Networking Up, Part 2: How Rainmakers Move Up in the Client Organization
Professionals often struggle to find ways to meet the senior executives who are most likely to give them business. At the accounts where they are working they feel blocked by the person they report to. Some feel so awkward about approaching a top executive, they don’t even try.
Rainmakers are not deterred by these obstacles. They get in front of the people they want to know. For the past fifteen years we have interviewed rainmakers and people who have worked closely with them to learn what they do and how they do it. How they meet the executives they want to know is a question we ask. We’ve tallied their responses to find the most frequently-used approach.
And the answer is . . . . . they ask someone to introduce them.
I can almost hear the moans of disappointment at what appears to be an anticlimax. I imagine you’re feeling tempted to surf away to somewhere else on the web. But over time, I have come to really like this answer. I like it because it’s relatively easy, and I learned years ago that there are no extra points for getting new business the hard way. I like it because it’s direct and straightforward.
If you time your request for a moment when your principal contact is happy with something you have done, it can a simple request for a favor. I have covered this in an earlier posting, Asking for Referrals.
Still, it’s not always as easy as it first appears. Sometimes you must get in front of the top executive before you have even started the work. To do that you must make it clear to your principal contact why getting you access to the senior executive is essential. Here are three examples, all shortened and simplified to make the message clear:
Need for High Level Sponsorship: One professional looked at the executive who wanted to hire him and said, “You and I both want to get this done, but to make it work we will need the buy-in of the whole management team. Frankly, neither of us has the clout to ensure we get it. The only way to be sure we get their support is to get [the president] to sponsor the effort. If he owns it, we can get it done. Can you get us in front of him for half an hour?”
Need to Overcome High Level Resistance: Another said, “It’s apparent from her comments that your boss doesn’t like consultants. This is something we must resolve quickly. Thanks for offering to talk with her, but no intermediary can make her comfortable with me. I need to meet her and talk this through. Can you arrange it?”
Need to Understand Goals: And another: “If we go ahead with this work without clarity about [the CEO’s] goals, we could end up with an end product that doesn’t match what he wants. That’s true whether he knows what his goals are today or not. What will happen if we go ahead assuming he wants red, and then six months from today he decides he wants green? What will it cost us then to fix the problem? The way around this is to help him think through the problem so that he can clearly state his goal now. Can you arrange for a meeting with him, so that we can help him do that?”
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
(You may also be interested in Networking Up, Part 1.)
