antal,
If you really MUST talk to the top CEO, I suggest trying all the usual
methods, then getting radical. There are some radical ideas for you to
ponder in the text below, specifically for hard-to-reach CEO's when
all other avenues have failed. I used Jeff Bezos as an example, but
these ideas can be applied to virtually any CEO. You may not like
them, but they will work. You also may want to try these techniques a
bit closer to home, but as I said, I am using Jeff Bezos as an
example. I live about 10 minutes from Amazon.com's headquarters, I
would like to personally show up and take pictures. I'd even get the
press in on it. Read on.
Here are the methods to try first. The links below are great.
Getting CEO's Ear Key To Winning Business - Consultant: Take your
sales pitch straight to the top
http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml;jsessionid=ZS5D1JJJ2KB5OQSNDBCSKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleId=18810380&_requestid=351261
..."Getting to the CEO may require some guile, whether it is offering
health advice to a secretary with a cold or gathering information from
the chamber of commerce, he said. ... Swanson offered sample questions
to gain a CEO's interest: Ask where he or she his spending their time,
what must be changed quickly, would a new revenue stream help out, are
the customer's issues organized, what is their decision time table..."
This idea workeed well in the telecommunications industry:
Promoting Major Sales
http://www.mktgmach.com/default.html_p=94
..."Using a recorded dramatization, we sent CEOs a tape player and
sent duplicate tapes to CFOs, CIOs and COOs. The 3-minute tape
stressed the difference between preserving data in the computer and
saving the company if communications failed. The results exceeded goal
by 400% with over half the targeted companies responding. Sales
exceeded $150 million and the sales cycle was cut to less than six
months.....If you have the kind of high-margin product or service that
requires decisions from the top, you probably want to be very careful
about the way you promote it. We will be happy to share our
perspective on major sales opportunities and pitfalls...."
This is about sidestepping the regular chain of command in regards to
a customer service problem, but much information can be gatahered
here:
The Art of Turboing
http://www.macwhiz.com/articles/art-of-turboing.html
..."I first learned the term "turboing" when I worked second-level
telephone technical support at Xerox. It refers to the actions of a
customer who goes around the normal technical support process by
contacting a senior person in the chain of command. In this article,
I'll describe the Art of Turboing: why you should do it, what it will
do for you, and how to do it successfully...."
This is about an employee wanting to access a CEO, but there is some
great advice here:
Strategy Memo
http://www.rltstrategies.com/strategymemo/strategymemo.cfm?ID=39
..."My suggestion is take your focus of the buffers and put it on the
CEO. There are two big common mistakes to avoid. First, don't get
enemy focused on the buffers. They are probably good people who have
risen to their highest level. Your rise in the company is likely a
threat to them. The more threatened they are the more blocking they'll
do, because they may feel it is about their job. Often when you focus
on another person's dysfunction you have a tendency to mirror
dysfunction......Second, keep doing your best. A smart CEO is looking
for you. She probably knows who the buffers are and is looking for new
ideas to break through. Get your ideas in front of everyone as often
as you can. Ask to present to the CEO directly. Use email to keep her
in the loop. I don't recommend complaining to the CEO about the
buffers unless you feel they are unethical..."
The Shotgun Method is described here:
Sales & marketing Q & A: Reaching corporate decision makers (as
relates to selling a product)
http://www.watertechonline.com/article.asp?IndexID=6634743
..."Getting a decision maker on the phone isn?t easy in some cases.
For that reason, we use a shotgun approach to marketing.
That is, we not only try to contact businesses via telephone, but we
also use e-mail and visit them in person. It?s a lot harder for a
prospective business client to turn your sales representative away if
he or she is there in person..."
I would send Jeff Bezos an endless stream of contact:
1) - email - All customary e-mail patterns for Jeff Bezos bounced. As
you said, well protected.
In Feb 2001, this was his email address:
Contact Jeff Bezos by email: jeff@amazon.com.
Face Time With Jeff Bezos
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/43/bezos.html
Scroll to very bottom, interesting article...
and confirmed again in 2003:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/985270/posts
And I know you are aware this happens, but know thy enemy, the Assistant:
Any email sent to ceo@company.com that is *not* on CEO's whitelist,
gets bounced to ceo_assistant@company.com
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5927
2) - certified snail mail, state must be HAND DELIVERED if possible.
3) - phone, be polite and persistent.
4) - fax, once a day, same as phone. Maybe send a joke a day to keep
them looking at it.
You want to become an office anomaly. You want them to talk about you.
I live in Seattle, and realize chances are slim to none that you do,
-- nevertheless, I would:
5) - find a picture of him (below), and CAMP OUT inside the Amazon
building at the door to suite 1200 until he came out.
6) - Scour the internet for people that KNOW Jeff Bezos personally,
do the same thing asking them to contact him on your behalf.
Frankly antal, if your idea is THAT good, I would take #5. Somehow
confirm he is actually IN TOWN, send Certified Snail Mail, Faxes, and
telephone that you are coming. Fly to Seattle, say you flew in
specifically to catch him personally. Camp there if you have to.
Take a cooler with pop and snacks, order pizza and offer it to the
staff. Call the press. He will listen, I'd bet on it. If they
manage to convince you he is not there at that time, refuse to leave
until you have a firm appoint with him ASAP.
Take notarized statements from several friends that state you are not
insane, just doggedly determined, that you will not be swayed. Wear a
sign.... "Will work for 5 minutes with Jeff Bezos"
He is known for such antics himself and would appreciate your tenacity:
Jeff Bezos has been hailed as a visionary and put down as a goofball.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ceo/articles/0,15114,450893,00.html
..."Anyone who knows Bezos understands that it doesn't take much to
get the founder and CEO of Amazon.com to start acting up. In good
times and bad, Bezos has always been a man of exaggerated gestures,
whether he is dressing up like a four-star chef to promote Amazon's
kitchen store, climbing atop a conference table on all fours to signal
his interest in a business presentation, or just unleashing his famous
braying honk of a laugh. During the Internet bubble his oversized
personality made him seem fun and inspiring, and he shrewdly used that
to make himself and his company one of the most talked about business
stories in a generation. When Amazon's stock price fell and its losses
continued to mount, he endured whispers that his behavior made him
look clueless..."
There's pictures of him all over ther Internet:
http://i.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1999/1101991227_400.jpg
See them all:
http://images.google.com/images?q=%22jeff+bezos%22&hl=en
Amazon.com Headquarters
Address: 1200 12th Ave., Ste. 1200
Seattle, WA 98144
Phone: (206) 266-1000
Fax: (206) 622-2405
You can locate some folks that know him with this search:
"meeting with Jeff Bezos"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=%22meeting+with+Jeff+Bezos%22
or this:
"friends with Jeff Bezos"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-45,GGLD:en&q=%22friends+with+Jeff+Bezos%22
Knecht, who is currently a Hong Kong correspondent for the Wall Street Journal,
is also friends with Jeff Bezos
Prior to using the shotgun, or my SHOCK shotgun approach, I'd take
some precautions.
Protect Your Business Idea
http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca/bizideas-protect.php
Does your idea fall into one of these categories? If not, I'd contact
an Attorney that specializes in this type of law. It might possibly
be called Intellectual Property.
Well, I checked that, the answer is no, -- but a Confidentiality
Agreement could help, but still offers no protection:
How do I protect my idea?
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/protect_idea.html
..."But there must be a way to protect my idea somehow, right? Well,
the answer is yes. If you can get someone to sign a Confidentiality
Agreement then they will be promising not to use your idea without
your permission. This is not a form of intellectual property though.
You are extracting a promise and if the person breaks that promise you
can sue them for breach of contract. Getting folks to enter into such
agreements, however, is virtually impossible. The truth is that if
they do not make such a promise and you tell them your idea they are
free to use the idea. Signing a contract that says they need to keep
your idea confidential only opens them up to liability. There are
enough people around who just tell their ideas for free, so why sign
an agreement? That is perhaps sad, but the truth.
The moral of the story is that ideas are not protected. ..."
All the more reason to be sure you talk to noone except Jeff Bezos.
Be Bold. Be Persistent. Do Not Give Up.
Do Your Homework before you get the appointment, here's how to spend
your short time:
I Want to See the CEO
http://www.mdsi.org/rep/Rep_2004_October/Rep_101120044024575.htm
When you get that appointment with the CEO, be prepared to present
your case professionally and succinctly. The CEO is a very busy person
and will not sit through a traditional, boring, power-point
presentation. Present him or her with a sound business case about your
product or service. ... Additionally, ?don?t just present national
trends about your product or service; show them their specific market
data. Personalize your findings, so that the CEO can readily identify
with the information. By doing your homework before your presentation,
you should be able to touch on multiple points that show the specific
value of your company as it relates to the unique needs of....the link
above is discussing this in regards to selling to hospital executives,
but much can be learned.
Good Luck. Let us know how it goes. If I can be of further
assistance in regards to accessing CEO's, please don't hesitate to ask
via the "Request For Clarification" feature.
~~Cynthia
Serarch terms used at Google:
"contact jeff bezos"
"reaching corporate "decision maker"
"getting the CEO's attention"
"getting to the CEO" sales
"access to the CEO" idea
"how to reach corporate CEO"
"Intellectual Property" protect idea |
