We believe that this old adage is for the most part true, but not quite so simple. Really, what ever really is so simple? Actually, the more I thought about this saying, the more I realized that it fits quite nicely with what we teach to small businesses.
Let’s talk about being hungry. You want this. You want to be successful. Grow your company. Close that deal. Are you motivated? Yes. Inspired? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, some days are better than others. Many entrepreneurs work so hard for so long, soon the “spirit” part of their entrepreneurial spirit is gone. In order to keep it real, sometimes you need a break. A breather. Renew the sense of purpose with which you started this endeavor. Even taking the smallest moment to get re-energized will help you bring more to the table in your conversations, partnerships and strategy.
There are natural advantages women bring to the B2B sales process including their ability to read a room and understand what’s going on inside a buyer’s head. Women are especially good at reading emotions and assessing a buyer’s fear.
Here are five key points to consider in preparation to make your initial call on a prospective customer. No, they’re not about putting brochures in a folder or loading up the power point!
We had a great whale hunting session working with the Asia/Pacific sales team of an international company. This company specializes in “spend management.” They help their customers significantly reduce their purchasing costs for many goods and services.
In the course of the workshop, this team reached a very interesting and unexpected insight about their most promising business deals, which was this:
We are not closing the proposals that demonstrate the very best ROI for our prospects. In fact, on our very best proposals, where we believe we can have the biggest positive impact for our customers, we are only closing 20%.
How would we explain that apparent anomaly? Something’s going on that they don’t understand.
There is nothing more enjoyable than being in comfortable surroundings. In the show Cheers, I am quite certain it wasn’t the just beer that brought Norm to the bar—though it was a nice bonus. Rather, it was the comfort and comradery that he felt at the bar. Norm could be himself and not really give a care. If you remember, the entire group in that bar was extremely open, frank, and much braver within the group than outside of it.
As this economy brings changing market conditions, the process of scouting, or honing in on the preferred customer, becomes essential. It is the dedication to a focused, strategic business development process for targeting that ideal customer that may mean the difference between accelerated growth versus business as usual.
From The Whale Hunters, we know it takes a strong team with a variety of skills to land a whale. You want women on your team. There are natural advantages Wonder Woman brings to the table that Superman and Underdog don’t have. And I’m not just talking about her magic Lasso of Truth.
Today I’d like to draw your attention to our latest case study. We’re very proud of the work done by Anita Grantham (one of our Phoenix Certified Partners), Rudy Kolich and the team at Jokake. They were able to implement The Whale Hunters Process™ and win the largest contract in their firms history.
You remember the old commercials – when you were asked to make a forced choice between two good options? In syncing up with your prospect, I say you need both – good rhythm and good timing. A successful sales person almost instinctively knows that a winning process includes getting into the customer’s sales cycle as early as possible and at a time when you can still prepare your team to deliver – especially, when hunting whales.
Many people don’t understand the distinctions between strategy, process and tactics.
A strategy is an overall plan to achieve specific, generally long-term, goals. It’s an approach, a broad, general roadmap, a way to go about doing business. A strategy defines how an organization intends to get from where it is now to where it wants to be in the future, perhaps three to five years out. Pursuing Whales to grow revenue is a strategy. Going global is a strategy. Penetrating a specific industry is a strategy. Increasing visibility to raise awareness about a product or service is a strategy. A strategy may include time frames but typically they are ‘end point’ dates.
At the start each consulting engagement, the first piece of our process covered with clients is called the Brand Promise Audit. The goal of the exercise is to determine what parts of your brand promise are truly unique. We often find that the majority of brand promises fall into average or above average categories.