How to Reach the CEO... Directly
In my previous post, I explained how the customer wants you to play the game of getting access to the CEO. That's for wimps. Here's how to get access to the CEO (or anyone else) without negotiating thro...ugh underdogs and gatekeepers:
Office email. Most CEOs have “unlisted” emails that aren't posted on the website. You never know, though, so start by checking the “executive bio” section of the website. If there’s no link to the CEO’s email, troll around the website to discover how they’ve set up the names for their email addresses. Example: if the PR flack Joe Blow has the email j.blow@acme.com then CEO Billie Bigwig probably has the email b.bigwig@acme.com. Try it. If your email bounces back as undeliverable, create a second email, address it to all of the following: bb@acme.com, billie@acme.com, bigwig@acme.com, billieb@acme.com, bbigwig@acme.com. The address that doesn’t bounce back is the CEO’s email. Works about 90% of the time.
Office phone. As I described in an earlier post, call the main switchboard, ask for “accounts receivable” and then, when an accounting drone answers the phone, ask for the CEO’s direct line or extension. If all you can get is the CEO's extension, you can usually get the direct line by replacing the final numbers of the main corporate number with the extension number. For example, if the main number is 212-555-1234 and the CEO’s extension is 666, then the CEO’s direct line is probably 212-555-1666. If that doesn't work, get the CEO’s admin’s number and then dial up and down from there. For example, if the Admin’s number is 212-555-5560, try 5561, 5562, 5563, etc then 5559, 5558, 5557, etc. (I got this last idea from a comment in this blog. Thanks!)
Home phone. Check the firm’s website to find out the city where corporate headquarters are located. Google a map of the area to discover the names of the surrounding communities. Go to www.whitepages.com and search on the exec’s name in the headquarter city and all surrounding cities. This works about 25 percent of the time for CEO-level folk. If the CEO has a common name, you may need to place multiple calls until you get the right one. If you get a relative, apologize and ask for the correct number. If that doesn’t work, go to www.intellius.com and pay for an extended search on the CEO’s name. Based on my experience, you’ve got about an 80% chance of getting a copy of some kind of public record filing (like a house title) that has the CEO’s unlisted home number. If the CEO asks how you got the home number, simply tell the truth: “I found it on the web.”
If none of the above work, you'll need to do some research. Access and print out the company’s most recent 10Q filing on the SEC website. Troll through the press releases on the corporate website and print out any releases that deal with the CEO's background or executives who have left the company. Google up CEO’s name and company (and former companies). Download conference proceedings, interviews, articles – anything where the CEO was a talking head. Print everything out and three-hole-punch it into a binder. Go through the binder and circle the name of anybody who might know the CEO. Pay special attention to any contact that might have a social, rather than a business, relationship with the CEO. (Example: somebody who serves on the same non-profit steering committee as the CEO.) Use the methods above to contact the most likely suspects and simply ask them for the CEO's contact info. Chances are you'll eventually find somebody who will tell you what you want to know.