Dilemma: “What do I talk with executives about, if I don’t want to talk about products and solutions?”
Solution: In any conversation, you will be directed to the people that you sound like. This is true both personally and professionally.
As an example, think about the last social gathering you attended, within a very short time circles of conversations developed. Conversation circles each have their own theme:
- Common interest circles – such as sports, hobbies or work.
- Idea circles – such as challenges, controversies or politics.
- People circles – like entertainers, news-makers or gossip.
- Other circles.
At this social gathering you naturally moved to or were encouraged to join a conversation circle of interest. It is the same in business only the conversations circles are different.
If you want to engage and maintain an executive conversation, learn to communicate within their circles of interest.
- Corporate goals – especially those propelling growth, differentiation or risk mitigation.
- Industry benchmarks – best practices, leadership strategies and market trends.
- Business influencers – disruption, accelerators and change management.
Yikes, now what do you do? You have mastered all the best your company has offered … features, specifications, functionality, products, services, operations and solutions. Goals, benchmarks and influencers weren’t included. You ponder, “is that supposed to come naturally?” No, no and no. But with a bit of professional detective work you can tap into these new conversation circles.
The secret to professional detective work is spending a little time, 1-2 hours a week on internet research and reading industry journals (theirs, not yours). In an executive conversation, you will gravitate to or be directed to the people that you sound like. Read what your target executive reads. Read what he or she has written about their company goals. Listen to what is said about their industry, marketplace trends and competition.
It’s not about you, your products or solutions. It’s all about them, their business and their industry. If you sound like you are the project owner then you will be directed to talk and work with the project owner. If you sound like the business owner, then you will be welcomed at the executive table for a rich conversation.