6 Lessons to Make the Most of Your Executive Sponsorship Program

Companies are forever looking to get closer to customers; particularly the c-suite executives that are hard for reps to engage and serve in the customer organization. Most sales organizations often resort to establishing an executive sponsorship program—pairing senior executives with a few key accounts as a means to establish long-term relationships at the c-suite level in the customer organization.

At their best, executive sponsors help drive greater account penetration and customer loyalty, while also acting as internal account advocates—marshalling internal resources to customer opportunities and actively participating in account management and development. Executive sponsorship programs also serve as a platform for reps to learn and practice next-level skills from seasoned senior executives.

That said, despite the many benefits of executive sponsorship programs, very few sales organizations have seen tangible results from them. Programs often fail to gather momentum as executive sponsors lack defined objectives and motivational incentives to participate regularly. In addition, poor alignment between customer accounts and executive sponsors fails to yield the desired results.

Over the course of our conversations with members, SEC has uncovered six lessons for improving the quality of executive involvement and commitment in executive sponsorship programs:

While reactive executive involvement is necessary to maintain account health (e.g., resolving a complaint), proactive executive engagement is critical to expanding the relationship.
Clarify program goals and objectives from the start so that executive sponsors know what they should be doing and account managers know how best to leverage their sponsor.
Carefully evaluate both the selection of eligible executives—every company has a few executives who should not call on customers—and the assignment of accounts based on the value they can deliver to that customer (see how Cisco matches senior executives to accounts).
Arm executive sponsors with the right information to help them succeed in customer interactions. The information must be concise, and it must be provided to the executive in advance of every customer interaction (see how Xilinx supports sponsors with requisite account knowledge).
Employ a combination of oversight and reward to ensure that executive sponsors maintain their commitment to the program. The best companies link performance reviews and compensation to sponsorship task completion (see how Sun Microsystems reviews program effectiveness).
Evangelize the value of the program on a regular basis, taking advantage of every opportunity to share successes and reward desired behavior. Doing so serves the dual purpose of best practice sharing and reinforces the program’s importance across the broader organization.

Does your organization have an executive sponsorship program? Are there other lessons you would add to this list? Share your experiences below.