Like a camera lens that focuses where you point it, ignoring the unwanted images on either side, so you need to manage the whales’ perception of your company. It IS under your control how a prospective whale customer will perceive you and your team. Everything from how your phones are answered to your website, from […]
The Whale Hunters Process doesn’t include “cold calling.” Let’s face it: you are not going to land a new deal, ten to twenty times your average deal, by placing a phone call to the prospective buyer. That is an outmoded, old-fashioned, small-minded method of sales. It is not a strategic business development method. So what […]
A traditional marketing plan depends upon generating leads. Quite the opposite, whale hunting depends upon identifying the ideal customers with whom you want to do big deals. How can you turn the tables on the process? By research! It doesn’t need to be as scary as it sounds. I’ve posted about the target filter and […]
In traditional marketing plans, your company sends messages/invitations into the market and gathers “leads”–prospective customers who respond. Marketing hands off the leads to sales, the team responsible for converting leads into customers. Whale Hunting is totally different. You select the ideal customers for you, research those customers and watch their behavior, then make your initial […]
It’s a huge differentiator and a huge advantage–a company that studies its sales targets as a routine business development practice will outperform most other companies, who don’t. As a whale hunter, your business growth depends on selling much bigger deals to much bigger customers–customers that you have identified and targeted, not customers who accidentally come […]
You’ve refined your sales Target Filter and all of your criteria. Now you are ready for some very important parts of your whale hunting business development process–all related to research! And if your company is small, that probably strikes terror in your heart. It sounds hard, and it sounds time-consuming, and it sounds expensive, right? Well […]
Now you have a target filter of criteria to identify the best whale prospects for your company–the categories that are important to you and the metrics for each category to judge it as an A, B, or C rating. Now you’re almost ready to use it! First, you should decide whether some categories are more […]
Whale Hunting involves your deliberate choice of big customers that you want to sell big deals to. It’s about managing your sales targets in a very disciplined, systematic way. I’ve written about how to define the categories of traits that are important to you. The next step is to add measurable numbers, statements, or qualities […]
This article is about the first step in defining a target filter for your large account sales process: Setting your criteria categories
Did you know there are four “rivers” in the ocean? These are equatorial currents, two flowing with the ocean, only faster; and two flowing against the ocean. Sailors seek these currents to accelerate and ease their passage when crossing. We like this analogy to explain your message to the whale market. Here’s how it works: […]
When a company makes a deliberate move to accelerate its growth, the need is to move very fast on that path. When you go after bigger customers and bigger deals, you attract new competition that has not bothered with you before. You are at risk if you are not making rapid progress. Suddenly, you are […]
The Whale Hunting business development practice is inspired by the ancient wisdom of the Inuit people and their powerful collaborative processes. Their preparation and skill enabled a small village of ordinary people to set out to sea in a sealskin boat and, against great odds, bring home the largest creature on earth to sustain them […]