“There’s no easy way to make hard decisions.” – Jacques Lopez
Are you a leader who has to sell to/collaborate with leaders outside your organization? If so, the latest episode of The New Leader Podcast is for you!
My guest today is Jacques Lopez, Sr Director North American Channels at Veracode.
Jacques holds a BSc from Northeastern University and an MBA from Dalhousie University. And, we used to work as doormen at a campus bar way back when. It was a blast to trade a few stories back and forth, as well as hear Jacques’ keen insight on how to work successfully with leaders outside your organization.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- The importance of knowing exactly what you want (and how to create a partner profile)
- How to ensure you’re working at the right level (where decision-making happens)
- The power of a “frame of reference” and how to create one that works effectively… and much more!
Click the play button to listen, and don’t forget to subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts!
Getting on the right foot
If you have an idea of what’s the ideal partner profile or what the ideal relationship would look like, having that as a starting point is very helpful. Because if you don’t know what you want, you can spend a lot of time running circles around people that have interest but don’t have a good alignment with the company, or the value proposition you have for them just won’t land.
Choosing the right person to work with
Make sure you’re working with someone at the right level to accomplish the goals that you have. You can’t go too low or too high. If you go too low, somebody may not have the authority to try and get other people involved in the company, to help build out a better alignment. And if you go too high, you get connected to other people but, things aren’t necessarily happening at the tactical level when you’re dealing with a strategic CEO. So that’s something you need to be aware of as well.
One critical lesson in relationship building
Not everybody operates the way you operate. There are some people that are more relationship based, some are very detailed when it comes to numbers. You have to meet people where they’re at and help them be successful the way they do things.
Links and Resources
Connect with Jacques: LinkedIn, Email
The Exceptional Presenter Goes Virtual by Timothy J. Koegel (book)
