Pow! Zap! Sell!

Selling. it's more competitive than ever. It's more important than ever. You practically have to be a super-hero to pull it off. As never before, a company's fortunes depend on the performance of its sales team. Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr calls sales the fuel that drives every up-and-coming organization: "In a small company, everybody is selling all the time," he says. "Believe me, selling is honorable work -- particularly in a startup, where it's the difference between life and death." Because you're always selling -- not only your product but also yourself, your ideas, your team, and your company -- we've decoded the secret powers of three sales superheroes who are retooling the basics of selling for use in the new economy. Their secrets will empower you -- no matter what you sell.

Sales Superhero: Rubber Man

Super Power: Wriggles out of any dilemma and strrrrrretches to an organization's highest levels.

The days of pitching to the head of purchasing have gone the way of polyester neckties. Smart salespeople sell as high on the corporate food chain as they can go. "As companies have become less hierarchical, CEOs and presidents have become more accessible," says Doug Dayton, president of Dayton Associates and author of Selling Microsoft: Sales Secrets from Inside the World's Most Successful Company. "Win the support of a CEO, and suddenly he becomes a coconspirator, an advocate who can call in his VP of R&D to meet with you."

When Dayton was manager of sales and contract support for Microsoft's Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) group, he closed more than 40% of the company's OEM contracts, helping to sell new business to big-name customers. A veteran of many top-level sales calls -- often with Bill Gates himself in tow -- Dayton delivers four insider tactics for selling at the top.

Use your ultimate weapon: bring your CEO to meet their CEO. How can you get into the executive suite? Use your CEO to break down the door. "Your CEO is best at presenting the corporate mission and providing assurances in a very personal way," says Dayton. "If Bill Gates promised that Microsoft would service a product around the clock, people believed him, because Bill was in a position to make that happen."

By taking Gates along on critical sales calls, Dayton quickly discovered that a CEO could talk to another CEO in a way that no one on the sales team would dare duplicate.

"We were in Silicon Valley to meet with a hardware manufacturer, one of the big 20. The other CEO wasn't focusing on the meeting. Gates actually got up on the guy's desk and shouted at him, 'What planet are you on?' He wanted to get the guy's attention, and he did. I closed the sale at our full off-the-sheet price."

Remember that you are not there to sell a product. Sales pitches don't work in the executive suite. "When I first meet with a CEO, my goal is to build a long-term relationship," says Dayton. "The conversation should center on how you can help the customer."

While it's critical that you make a good impression, avoid flashy sales tactics. "You take a big risk if you try to dazzle a CEO. Most of them are pretty savvy, and they're not easily confused by smoke and mirrors. Give hard, indisputable facts instead of opinions."

Walk tall -- but don't forget where you're coming from. Selling successfully to a CEO requires a bit of a chameleon act. Exude confidence when you go into the meeting, but don't try to prove that you're equals. "Instead, be task-oriented. Take your cue from the CEO, and orient your selling style to suit him. If the guy thinks he's a Big Cheese, you have to accept that."

If you take your CEO along on a sales call, remember who's running the meeting -- you. At the office, your CEO is the boss. At a sales meeting, your CEO is a means to gain access and to build credibility. For the call to succeed, you must use your boss wisely. Dayton recalls several occasions when he and Bill Gates skull-sessioned while en route to a client: Dayton would talk about Microsoft's relationship with the client and flag problems. He would also clarify the goal of the meeting and explain how Gates could help him achieve that goal. Once the meeting was under way, they rarely discussed numbers: "Gates was smart enough not to talk price. If your CEO gives a number away, you can't take it back."

Coordinates: $20. Selling Microsoft (Adams Media, 1997); info@daytonassociates.com

Sales Superhero: Wired Woman

Super Powers: Cruises the Net at warp speed. Carries all of her business intelligence in the palm of her hand.

In January 1996, when Hewlett-Packard decided to muscle-build its marketing campaign for handheld computers, the company tapped a middle manager to head its North America sales team. Her name was Stacey Wueste. Given all the superstars in HP's elite salesforce, Wueste must have seemed an unlikely choice: she's anything but a technogeek. But then, that's precisely the point.