I am very pleased to have a guest blog post published at Venture Beat in the Entrepreneur Corner. It’s all about how to refocus your team. If you have been taking whatever business comes your way in order to survive, you have changed your company culture. To capitalize on the economic recovery, you’ll need to […]
I had the pleasure of presenting a Whale Hunters workshop for the Academy Plus attendees at the annual training seminar hosted by the Western Alliance of Chamber Executives, headquartered in Sacramento, CA. These are experienced CEOs of local and regional Chambers of Commerce, dedicating time and energy to better serving their members and their communities. […]
I circulated a new newsletter article today focused on how small companies can greatly improve their proposals–whether in response to RFPs or simply in their normal sales process–if they invest some time into documenting processes. My all-too-real world example comes from a current RFP that I am working on with a client. $900 million of […]
You have stars. Customers who have used your services and products to great success. Clients who have had transformational experiences because they did business with you. You also have prospects. Companies that may consider doing business with you under the right circumstances. One of the most important “right circumstances” is the testimonial from a previous […]
An excellent article in the Sunday, July 12 Washington Post called Fixing the Economy? It’s Women’s Work.It’s a good one because it references a number of responsible studies, and because it is more about why companies need a leadership team that includes women than it is about women taking over. I have been observing and […]
This week’s Whale Hunting Wisdom newsletter focuses on Innovation and Recession. It’s not just my own ideas, although I have always believed that old saw “necessity is the mother of invention.” But there’s a wealth of good sales and business development research that points to recessions as times when smart, creative people made their move […]
“What are the top three fears of a CEO who’s thinking about implementing The Whale Hunters Process in their company?” That was a great question from someone in the Vistage group I presented to yesterday. We were working on what scares whales, and someone raised the question–what scares small business CEOs? Here’s what I think those […]
Found an upbeat article to start off my week. Based on short interviews with successful business owners in Maine, I found ten ideas for business growth in weak economy: Reinvent — consider how your products and/or services can realign with a changing market Customer focus — learn what your customers want and need today, not what they […]
Bradley Schiller’s Wall Street Journal opinion piece resonated with me. He takes issue with Pres. Obama likening today’s economic circumstance to “the great depression.” I don’t want to quarrel with the president, and that’s not the purpose of my comments. What I DO want to say is that I totally agree with Schiller’s take on […]
We’re probably in for a long haul on the economic downturn. And clearly a lot of individuals, families, and businesses will suffer. So I want to talk about– what would fuel a recovery? Frankly, I don’t see government having the vision or capability. We continue to have a core of blue-chip American companies that will […]
“Ambergris” — that priceless, elusive substance inside a whale that equates to new, better, and more rewarding business with an existing key account. Business growth multiplies when you mine current customers for new opportunities while also developing new sales to new customers. Here’s how to start: bring together all of your key people who interact […]
Another question that people ask me–“I am a very small business. I don’t have a big staff to assign as members of the boat. How can I hunt whales without a boat?” The answer is–you shouldn’t. Business growth by doing bigger deals with bigger customers is a team strategy, so maybe you are just not […]