Do you speak the language of the C-Suite?

If you lived in the United States or Canada and your company offered you a new, exciting position in Brazil, one of the first things you need to do to be successful is to learn to speak the language. Many people in Brazil speak English. But what about those people who only speak Portuguese? How do you plan to communicate with them? A translator? Another option is to find someone who speaks English and avoid people with whom we cannot communicate.

Salespeople live in this scenario every day. Many are uncomfortable speaking with financial decision-makers because they don’t speak their language. Terms like hurdle rates, payback, return on investment, life cycle returns, and cost of ownership are the language of C-suite people. These people may never use your products and services, yet they decide to buy and whom to buy from. Your competition may not even be product-related.

So, we often avoid them or work with someone at a lower level in the company with whom we are comfortable but who is not the decision-maker. Frequently, salespeople will get a translator. They will depend on someone with the prospect or customer’s company to sell for them. But should they? Do they understand the value of your products and services? Can they accurately articulate that value so the financial decision-makers understand it?

If this feels familiar to you or the people on your team, consider joining our next financial justification course to help your customer sell your value internally or, better yet, learn the language so you can do it yourself.