So, What’s in it for the CEO?
The battle to prove your value to the C-suite is not exclusive to the meeting and event industry.
By Naomi Hulbert
Chief executives don’t particularly care how many meetings you delivered last year. They don’t care about the number or quality of delegates at your most recent congress. And they don’t care about the international entertainers you secured for the gala dinner, nor the subject of the keynote speaker’s address.
Members of the C-suite (CEOs, CFOs and their ilk) have bigger fish to fry. They are fighting for company survival in the grips of a recession the likes of which the world has not seen since the Great Depression.
So what do they care about? Days in the C-suite are spent seeking creative new ways to turn profits in a season of cutbacks, retain staff in a year of downsizing and reassure skittish shareholders in an unreliable and volatile marketplace.
At the best of times, the meeting and event industry struggles to prove its worth as a legitimate global industry.
But by speaking the language of the C-suite, the language of business and understanding how chief executives define value, meeting planners can firmly establish their business worth to top-tier executives.
It’s all a matter of learning from other industries who have gone before.
Deliver Measurable Solutions
Start with the end in mind, says James Kirkpatrick, vice president of First Indiana Bank and director of the corporate university. Kirkpatrick teaches learning and development professionals and MBA students how to deliver corporate training solutions that offer proven, definable value and results to senior executives.
He advises his students to ask key stakeholders what success looks like to them, not just what general expectations are, so they can deliver programs and events with specific, measurable targets in mind.
Delivering measurable solutions is key to earning and keeping the attention of the C-suite, according to Kirkpatrick. In a training session delivered for the American Management Association, he told corporate learning and development professionals that with all due respect to feedback sheets and on-target training, the C-suite really just wants value.
“We’re living in a myth that the training departments are going to pull their own load without demonstrating their value,” he said.
But what does value mean to the C-suite?
“They’re wanting to see if their culture is being enhanced. They want to know if the bottom line is being impacted. They want to know if their customer base is growing, if customers are satisfied and if their workforce is stable. They’re wanting bottom-line numbers.”
Direct marketing consultant and author Scott Hornstein says his industry has learned similar lessons when it comes to impressing the C-suite.
“I think that what we’re trying to do here is build up a sense of preferential repurchase with our clients,” he explained. “We want that client to recognize our value, rely on us and keep coming back.”
Hornstein says the C-suite has such a short attention span that when they first meet with suppliers, they want to ask, “Who are you, why should I care and what’s in it for me?”
“If you keep those three questions in mind, you can develop a short, value-packed PR statement that chief executives will listen to.”
Become a Strategic Resource
A 2009 study by U.K.-based business resource Economist Intelligence Unit states that it is critical, especially when market conditions are uncertain, that the human resources (HR) industry position itself and make widely known its contributions to the bottom line.
The report, The Role of HR in Uncertain Times, found a gap between the perceptions that HR respondents held of their own worth during times of economic downturn and the perception that other members of organizations held of HR’s function.
Likewise, members of the information technology (IT) sector have been warned to connect their teams’ performance and compensation with the business value their organizations deliver or lose the support of the C-suite.
And for meeting professionals, particularly those situated in-house, this means being seen as a strategic resource, rather than simply a provider of services, says Martin Sirk, CEO of the International Congress and Convention Association.
“This depends upon the relationships that are built up over time,” Sirk said.“The capacity of meeting managers to be involved in the ROI process is something that doesn’t come automatically.”
Build a Case
Sirk says any individual, department or company providing specific services needs to be able to build a case to justify their existence and importance, especially in today’s tough climate.
“If you’re internal and can’t prove your value, then get ready to be outsourced,” Sirk said. “If you’re external and can’t do this, then get ready for a contractor to be given your contract!”
Kirkpatrick likens this process to a trial with C-suite as jury.
“We believe in data and information,” he said. “Some people think that evaluation is always about numbers, but when we’re ultimately trying to demonstrate value to senior executives, we like to use a blend of data and also information in the form of testimonials.
“Provide evidence that is both from an expert witness point of view, which is the data, and from the ‘weeping widow,’ that is the testimonial that touches the heart as well as the intellect.”
Don’t Overlook Middle Management
When Hornstein conducted a research interview with the CIO of a major international corporation on behalf of client Hewlett Packard he learned the value of giving the C-suite its space.
“The CIO was telling me she had a lot of smart, talented people who handled a lot of specific areas and had decision-making authority,” he explained. “This CIO told us, ‘You’re a valued supplier, we want you in on things, but trying to come through me is not the way.’ I don’t think the game is necessarily to have the senior vice president know your name. I think the game, here, is for them to know the value you bring.”
Hornstein says one of the best ways to do this is to give away ideas, to make your middle management contact look like a hero in his or her company. This, he insists, is much more likely to bring you good repute among the C-suite than marching into the top office and demanding an audience.
“I have seen vendors come in and say their message is really for the C-suite,” he said. “They finally get in to see the chief marketing officer (CMO), who promptly says ‘This is not my area, I have people who do this, let me introduce you.’ The CMO makes the introduction, but that vendor never gets back into the C-suite. He has taken up the person’s time, and they didn’t appreciate it.”
The C-suite measures success by boiling it down to the next benefit, Hornstein concludes.
If meeting professionals can find creative ways to educate members of the C-suite on how their services will contribute to the corporate culture, enhance the bottom line, boost customer satisfaction or attract and retain top employees—as other industries have done—they will go a long way toward proving their business value. One+
NAOMI HULBERT is an Australian MICE journalist.
How to Talk to the C-suite
Hayden Turner, founder of HT Safaris, is both a member of the C-suite and a travel and incentives provider trying to prove his worth to clients’ senior executives. He provides tips for making the most of that coveted meeting with the boss.
1. Be passionate but not over the top; be positive but not painfully so; be creative but not unrealistic
2. Do not look desperate: the C-suite will come back to you if they like your idea
3. Understand their time needs: deliver quality, concise information on your service offering
4. Communication is everything: never lose the skill of talking to as many people as you can to learn, research and ultimately strike that deal