Dave Lorenzo: 00:25

Hey there, insiders. It's Dave Lorenzo, and this is the Inside BS Show. Today, I'm gonna share with you a snippet from an interview I did with a gentleman named Angel Rebo. He's the CEO confidant, and he coaches up CEOs of Fortune 1,000 companies. I specifically asked him in this clip how he gets meetings with these people and what he says in order to get them to give him half an hour so that he can convince them that he has something of value to provide them.

Dave Lorenzo: 01:02

His answers are interesting, and for many of you, they're gonna be unsurprising. It's great reinforcement for the work that you are putting in every day. Alright. Sit back and relax and enjoy the interview with Angel Rebo, the CEO confidant. What's the secret to getting an appointment with a CEO?

Dave Lorenzo: 01:29

What did you discover through all those What's the what's the secret? What are the one or two things that people need to know to get the CEO either on the phone or to get to get in front of the CEO?

Angel Ribo: 01:39

Number one numb there's always going to be a gatekeeper. Right? So the number one, I mean, maybe the shortcut would be call on a Friday afternoon and maybe, you know, you could get the direct line or the or the CEO is gonna take the call, which has happened to me many times. But number one, there's gonna be a a gatekeeper. So always try to be yourself.

Angel Ribo: 01:59

Don't try to be anybody else. Be yourself. Be human. Be be just who you are. Don't don't pretend to be anybody else.

Angel Ribo: 02:06

The only thing that you have to show is that you are yourself and you genuinely you genuinely want to talk to someone, in this case, probably, you know, the boss or the peer of that of that person that you're talking to and tell them, you know, that's why I would like to do it. Something that has actually helped me a lot is always to relate that first conversation with gatekeeper, and that's kind of advice number two, is to relate that conversation to something that's happening in in that very moment. So, obviously, I, you know, I go I Google that person. I Google that company. I know what's going on.

Angel Ribo: 02:37

I know what's the last thing that happened in that company, And then I relate my conversation with that gatekeeper to that conversation. You know, I know that this just has happened now that this is what this is why I'm reaching out to this to to to this CEO. Right? And it's happening this right now. And I think that, you know, we can have or we we might eventually be able to help you with this specific goal or this specific issue that you have or this specific acquisition that you just did.

Angel Ribo: 03:04

To be honest, I mean, we always try to pretend so much. You know, it's it's like when we are writing an email. Right? We overthink it like 10 times or we use someone else's recipe. You know, that template, that swipe file is gonna be you know, it's gonna it's it's it's the magic it's the magic bullet, you know, that doesn't exist.

Dave Lorenzo: 03:19

Yeah.

Angel Ribo: 03:19

Really, honestly. So the best thing I would do if I were you, I mean, anybody listening to us, just do it a lot. Do it as many times as you can. And just, you know, don't don't put yourself on a place in which you are measuring how many oh my god. Oh my god.

Angel Ribo: 03:34

Oh my god. How many calls do I have to make? No. No. No.

Angel Ribo: 03:36

Don't do not measure the success. Measure measure the failure. Measure how many, you know, calls where you actually actually hang up onto. You know? Measure measure the failure so you make it a goal, you know, to lower the number of calls that you were rejected.

Angel Ribo: 03:51

I think that's that's that's a good way to do it mentally speaking because it takes a stamina. Yeah. Right?

Dave Lorenzo: 03:56

Yeah. Well, talk about now your business is you you talk to a lot of CEOs. And when you talk to CEOs, how many times have they worked with someone who that was referred to them or someone who was connected to them? Because there's a very high trust barrier. Right?

Dave Lorenzo: 04:15

So in your business, how do you get most of your clients? I would imagine people pass you from one place to another because, you know, Angel Rebo, he really helped me a lot. You gotta call you gotta call Angel. How how easy is it once you have success with one CEO to get them to refer you to somebody else? That's my question.

Angel Ribo: 04:35

Well, it's it's as it's as easy as, you know, a CEO, you know, trust someone who is a trusted adviser of that person. Right? So that's the that's the easy answer. Everybody does their own due diligence because we are talking about something I mean, bottom line, Dave, you know, we are all human beings. Mhmm.

Angel Ribo: 04:53

We all go through different kinds of you know, we all have our limiting beliefs. We all have, you know, those things that we would like to fix. Regardless of where you are, regardless of the company that you run, it doesn't matter. We are still human beings and we still face, you know, challenges in our lives. And as far as we are open enough, and talking about the CEOs, open enough to get a piece of advice from an external, you know, source and that an an additional, let's say, an external set of eyes Mhmm.

Angel Ribo: 05:20

To look into our lives, you know, that's gonna work out. So is it difficult to get to to a CEO? It is. It is. Is it easier to get to that these people when you get a referral?

Angel Ribo: 05:30

Of obviously, is, but they still are going to do their own due diligence, and they still are going to test you, and they still are going to look for references. And that's good because, again, it's like when you market something or you market the show. Right? It's not for everybody. Right.

Angel Ribo: 05:44

It's not for everybody. You really want to attract the people that you can really help. Sure. And I really mean it. You know?

Angel Ribo: 05:51

I I really for instance, I I like to talk a lot about, you know, self awareness, about mindset, about this you know, even about the spirituality and why why, you know, we are, you know, spiritual beings having a having a physical experience. Right? And not everybody resonates with that. And and that's okay. You know?

Angel Ribo: 06:09

And and I still have clients who are believers and have different different, you know, faiths and denominations. And that's alright. And but you know what? We always find the common ground. Mhmm.

Angel Ribo: 06:20

You know, we find the common ground. I really think that regardless of the of your position, you always want to do good in this world. There's no CEO out there that regardless of their position or the position their position of power wants to really do bad to anybody Sure. Not for nor employees, nor shareholders. You know?

Angel Ribo: 06:36

So we really have much more common ground among us than what we what we might think. But you see the quest your question is so it's it's so useful for everybody listening to us because there's this mental trap. Right? There's there's this cognitive trap that, you know, there's so much up there that it's impossible. It is so difficult to to reach out to them.

Angel Ribo: 06:57

And just let me give you an example. Two hours ago, I was sitting, having lunch with a senior VP of a $500,000,000 corporation. Okay? So he's in part of the leadership team. And, oh my god, if you had if you were there in our table, just to just to give you an example, he's the most amazing guy you would like to, you know, go with him.

Angel Ribo: 07:19

You would we would go to church with him. You would go to to for a for a beer with him. You know, again, it's it's all you know, we're all human beings. And and and, actually, I would I would even think, Dave, to be to be very honest. I think that right now, for the last twelve months, we've lost so much connection.

Angel Ribo: 07:35

We've lost I'm gonna repeat that. We've lost lost connection in in such a broad way among us Yeah. That having this connection back, and CEOs are not an exception, is huge. I was having this call face to face. I mean, I was having lunch with him, with this SVP.

Angel Ribo: 07:53

And but he I mean, it was like, wow. I mean, it was a great conversation. Like, it was the first time, but it was a great conversation. We really I mean, get on well. And I mean, we spoke about our families and everything.

Angel Ribo: 08:04

You know? People really want to reconnect. Yeah. And I think that's another piece of advice. Right now, when you're having conversations and you're trying to, you know, get, like, convince gatekeepers, or you're trying to reach out c level executives, you know, just talk about reconnecting.

Angel Ribo: 08:18

Yeah. Talk about reconnecting. Talk about, you know, having a look at at at their businesses and their lives from a different set of set of eyes. Things have changed. The the market has changed.

Angel Ribo: 08:29

There's a lot of things that have changed. Be you, the one that's gonna give an additional, you know, external, you know, external, you know, opinion about what's going on there.