About Cécile Rouet
Business buyer, innovation buyer, vendor and consultant, inside European investment banks, for 20 years.
Today I help B2B software vendors get every stakeholder who shapes the decision in those banks to commit.
For two decades I worked inside major investment banks across business, risk, operations, COO functions, change and innovation. I sat in every committee and worked with every team, from operational profiles to group executives.
I learnt that decisions are shaped as much by influence dynamics as by individual incentives. Winning over operational teams was hard enough; getting senior decision-makers to commit was harder still.
I saw how senior executives actually decide, in formal and informal settings, and learnt how to reach the people who truly move a deal.
I have bought, assessed and sold technology inside European investment banks. I know how your proposition is evaluated once you leave the room.
I ran RFI and RFP processes from the client side. I designed target operating models and platform rollouts across front, middle and back office, including risk and accounting, and led the front-to-back outsourcing of an equity derivatives business.
At BNP Paribas CIB, I connected clients, internal teams and FinTechs. I advised senior leadership on build, partner or buy decisions and secured business, IT, legal and compliance sign-off for start-up partnerships.
I ran RFI and RFP processes from the vendor side. I sharpened early-stage FinTechs' pitch and account approach using direct client insight, and accelerated their sales. Since 2022 I have worked with B2B tech start-ups on product-market fit and enterprise sales.
I’ve worked closely with senior stakeholders and executives. I have seen how they actually make their decisions, in both formal and informal settings, learning how to connect with those who truly decide.
I have operated in highly political, multi-stakeholder environments, working with the underlying influence dynamics required to build consensus and move initiatives forward fast.
Across all of this, I’ve sat in every committee, worked with every team and collaborated with everyone, persuading every level from operational teams to group executives.
As a junior consultant, I was shown the iceberg that explains decisions in large organisations: visible and rational, hidden and political, deep and emotional. Nobody showed me how to work with it.
I had to learn to engage, influence and persuade stakeholders at every level, top management, middle management and front line, without authority over them. With speed and precision, because the deadlines didn't move.
The 3WHY™ Decision Method makes that know-how explicit, and teachable to a sales team.
A 30-minute call on one deal that should be moving and isn't. You'll see how I read it: the case, the organisation and the person who has to decide.