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 […]
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 […]
The first phase in The Whale Hunters Process is Know the Whale. It seems so obvious that a company would know the characteristics of customers that it is trying to recruit, but a surprising number of companies have not devoted much attention to that definition. I think it’s a core business development competency! So, if […]
I presented a workshop last week to a group of owners of small to mid size marketing/advertising/PR firms. Their biggest business development lament was whale prospects who rejected their pitch because they did not want to be the company’s biggest client. Has that happened to you? Coincidentally, today I read an article about Orlando’s Small […]
buy essay papers Oh how we love to tout our services! Typically as we plan to introduce ourselves to a whale we are focused on us–our mission, our products and services, our value proposition. But of course the prospects hear that every day from lots of channels and broadcasters. What if we are all about […]
If you are nervous–or scared to death–about the economy in recent weeks, you are in good company. But instead of worrying about your own next steps, have you thought about how your customers are feeling–especially your whale customers? Whale hunters know that whales are fearful of small companies, even in the best of times. But right […]
I get this question a lot: “What do you do if you land a whale and they treat you badly–like implementing a 90 – 120 days payment cycle?” Many small business owners have had this experience with a whale or two in their history–a much bigger than usual account with a much bigger customer. It’s especially […]