How to contact any CEO: a guide
So you�ve bought product X and it has stopped working right. Your calls to customer service have been met with mediocre results when you could even get your point across. You�ve even tried using the IVR cheat sheet to get through to a human. Have no fear I am about to explain how to make Joe CEO your personal CEO using the same type of system they use to obfuscate customer service.
Step 1: go to Google, find out where your problem company’s headquarters is located. Sometimes you can find this on the corporate part of the company website as well.
Good search terms include
Company X headquarters
Company X corporate offices
etc vary the wording til you find it. The information is available! You just need to look for it.
Step 2: find the phone number for that location. Use switchboard.com, Google, superpages, or yp.yahoo.com.
The number you want is for the main receptionist or main number for the office.
Step 3: Use Google or the company site to determine the president’s name or the name of the executive you are looking for.
Step 4: Call the number after the main offices have closed. Generally one of the first choices available is the option of using the directory.
Start by dialing the CEO’s last name generally and in my experiences you will get taken to the CEO’s voicemail box or one monitored by his assistant which is generally good enough if you make your case.
Making your case: General strategy
Successful strategies for me include
Praising the company’s past service or products.
Focusing on one problem and failure while maintaining a positive tone and pleasant demeanor.
Always being professional and concise.
If you follow these steps you should at least reach the CEO and if they are worth their salt they�ll get your issue taken care of.
It worked for me when I had an issue with a rebate from NEC (story link)
I was also able to reach the voicemail for the CEO of Time Warner Cable but did not need his assistance.
My guess is that after this becomes used it may become less useful as CEOs may remove themselves from the directory. However if they do that they are failing in my opinion as a CEO.
Best of luck becoming educated consumers.
Josh Smith is a blogger, database manager and adjunct professor of business and technology. 
I’ll have to try this on Rogers Wireless. They stuck me with a large bill from a crappy Motorola C333 phone that never worked properly. Hey Ted, are you listening out there ??
Raymond David
London, Ontario.
Awesome hope this helps you out. If it does let me know I’ll post your story up.
Will you please give me founder/chairman/ceo’s email id for MSN/YAHOO/GOOGLE/ etc search engine.Thank you.
Avoid Rogers Wireless !!!
They have excellent services to offer that is true. Some genuinely nice employees especially that work in the evening hours. Daytime employees are well honed (failed would /Wannabe attorney)to repel and make you feel little as possible. Also I wanted to point out that just to get a person talking to you takes a minimum 15-20 minutes and that is a lot of wasted time.There are many traps if you do not read the fine prints ALL of them.
My case involves a teen son who was offered a great deal from Rogers Wireless HUNGRY Rep. Nothing I have said to customers service or attempted make any difference to reverse all that was done without my consent. Avoid these folks like PLAUGE. These Rogers people do not seem to treat me like a true Canadian nor make any attempt to understand. It is pretty sad to shit on honest Canadians like this. Actually I am not angry I just want to inform as many people as possible to avoid the mafia style treatment.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Luv ya. Ted
Im having the same Rogers issue as raymond david. Did this strategy work?
Josh - I love this post! I hope a LOT of people use it to connect with CEOs. And your comment about those CEOs opting out of their company directory is right on. Every customer should have the opportunity to connect with upper management to offer feedback of get service if the usual channels are not working. Companies that ignore this will go the way of dinosaurs.
Well done Josh!
Kevin Stirtz
The Amazing Service Guy
i am having some ideas about the news channel which is useful to students,village peoples,who want to go for abord etc,i contacted so many people but they r not giving clear information about the contact persons so plz send me clear information thankining you sir
Sorry, but contacting a CEO got even easier. http://www.contact-the-ceo.com
take your pick.
Good morning Josh. I have an excellent new idea for a golf reality show whose demographic is huge. I am a contractor by trade and livelihood but I’ve discussed this idea with a few people and all seem to say that it would be a hit!! Unfortunately I don’t have the capital to go forward with this and am wondering if you have any ideas for me to contact CEO’s of golf equipment companies to help jump-start my awesome new show through corporate sponsorship. This is literally the best golf idea that HASN’T been discovered. I truly appreciate any advice you can give and thank you so much for your time in reading this email for I know your time is valuable.
Thanks for this info, Josh. Priceless. Sadly, no matter what I try, I can’t seem to track down CEO of my mortgage lender, Mortgage Express (subsid’ of Bradford & Bingley) - much less talk to him/her. What do you do when you just can’t find out WHO you need to be addressing complaints/concerns to?
I was looking for the stars or a way to rate this but didn’t see any so I’ll just tell you. Great post!
what is Googles CEO number
Thanks for your great advice. I’m about to contact my daughter’s employer (Gamestop) to find out why they have security cameras aimed at the employees (who are all on register) instead of having additional cameras throughout the store. My daughter was robbed at gunpoint her first day on the job (and she’s still there - go figure) and there have been several items stolen when the store was crowded with only 2 employees ringing up customers. Needless to say, the robber was never caught, nor were the thieves who stole the games. I’ll let you know what happens. Keep up the great work.
Josh, Why dont you hook me up with a link and a disclaimer in the post, please??
http://www.contact-the-ceo.com
has expanded and has even more CEOs and now executives— cmon please?