Partnering With the CIO: The Future of IT Sales Seen Through the Eyes of Key Decision Makers

Sometimes You Have to Ask

It’s helpful to imagine the CIO as the conductor and the IT suppliers as members of the orchestra. If you play well, the CIO will get a standing ovation. The audience might not be aware of your contribution, but the conductor knows who is playing well—and who isn’t.

As a supplier, you need to know the business priorities of every CIO you work with. If a CIO doesn’t volunteer to share his or her priorities with you, then it’s your job to ask for them. If you determine that a CIO isn’t exactly sure about his or her business priorities, then help the CIO figure out what’s really important—and what’s not.

More often than not, you will find that the CIOs you deal with are eager to hear your opinions and happy to let you serve as their mentor. They want to trust you, and they want to have faith in your advice. Don’t disappoint them, and never ever give them a reason not to trust you.

Your success depends on your ability to build and nurture long-term relationships with CIOs. Their success depends on their ability to develop long-term relationships with suppliers they trust.

It’s not easy to build and maintain trusting relationships in a turbulent, ever-changing industry such as IT. But those relationships will be absolutely critical to sellers and buyers.