This article comes from Georgina Beard’s insightful talk at our Paris 2024 Sales Enablement Summit. Check out her full presentation and our wealth of OnDemand resources.

Let me start by being brutally honest: there's no silver bullet for getting—and maintaining—C-suite alignment on sales enablement. I know that might not be what you want to hear, but it's the truth I've learned through hard-won experience. Over my career, I've navigated 18 different C-suite leadership transitions, proving the value of enablement each and every time.

It's been a journey of strategic communication, relentless value demonstration, and pretty much a masterclass in adaptability. Each time a new C-suite executive arrived, I found myself in the challenging position of rebuilding trust, demonstrating value, and essentially starting from scratch. This wasn't a weakness—it actually became my greatest strength. 

All of these experiences forced me to develop a nuanced, strategic approach to executive communication and enablement positioning that goes far beyond traditional tactics. This approach is what I want to share with you today, so let’s dive in.

The robot vs. human communication approach

Here's a critical insight I've discovered: communicating with C-suite executives isn't like talking to your colleagues or friends. It's more like communicating with a highly efficient robot—precise, metrics-driven, and laser-focused on strategic outcomes. I say this with all the respect in the world to the amazing executives I've worked with!

When I first started trying to get executive buy-in, I made a classic error: I'd come prepared with fully formed, inflexible plans. Big mistake, huge! Executives don't want a completed blueprint; they want to be part of the strategic conversation. 

My most successful approach has been presenting plans that are about 80% developed, with clear areas of flexibility where their input is genuinely welcomed. I love a quote from my ex-CRO that perfectly captures this approach: 

"I don't need to know how the sausage is made, but I need to know you're making the right kind of sausages." 

In other words, executives care about the outcome, not every minute detail of how you get there.

Achieving alignment and gaining buy-in, with Brooke Coletti
Brooke Coletti joins us on the podcast to discuss enablement stakeholders, alignment, and achieving buy-in!
Sales Enablement CollectiveDaniel O’Dowd

The three things C-Suite executives actually care about

After years of experience, I've distilled executive priorities down to three core elements:

1. Money going up

This might sound obvious, but every single initiative must be demonstrably linked to financial growth. Vanity metrics simply won't cut it. When you're communicating with the C-suite, you can't just say, "Hey, we had 37% attendance at our webinar, up from 35% last time." That's not going to move the needle.

Instead, you need to show how your enablement efforts translate to financial impact. What's the actual monetary value of your initiatives? How are you driving revenue growth? This is the first and most critical consideration for any executive.