coaching insights.

Growing key accounts can be complex, so we distilled this type of work into a system everyone can use, no matter what level of experience you bring to the table. It was built from the same approach we used to create some of the largest partnerships in our industry that have lasted decades and are still running.

Winning, growing, and protecting key accounts has been our life's work for the past 30 years. In the Vitality Index, we don't tell you what to do. We show you, because we lived it. This is the system we wished we had years ago. But now, it's here! If becoming a top-producing account team is important to you, then the Vitality Index can help.

We made a sample for you to try. This is not the actual system, but it will show you a practical plan for growing a live customer in your portfolio. This snapshot will give you a diagnostic, analysis, and an actual growth plan for where you currently sit across two of the seven Domains: Relationships and Competitiveness.