Myths of Selling to Government

Government Selling Myth: Go to the Top!

May 19, 2021 Rick Wimberly Season 1 Episode 13
Myths of Selling to Government
Government Selling Myth: Go to the Top!
Show Notes Transcript

You might think that getting to the most senior leadership will make your government selling more successful. That's not necessarily the case. In this episode of Myths of Selling to Government, Rick Wimberly tells a couple of stories about getting to the top of a government organization...the very top. It just didn't work. We had missed an important lesson about getting buy-in up and down the ladder. www.govselling.com

Episode 13 – Always Go to the Top


Do you always go to the top?


<intro>

We earlier talked about relationships…their value, and how to build them in the government space.  In the last episode, we talked about how to get prospects to come to you, rather than wasting your time cold calling. Yeah, disparaging the revered cold calling was a bit controversial, I’m sure.  


Today, we take on another myth, also likely to create a stir among some. That myth is, always go to the top. 

Almost everybody teaches it…and, we’d all like to do it, I guess. But, in the government space, it’s not always the right place to go.


We begin with a story. One beautiful autumn morning in Washington, D.C., I found myself in a private meeting with a Presidential cabinet secretary.  (That’s pretty much the top, right.)  A buddy of mine who was close to the Secretary him told him about a technology solution I was involved with.  My buddy arranged my presence at a social event the Secretary was attending for an introduction. When we met, the Secretary told me with a lot of enthusiasm that he had heard about the solution, and believed it had potential to solve a problem he really wanted solved. He said, we’ll be in touch soon.


Well, that was cool, I thought…but wondered if the follow-up would actually occur.  It did.  Well, that sure excited the technology company. Me, too.  We went into high-gear preparing a briefing for this highly visible leader.  The day came. I was admitted to one of the most secure and visible landmark buildings in DC (OK, the most visible). They escorted me to a small, crowded office. It was temporary digs for the Secretary so he could be close to, well, the President. He came in, shook my hand with a big smile, and sat down. I was surprised there were no staffers present. I took that as a positive sign--a cabinet secretary wanting a one-on-one with me.  


As the meeting progressed, he wrote notes on the briefing document I provided.  He asked good questions, and the meeting went longer than scheduled.  To this day, I regret not asking for a copy of the schedule on his desk. It had my name on it, alongside of names of top administration officials he would meet later in the day.


When the meeting concluded, he told me he was very interested and looked forward to getting my solution in front of his Chief Information Officer.  He asked for my cell number, my home number, and any other number. I had to make sure he could reach me at a moment’s notice as they were very, very busy.  Of course, I accommodated.  



I left the meeting and its most impressive surroundings thinking I was on the road to helping solve a very troublesome problem for the nation.  I called the company CEO. He was excited, too. I would be handsomely rewarded in many ways.   Now, all I needed to do was be prepared for the CIO’s call, which I was sure I would receive soon…maybe even during the upcoming weekend.  

He didn’t call.  

Not over the weekend. 

Not during the next week.  

Not the following week.  

I called him, left a message saying I was following up on the conversations with the Secretary, knew he would be trying to get in touch with me, and just wanted to make sure I was available.  Still no call.  

I sent him an email.  No response.  The CEO was asking about it every day.  I had nothing to report.


A few weeks later, as luck would have it, I found myself down the hall from the Secretary’s office at the department’s new headquarters.  I figured what the heck, I’ll see if he’ll give me a few minutes.  I had my host for the other meeting introduce me to the Secretary’s chief of staff’s secretary.  She disappeared, and came back about fifteen minutes later and said, “Yes, the Secretary would like to see you, but you’ll have only five minutes to talk to him as he walks to his car to go to his next appointment.”  I waited around, and my time came. 

 

He greeted me warmly, and asked, “How’s it going with the CIO?”  “Well, sir,” I gulped, “He’s not contacted me.” 

 

He was surprised, and said he still had my card with all of my phone numbers in the top left hand drawer of his desk.  He said he would make sure I heard from the CIO soon.  He asaid, “There must be some misunderstanding.  I’ll take care of it.”  


“Well, that’s more like it”, I thought.  “Now, I’m getting somewhere.”  I reported the news to the CEO.


Within a couple of weeks, I was sitting in front of the CIO.  As I launched into my presentation, the CIO told me to get to the point quickly.  He knew why I was there, and already liked what I was proposing.  

Now, I was really getting somewhere, right?  


Um, that was now fifteen years ago was ago…. And, no, the technology was never adopted as the Secretary had envisioned.  (A sidenote, we did sell a lot of the technology in DC.)


And, of course, Secretary and the CIO have moved on. 


And, there was the time I found myself in India seated on a couch next to the head of the Indian Army…just he and I surrounded by his top generals. And, me wondering how Ricky Wimberly from Cochran, Georgia got there…and wondering what that green stuff I was drinking was.  This meeting was to seal the deal for a very large order of pepper spray.  That one never happened either, even though the Army Chief seemed to like the idea, and I was told later, that he liked me, too. Go figure.


Here’s the lesson:  Even buy-in at the very top does not mean you will find success when dealing with government.  You certainly won’t succeed if the one at the top is fighting it, but even a top advisor to the President or the head of the second largest Army in the world cannot get an initiative done just because he or she is enthusiastic about it.  You’ve got to get “buy-in” up and down the ladder!  


To do this, you’ve got to know who the players are, what their problems are, and how you’re going to fix them. We call the process “pain mapping”.  


That’s the topic for our next episode.  By the way, if you’re finding these podcasts helpful, leave us a review.  Or, want to talk about some of the things we’ve been talking about?  Reach out through the Govselling.com website.  Till next time….