Vendors! You've got to do better. Here is a solicitation I received on LinkedIn, selling business process outsourcing:
The poor grammar aside, I'm going to “save money on chairs?” Chairs and whatnot? Somebody is paying this person money to send a note like this to a COO of a billion-dollar company. And this is not a one-off example.
At least once per day, I get an email asking me who does what at my company. For example, “Can you tell me who is responsible for cyber-security at your company?” What's wrong, is Google broken? I suspect the person asking already knows the answer, but they're trying to swindle me. If I say that Shelly Sandstone is our CISO, the unscrupulous salesperson will write to Shelly and say, “Andrew gave me your name.” Not a lie, but a sneaky trick.
My friend and mentor, Vicki Cantrell, had a successful career as a CIO and COO at luxury retail brands. Vicki then held an executive role at the largest retail association, the National Retail Federation (NRF). Following that stint, Vicki worked for a software vendor. Having seen the industry from all angles, Vicki had a big “aha” moment. The people who drive the retail industry—retailers, vendors, analysts, and reporters—all have vastly different goals and perspectives. Having been on all sides of the table, Vicki was shocked to find out how little each group knew about the others. General mistrust and lack of empathy led to skepticism and adversarial relationships. Instead of forming productive partnerships, retailers and retail vendors remain wary of one another. Vicki noted that the relationship between digital leaders and their vendor partners was much healthier. Why? According to Cantrell, “It's because they built the digital industry together during the dot-com boom.” Vicki is so passionate about improving relationships that she, along with Phil Leahy, co-founded Vendors in Partnership, an organization dedicated to “those that are willing to make changes that are meaningful in creating a better partnership with retailers, increasing the success of all.”45 Vicki understands that we're all going to do better when we all work better together.
If you want to get your foot in the door with a CIO, gimmicks, jokes, and multiple-choice options aren't going to work. Making threats and bashing your competitors is a losing proposition, as is talking to the CEO's executive assistant and then telling me the “office of the CEO” told you to call me. Really? An office did that? Listing everything wrong with my website is another fast path to the electronic trash bin. Sending me half of a gift is the worst. “Here's a remote-control car; meet with me for the controller.” No, thank you. If you send me cakes and cookies, I'll share them with the team. That's not a bad way to start. Just don't be the person who sent me a cake with their photo painted on top in frosting.
The foolproof way to get a meeting is to have another CxO contact me on your behalf. If your product or service is good, you should have several executives willing to brag about it. I'm just asking for one. I relish every opportunity to speak with another business executive. If an executive reaches out to me, of course I'm going to take the call. When I hear from your customer about success, I'm a believer. Drop the gimmicks, and earn good references. That's the key to growing your business.
https://www.vendorawards.com.