The newest edition of Whale Hunters Wisdom is online now, with a featured article on the relationship between sales success and trusted partner relationship. I’m reporting on and linking you to the latest research on what are the practices that have made American companies achieve their sales goals in 2009. Turns out, the key ingredients […]
The Whale Hunters Certified Partner Loretta Love Huff is president of Emerald Harvest Consulting and chapter leader for a Whale Hunters Executive Chapter in Phoenix AZ. Loretta recently had an experience that all entrepreneurs dread–her computer crashed. If you lead a larger company, perhaps you have an on site IT team who manages your data. […]
A 2010 research report from CSO Insights shows a strong relationship between a company’s annual sales performance and two factors: the nature of their sales process and their relationship to the buyers. The current edition of Whale Hunters Wisdom, our biweekly newsletter, explains how to develop what CSO defines as a “dynamic” sales process, the […]
My home town, Indianapolis, has been on fire about the NCAA college basketball Final Four and the amazing run of the home-town favorite Butler University “Bulldogs,” the smallest school to be included in the 64 contestants in the NCAA tournament. A small school in serious contention for the national championship s definitely on a whale […]
In a famous quote, Lew Platt, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, said “If only HP knew what HP knows, we would be three-times more productive.” He meant, of course, that HP employees individually and in small teams had critical knowledge of the enterprise, the customers, and the market: research and development, processes, procedures, manufacturing, quality control, […]
The best thing about large accounts is that they offer many opportunities to sell more business–you may have different products and services that would appeal to different departments or divisions of the whale company. Or you might have the opportunity to sell more of the same product or service to other divisions or locations. The […]
The longer you do business with a whale, the harder it will become to ensure that you have a mutually trustworthy relationship. People on your team and the whale’s team will come and go, job responsibilities will change, new sales will require everyone’s time and new customers will be in the intake process. It is […]
The transition from making the sale to delivering the service is a major opportunity for things to go wrong. On the whale’s side, there is a big handoff from the buyers to the end users. Likewise, on your side, there is a big handoff from the sales team to the delivery team. If you’ve had […]
By their nature, whale-sized accounts are complex. Invariably, delivering your products and services requires the coordination of many people in your company with many more people in the whale company. You have an opportunity to greatly improve your internal processes and controls each time you serve a new whale. The most important thing for members of your […]
The trickiest part of whale hunting for small and midsize companies is to capture your sale: deliver your products and services as promised once you’ve made the sale. Big contracts with big customers are not business as usual for many companies. Smaller companies are often long on energy and enthusiasm but short on operational processes, policies, and […]
You’ve made the big sale to the big customer. You’ve inked the letter of agreement. You’ve shaken the hands and toasted the toast. Now what? Most likely your deal now moves out of the hands of the buyers’ table and into the depths of legal and accounting. The formal contract remains to be completed, and […]
One of my long-time business friends called recently with a whale hunting problem. He is in the software development and training business and has had several whale-sized clients over the years. This time, however, the prospect refused to sign his company’s standard contract in favor of their own. And this contract was onerous. In particular, it stated that […]