Written By Dan Cone

"The Power of a CEO's Reputation": Driving Sales and Market Acceptance in B2B Technology

In today's tech B2B landscape, the role of a CEO goes way beyond traditional day-to-day leadership responsibilities. A CEO's reputation and industry credibility play a pivotal role in driving industry perception, sales and market acceptance for their company's solutions within the targeted buyers you are attempting to meet, cultivate and transact with.

Building Trust and Credibility

A CEO with a positive reputation and high-level of respect and industry credibility will significantly impact a tech B2B company's sales and market acceptance. According to a survey by Weber Shandwick, 60% of a company's market value is directly attributed to its reputation. This underscores the importance of CEOs actively managing their personal brand and reputation.

Influencing Buyer Behavior

In the tech industry, in particular in B2B and SaaS solutions, buyers are often looking for more than just a product or service—they are actually seeking a trusted partner. A CEO with a strong reputation can influence buyer behavior and build trust with potential customers. According to a survey by Edelman, 64% of consumers say they trust a CEO more than a celebrity spokesperson.

Driving Sales Growth

A positive CEO reputation can also drive sales growth. A study by "The Reputation Institute" found that companies with strong reputations outperform the market by 2.5% to 7% annually. CEO's who are well-respected in their industry can also attract top talent more effectively, forge strategic partnerships, and secure lucrative deals, all of which contribute to sales growth.

Credibility Drivers

Enhancing Market Acceptance

Market acceptance of a tech B2B solution is pretty much critical for its long-term success. A CEO with a positive reputation can help enhance market acceptance by influencing industry analysts, media, and influencers. According to Gartner, 74% of tech buyers consult social networks before making their purchasing decisions, highlighting the importance of a CEO's online presence.

So How Does a CEO Build Credibility?

Smaller B2B firms do not typically have access to major outlet media like broadcast television or video, so we’ll table those options and focus on more pragmatic communication options that are within reach of most small to intermediate size business operations.

No surprise here...LinkedIn is a pretty obvious starting point suggestion, given it has over 800 million worldwide business profiles and millions of daily business-related articles and posts. LinkedIn is also unique (and powerful) in that you, the CEO, can determine the characteristics to select the industry peers that you elect to associate with, in a highly granular manner. As an example, if you are the CEO of a healthcare firm, you can work to connect directly with and post content to other healthcare CEO’s, CIO's or healthcare CEO providers.

LinkedIn also offers access to thousands of industry specific “groups” that share vertical or functional commonality. “Executive Suite” “Software as a Service-SaaS” and “Salesforce for Sales Executives” are examples of groups that I personally follow and participate in. These groups welcome well-thought content from members and they typically attract the contacts you are likely to be targeting within your ICP.

If you do decide that you are going to take action and "officially" commit to cultivate your LinkedIn connections with other C-suite executives, it may be prudent to upgrade your posting content for a solid 2-3 months before increasing your invitation outreach volume. As you might expect, the first reaction most C-level execs will have to an invite recieved from an unknown CEO, is to quickly check out your profile in LinkedIn to see how "relevant and legitimate” you are in their industry segment. Suffice it to say, if you have no postings, no views, no opinions or shared suggestions, you probably aren't going to strike other CEO's as someone who will provide value in a future connection or collaboration. So offer an opinion, hopefully a unique one, keep it concise and back it with real metrics…oh, and definitely put it in a written or well-thought video format.

Most business people follow well-known Fortune 100 leaders in their space in order to hear their views and insights. A great “Best-in-Class” LinkedIn profile example that I personally follow is Bill McDermott’s. Bill is the CEO of ServiceNow and previously led SAP and IBM. Unlike most of us, Bill has a group of skilled experts curating his posted material regularly, so it’s a bit unfair to expect this level of curation within the average C-Level LinkedIn profile….however, McDermott still demonstrates an aspirational target that we can all work to emulate. If you browse the sample posts, I have attached from McDermott, you can quickly understand exactly who his key constituents are.  Corporate Execs, Employees and Partners all get posting love from McDermott, which is awesome. The messaging is informative, it's motivational and it builds a very positive narrative on where ServiceNow is heading….Exactly what a CEO would hope to share and have others repost, right?

Motivational Example
Innovation Example
Partner Collaboration Example

What's Your Plan?

To summarize, a CEO's reputation and industry credibility are invaluable assets in the tech B2B industry here in 2024, and their impact on buyer behavior is not in question. They can and will drive sales, enhance market acceptance, create referrals and ultimately contribute to the success of a company's growth and viability. Their perception is your reality....

If you decide to invest in your LinkedIn content and network as a daily priority, you will have to adhere by some key "value rules" if you expect to make any marked and consistent progress, including:

  1. Create innovative thoughtful content and views
  2. Offer your ideas and posts weekly
  3. Expand your universe every week by cultivating relevant LinkedIn peer relationships
  4. Determine who your constituents are and address them each individually
  5. Look professional and upbeat in every single communication, including your outreach

As mentioned, weekly time, thought and effort will be required for these objectives to be accomplished successfully. If you do not currently have the time to invest in cultivating your LinkedIn, you are not alone. CEO's are uber-busy, right? Amplify AI offers curated assistance with each of the above LinkedIn value objectives. The Linked Concierge service is designed for B2B execs who prefer a one-to-one partner to assist them with their individual and corporate LinkedIn presence and curation on a dedicated basis.

You already know that the B2B buying process has changed (see "The Challenger Sale") and every effective CEO should now shift and prioritize the building, sharing and maintaining of a positive reputation, if they hope to capitalize on the benefits delivered by an improved corporate reputation and industry perception in the years to come.