Our Client’s Situation:
A sales director, representing a high-end security service company, was struggling to get his proposal approved by the CEO of a nonprofit organization. Human Interaction Solutions was already working with the sales director and his company to support the company’s organizational change process and sales team development. As part of our assignment, we were asked to formulate a strategy to help the sales director close the sale with the nonprofit organization.
Our Research and Insights:
Our analysis of the CEO’s personality, psychological, and behavioral patterns revealed an intriguing challenge. It was evident that the CEO was highly creative, extremely competent, and a highly-regarded thought-leader in his industry, but he was also a very disturbed individual. Psychologically, the CEO was likely to suffer from significant issues compounded by extremely low self-esteem. We concluded that his unwillingness to approve a proposal was directly tied to the satisfaction of power he felt when he denied vendors and other business matters from moving forward.
Strategy & Outcome:
Human Interaction Solutions developed a strategy for the sales director to help the CEO gain respect and positive recognition. For example, the sales director:
- Hired a publicist to place the CEO’s latest article in a well-known trade journal.
- Helped the CEO receive an invitation to testify as an expert before a congressional subcommittee and arranged a recognition after-party.
- Arranged periodic meetings with the CEO to discuss non-sales related security issues to build a non-sales relationship.
- Revised his proposal in a narrative format to include the CEO’s thoughts on security issues, facts and figures.