B2B sales strategies and trends

Breaking Down the Buying Committee: How to Communicate with HR Execs

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Successful companies build their foundations on talented, dedicated employees. Finding and training these employees to meet business objectives is crucial, and certain members of the buying committee are directly involved with that development.

The people responsible for finding and developing talent are the Human Resources (HR) executives. Learn to frame your sales lead generation tactics for their specific concerns and you will make any potential sales process much easier.

The HR Executive

HR executives bring in, retain, and train employees to help meet business objectives. They develop new business policies and systems to achieve these goals, including procedures for evaluating and compensating workers.

Social media greatly influences the modern-day HR executive’s role, according to Oracle’s Cara Capretta and Bertrand Dussert. They note that today’s HR executives use social for “sentiment analysis,” applying that process to “the workforce, sampling workforce sentiment via internal and external social networks, to understand what helps employees succeed — and what holds them back.”

The HR Executive’s Priorities

While HR executives are primarily concerned with staffing and training, they are increasingly being asked for big-picture perspectives and greater capacities for strategic thinking. They work to achieve innovation through organizational structure and workforce development, so it’s important to anticipate their needs during sales presentations.

Be prepared to answer these questions when talking with HR executives:

  • Do we need additional staff? This is especially important if your solution requires skills that are outside of their current workforce. They will need to plan for new staffing, update budgets, and search for new talent.
  • How long will it take to train our existing staff? Poorly developed training programs result in unhappy employees and high turnover. HR executives want assurances that any new program contains a robust training schedule with clear start and end dates.
  • Will staff use need to be monitored for compliance? If your solutions require adherence to specific industry or governmental standards, address these standards as part of your sales process along with examples for how other companies have addressed similar situations.

Once you understand these major concerns, you can frame your solutions to fit HR executive expectations.

Communicating with HR Executives

HR executives want to ensure that the company’s employee resources are adequately mapped out with any new project. Aligning your sales tactics to address these factors can help gain trust with these critical buying committee members.

  • Bring referrals for relevant talent. If the prospect company doesn’t have the needed talent, provide names of people in their networks that can potentially fill the void. Communicating through recommendations in LinkedIn, if even only a starting place for the HR contact, can help keep the sales process moving forward.
  • Map out the training process. Much like the COOs, HR executives focus on resource management and employee development. Provide a clear training process for any new initiative, and it will help HR executives judge the feasibility of your solutions. It can also help differentiate you from competitors who may not take this extra step.
  • Focus on employee morale. HR executive want solutions that will simplify their processes and increase employee morale. Frame your presentation to clearly align with these HR priorities.

HR executives focus on the human elements of any new project. Avoid lingering too much on features and benefits and instead, target their desire to foster better employee relations.

Successful companies build their foundations on talented, dedicated employees. Finding and training these employees to meet business objectives is crucial, and certain members of the buying committee are directly involved with that development.

The people responsible for finding and developing talent are the Human Resources (HR) executives. Learn to frame your sales lead generation tactics for their specific concerns and you will make any potential sales process much easier.

The HR Executive

HR executives bring in, retain, and train employees to help meet business objectives. They develop new business policies and systems to achieve these goals, including procedures for evaluating and compensating workers.

Social media greatly influences the modern-day HR executive’s role, according to Oracle’s Cara Capretta and Bertrand Dussert. They note that today’s HR executives use social for “sentiment analysis,” applying that process to “the workforce, sampling workforce sentiment via internal and external social networks, to understand what helps employees succeed — and what holds them back.”

The HR Executive’s Priorities

While HR executives are primarily concerned with staffing and training, they are increasingly being asked for big-picture perspectives and greater capacities for strategic thinking. They work to achieve innovation through organizational structure and workforce development, so it’s important to anticipate their needs during sales presentations.

Be prepared to answer these questions when talking with HR executives:

  • Do we need additional staff? This is especially important if your solution requires skills that are outside of their current workforce. They will need to plan for new staffing, update budgets, and search for new talent.
  • How long will it take to train our existing staff? Poorly developed training programs result in unhappy employees and high turnover. HR executives want assurances that any new program contains a robust training schedule with clear start and end dates.
  • Will staff use need to be monitored for compliance? If your solutions require adherence to specific industry or governmental standards, address these standards as part of your sales process along with examples for how other companies have addressed similar situations.

Once you understand these major concerns, you can frame your solutions to fit HR executive expectations.

Communicating with HR Executives

HR executives want to ensure that the company’s employee resources are adequately mapped out with any new project. Aligning your sales tactics to address these factors can help gain trust with these critical buying committee members.

  • Bring referrals for relevant talent. If the prospect company doesn’t have the needed talent, provide names of people in their networks that can potentially fill the void. Communicating through recommendations in LinkedIn, if even only a starting place for the HR contact, can help keep the sales process moving forward.
  • Map out the training process. Much like the COOs, HR executives focus on resource management and employee development. Provide a clear training process for any new initiative, and it will help HR executives judge the feasibility of your solutions. It can also help differentiate you from competitors who may not take this extra step.
  • Focus on employee morale. HR executive want solutions that will simplify their processes and increase employee morale. Frame your presentation to clearly align with these HR priorities.

HR executives focus on the human elements of any new project. Avoid lingering too much on features and benefits and instead, target their desire to foster better employee relations.

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