Which of These Six People Would Say No?

Any idea worth real money eventually rolls up to the C-suite. Most pitches die because they answer one question well and ignore the other five.

In my experience, it helps to run a pitch through the six questions that actually matter to the people who'll decide:

1. The CEO wants to know: will this increase the value of the firm?

2. The CFO wants to know: where's the return on investment?

3. The COO wants to know: can we actually execute this?

4. The CIO wants to know: will it run on our systems?

5. The CMO wants to know: can the world understand it?

6. The Chief Sales Officer wants to know: will our customers actually buy it?

A brilliant product with no execution plan dies in the COO's inbox. A clear ROI case with a confusing story dies in the CMO's inbox.

So before your next pitch, don't ask whether the idea is good. Ask which of these six would say no... then fix that answer first.

Which one would say no to yours?