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Put yourself in an executive's shoes and you'll see that the number one business concern for them is making their numbers.

In my last post I said that being in the right state of mind is crucial to yearly planning. So what type of mind frame do you need to be in when you’re developing your plans? Why, an executive’s mind frame, of course.

Now, having not been a healthcare vendor executive before, I can’t truly say that I know their state of mind. But from working with a quite a few executives over my career, I can tell you this: the number one business concern for the vast majority of them is making their numbers. They’ve got goals and expectations, the most important of which is helping their business unit or division or department make or exceed a certain amount of money.

It’s their job to muster the resources to meet that goal. They have product development teams, who—obviously—are developing the product and service offerings. They have account management and customer service teams who take care of the customers who are writing the checks. They have sales teams who bring in new business. And they have marketing teams who assist the product management, account management and sales teams in promoting the company’s products and services.

Now, in most well-run organizations, all of these teams work together to a certain extent to help companies meet their goals. But from an executive’s point of view, who does she look to first to help her make her numbers?

Assuming that product development is doing their job, the first team the executive will look to for revenue generation is account management. They’re working all year to keep customers happy and keep them writing the checks. And, it’s a well-worn business truism that if you want to make more money, you look first to your current customers. Account management teams up-sell and cross-sell and increase the footprint that a vendor has in a hospital, physician clinic or insurance company. That’s priority number one, and if account management is doing their job well, the executive is very happy.

The next place she’ll look to is sales. Sales people have a “pipeline,” a group of organizations who have expressed interest in a vendor’s offerings and who are in varying stages relative to buying those products. As sales teams work their pipelines, their leads should turn into prospects and their prospects should turn into clients. And new clients help an executive make her numbers. She’ll talk a lot with sales leads about the pipeline and offer ideas on how she and other people in her organization can grease the skids to bring more clients in.

Now, marketers, don’t take this personally, but marketing is the last place the executive will look to help her make her numbers. Not that she doesn’t value marketing. But in B-to-B, marketing doesn’t generally lead directly to sales. Oh, there are some low-value products and services where marketing may lead directly to sales, and that can bring in a significant amount of business. But for the enterprise software and services your company provides, marketing brings in leads, which the sales team works. Marketing improves awareness and recognition, which leads to more leads. All the work you do can lead to sales three-to-six-to-nine or more months down the road, depending on your sales cycle. By and large, the executive you’re working with gets that.

So, as you’re planning and budgeting, your question should be, “How can I help the executive I’m supporting make her numbers.” That’s a question I’ll have some answers for in my next post. In the meantime, share your ideas in the comments.

Photo credit: Heather Parker (cc)

Read More: http://healthb2bmarketing.com/2010/10/want-a-bigger-budget-put-yourself-in-an-executives-shoes/