Engaging Executives

How can executives get their Seat at the Table? 

Truman Company recently completed a series of conversations with CMOs on this question in partnership with Pete Krainik at the CMO Club.

Pete posted the results on his weekly Business Week blog, Brand New Day.  The key findings were that CMOs need to do three things to earn their seat at the table:

1. Think like a CFO
2. Speak business, not marketing
3. Be the voice of their customer

In essence, CMOs need to go beyond branding and lead generation and help the business make decisions that create customer value.  The full blog post has more on each of the practices with some great quotes from the interviewed CMOs.

For those of you marketing and selling to executives, the issue of Seat at the Table is critical to success.

Every senior executive these days is focused on how to maintain or get their Seat at the Table, especially those with cost centers such as Chief Information Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, and Chief Human Resource Officers. 

If you are marketing or selling to a senior executive, you can create enormous value by helping that executive get their seat at the table.   This means helping them make their business case, create alignment and support for their agenda, and improve performance across the business.   It's just common sense.  We help those who help us succeed.