Align with Your Buyer's Incentives (Using AI Prompts)
A Tactical Breakdown of DEF14A for Smarter Selling
AI is moving at a neck breaking pace. The reality however, is that both people and enterprises are always slow to adopt.
Why is this?
Because enterprises are risk averse.
And buyers are people. People are emotional. People buy with emotions, not logic.
However, as a good seller, your job is to connect with people.
One way to do that?
Align with their incentives.
So today, we’re going to break down a section that helps you better understand how executives get compensated so that you can better align with their goals.
Here’s what we’ll cover today:
What is a DEF14A
How to Read a DEF14A
DEF14A prompt: quickly obtain what’s most relevant and how to align messaging with executives
What is a d DEF14A
I actually stumbled upon this section of financial documents via Ian Koniak, definitely a solid newsletter if you’re not following. Also, giving credit where it’s due.
The DEF14A is a proxy statement that outlines details around executive compensation, board elections, shareholder proposals, and other governance matters related to the company.
It can be found in any public document.
What’s relevant to you as a seller?
Outlines how executives are paid
what gaols are tied to executive compensation (ie shares, bonuses)
How to read a DEF14A:
The most relevant sections to skim to find this info are:
Summary Compensation Tables: which covers the breakdown of how executives get compensated
Annual Incentive Plan: performance metrics tied to payout structure
Long Term Incentive Plan: Long term performance targets and multiplier effects for over performance
The sections you’d get the most utility is in understanding how executives are compensated and their performance metrics tied to that payout structure.
Def14A Prompt
You can use this specifically as a way to get the optimal outputs for the def14A insights. I’d also recommend using “deep research” if you want a more thorough output, however, if you’re doing this at scale and need quick reads, “o1” will do the job.
My typical workflow consists of doing upfront research to find other insights before digging into the def14A. If you want to add a supplementary section you can, but being more targeted with your prompts helps improve outputs.
Add this section after your Primary Goals and before Guidelines:
Once you have this info, work backward to identify line leaders who fall under executives and would have goals that are connected to senior leadership goals.
If you have any questions on this topic or thoughts, shoot me a DM or email to andrew@hackingsales.xyz.
As always, thanks for reading and see you all next week.
-Andrew K
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