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Learning to think like an executive is a process that can take years. However, you can begin right now with the opportunities you are working on currently.

• Consider one of your customers. What is their business objective? What is their strategy for achieving it? What business issue is their number one challenge? What problems make it difficult to overcome that challenge? What is the value of solving those problems?
• Download a blank ValuePrompter® and in each of the boxes, record your responses to these questions. Rate each response on a scale of “guess” or “fact.”
• If you are not sure what their business issue is but know what their problems are, can you reverse-engineer what the business issue might be?
• Optional: Share your ValuePrompter® with your manager or interested team members. Ask them to help you fill in any missing information they know about your customer or prospect.

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To prepare for high-level business conversation, you have to practice the skills you learn here. A runner must run to become faster. The same principle holds true with making simple changes to improve your investigation skills. This week, download the 360º Profile Builder™ and focus on these simple actions to strengthen research skills.

• Choose an opportunity you’re currently pursuing.
• Do the research on your buyer by answering the company and industry questions in the 360º Profile Builder™.
• Practice synopsizing what you gather down to the shortest possible statements that still retain the most important details
• Think about drivers and trends in your buyer’s industry and how they relate to your products or solutions.
• Optional: Share your completed 360º Profile Builder™ sections with your manager or one of your team members for feedback and insights.

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Researching people is easier than ever with the Internet and LinkedIn. Try these best practices and try new ones to come up with your own unique social media presence.

• Completely fill out your profile and update your photo with a professional studio photograph
• Schedule your calendar to engage with LinkedIn regularly
• Follow people who match your ideal buyer profile or target companies
• When you see promotions or job changes, send a short note of congratulations
• Don’t spam or market yourself in Groups or In-Mail messages
• Always replace the provided connection email language to something more personal
• When you meet an influential person, mention that you are going to connect to them on LinkedIn. Then, connect to them on LinkedIn right away. You want them to remember this request, so they don’t ignore you. If people ignore your connection requests too often, LinkedIn will shut your requests down.
• Be generous and offer free valuable content
• Write recommendations for people you know. Try to write one each week.

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Take the opportunity to use all of the information gathered in the Investigate section of your 360º Profile Builder™ to predict your buyer’s business issues, problems, and which of your solution capabilities may interest them.

• Read the summaries on each of the Predict section pages and write predictions in the text fields. These predictions will carry over to the Prepare section.
• Whenever you come across new industry information, pause and consider how it affects your buyer’s business. Add it to your 360º Profile Builder™.
• Test your predictions by sharing them with your team or manager. They may have perspectives you haven’t yet considered

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• Use AIM campaigns for when you don’t have a personal connection to your target buyer and the people on their team.
• Use the blank AIM Campaign template in your workbook for each of your ongoing opportunities.
• Populate your campaign with details from the research you gathered in your 360º Profile Builder™
• Customize your messaging for each person included in the campaign.
• Be transparent and mention all of the people to whom you are also sending a message. It might motivate them to answer you if they know you included other peers.

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The best way to practice using credibility stories is to start writing them!

• Think about past successes you, your team or your company have had. Using the ValuePrompter®, create storylines around the business issues and problems you solved with your differentiated solution and the metrics, impact or monitory value you helped your customers achieve.
• Now, survey your prospects and opportunities. Think about the individuals represented there. What success stories would resonate with each person?
• Using the credibility story formula, practice telling each story on video, using your smartphone or camera. Notice where you are effective and where you need more practice.
• When you think you have your stories well-rehearsed, try them on your team members or manager and get their feedback. Offer to listen to their credibility stories.

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Practice preparing for all upcoming client calls by preparing good open-ended, probing, and anxiety questions. Record them in a ValuePrompter®, and take the ValuePrompter® with you on calls. Some ideas for you to use are:

• Observe successful team members. When they ask questions, ask yourself what kind they are: open-ended, probing, anxiety, or simply questions to gather information?
• Try some different types of questions on your co-workers, family or friends. What causes people with whom you speak to open up and expand on a topic? What can you ask that requires your conversational partner to drill down on a topic?
• The fine art of using anxiety questions requires finesse. Too much anxiety and you will ruin trust and rapport. Not enough anxiety, and your prospect won’t open up. Ask your manager or a successful, experienced colleague to review your anxiety questions before your call.