The C-Suite Whisperer: How to get the attention of F500 executives by tapping into their inner circle

Create a brand ambassador program to act as a referral network

How do you cut through the noise to book meetings with executives at the Fortune 500?

The mass adoption of sales enablement platforms and the rise of GenAI & chatGPT means every Tom, Dick, and Harry has become a master at personalization at scale.

So how do you stand out?

Here's a unique GTM experiment that catapulted an early-stage enterprise software company into the C-suite.

The Problem: Cold Outreach Isn't Enough

An ambitious startup, targeting CXOs at Fortune 500 companies, hit a wall. Despite dialing up their cold outreach, the meetings weren’t coming in. SDR performance was plummeting.

The Solution: The Brand Ambassador Program

They created a brand ambassador program to act as a referral network. 

They found senior executives who were empathic to the startup's mission and who had a network of individuals who matched their Ideal Customer Profile. 

Brand ambassadors were compensated with equity, hourly rate, and/or rev-share in exchange for warm introductions to CXOs within target accounts. 

They tested this tactic by starting with a list of 50 contacts who would make great brand ambassadors based on detailed criteria.

The Results: A Game Changer

Starting with a target list of 50 potential ambassadors, they secured 16 meetings through personalized LinkedIn and email outreach from the founder of the startup.

Six executives were converted into brand ambassadors, generating 22 leads in target accounts and a pipeline of $4.5M within three months.

Example: Publicizing one of their brand ambassadors on LinkedIn generated two inbound leads from their target accounts.

Workflow: How to Identify Your Brand Ambassadors

1. Fine-tune Your Search: Use a Boolean search in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, applying filters like seniority and keywords.

2. Curate a Lead List: Add the matching profiles to your list.

3. Get the Contacts: Use Evabot for data enrichment.

4. Quality Control: The founder reviews each lead before outreach.

5. Sync with CRM: Upload the list.

6. Automate Outreach: Use a 5-step sequence in tools like HubSpot, Outreach, or PersistIQ.

📩 Here is the email template that generated a 15%+ positive reply rate

Subject line: Advisory Opportunity with [insert compelling description of company]

First Name,

Given your [background/work/experience in XYZ], I think you could make a great Advisor for us.

[insert bold opinion or problem statement]

I'm the Co-Founder & CEO of [company] which is [insert bold problem statement & solution].  We've [insert social proof].

Highlights:

• Business outcome #1

• Business outcome #2

• Business outcome #3

I'd like to explore the possibility of bringing you on as an advisor to help guide us through our next phase of growth.  We have several areas where your expertise and interests could be of tremendous value such as [give examples that are relevant to their expertise or interest]. 

Let me know if you're interested in chatting further.

All the best,

Sender

🕖 Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 7am PT / 9am CT / 10AM ET discover step-by-step instructions for implementing unconventional GTM experiments, drawn directly from the operators who ran each campaign. Each post will offer the specificity and the actionable steps that are often missing in today's GTM discourse.