What CEOs Really Care About When You’re Selling to Them
I want to tell you about the three things I didn't give a hoot about when I was being sold to as a CEO – and the three things I cared about a whole lot more.
I'm a former corporate CEO. I ran a B2B healthcare financial payments business with about 1,000 employees and nine-figure revenue. As you can imagine, companies were constantly coming to me with solutions they believed would make our business better, faster, or more valuable.
And many of them came armed with the same sales pitch.
Here are 3 things they talked about constantly that didn't impress me nearly as much as they thought they would.
1. ROI
Yes, ROI matters.
But everybody has an ROI.
Every company that walked through my door had a business case explaining how much money their solution would save us, make us, or somehow magically create.
The problem was that I had to prioritize.
We could do a bazillion things every year, but we couldn't do all of them. So having a positive ROI didn't automatically move you to the top of my list.
There were other questions I needed answered first.
2. How Big You Are
“We have X billion dollars under management.”
“We have X thousand customers.”
“We're one of the largest providers in the industry.”
Okay. Great.
If you had made it to my office, I already knew you were a legitimate company. I didn't need another reminder of how big you were.
And sometimes being bigger actually made me more nervous.
Would we get personalized service? Would you care about our business? Would we become just another account number?
Size can establish credibility. But it doesn't necessarily create trust.
3. Who You Know
This one can actually backfire.
I was a CEO of a subsidiary, which meant there were executives above me. And there were companies that would try to leverage those relationships to get to me.
They'd name-drop. They'd make phone calls.
Please don't.
If you genuinely know someone well, that's one thing. But don't assume that telling me which executives you know is going to make me want to do business with you.
It might do the opposite.
So what did I actually care about?
Here are the three things that I actually cared about as a CEO
1. Does This Fit My Strategy?
This was the big one.
Every year, my team could come up with a bazillion great ideas. But we had a strategic plan.
If your product or service didn't help us accomplish what we had already decided was important, there was a pretty small chance we were going to do business together.
This is something I think B2B salespeople often miss.
Don't just tell me why your product is great.
Understand where I'm going.
What am I trying to accomplish? What problems am I trying to solve? What are my priorities?
If you can connect your solution to my actual strategy, now you've got my attention.
2. Do I Have the Resources to Implement It?
Here's the dirty little secret about ROI: implementing your solution isn't free.
Even if your product makes perfect financial sense, someone on my team has to make it happen.
That could mean project managers, IT resources, procurement, operations, training, legal—you name it.
And those people are already busy.
So I was always thinking, “Is this worth taking something else off the plate?”
Which is another reason strategy matters so much. If something is truly important to our strategy, I can justify allocating resources to it.
If it isn't?
My team is probably looking at me thinking, “Erin, what are you doing? We don't have time for all this crap.”
3. Are You Trustworthy People?
This is where authenticity comes in.
When you're selling to a CEO—or really any decision-maker—you're not just selling a product.
You're selling you.
I was watching everything.
How did you communicate? Did you listen? Were you curious? Did you seem like someone who actually cared about our business?
Or did you walk in with the 82-slide PowerPoint, the perfectly polished messaging, and a list of impressive numbers and relationships?
Because here's the thing: I can find your numbers on your website.
What I can't find there as easily is whether I trust you.
That's where things like storytelling, humility, humor, and plain talk can become incredibly powerful.
They give me a glimpse of the human behind the company.
And that can be a fast pass to connection.
Don't Just Sell the Product. Sell the Relationship.
Here's what I would do before you ever walked into my office.
I'd probably stalk you on LinkedIn.
I'd look at your website.
I'd look for clues about what it would actually be like to work with you.
And if I saw something that made me think, “These people are different. I like how they think. I could trust them,” you'd already have an advantage before the meeting even started.
So the next time you're preparing to sell to a CEO or another senior decision-maker, put down the giant PowerPoint for a minute.
Ask questions.
Understand their strategy.
Think about the resources required to make your solution happen.
And most importantly, give them a reason to trust you.
Because the best B2B sales strategy isn't always about proving how impressive your company is.
Sometimes it's about proving that you actually understand theirs.
Go be authentic. And sell, sell, sell.
Erin Hatzikostas is an internationally recognized leader on the impact of authenticity in the workplace. Learn more about her keynote speaking, workshops, and other authentic programs here.
