Whale Hunting is about big sales to big companies. Many small and midsize B2B companies have the capacity to do this kind of deal. Among our Whale Hunting clients, we have these recent examples:
- A $600m construction company bidding on a $230m deal
- A $30m financial services company doing an $18m deal
- A $100m heavy machinery repair company doing a $500m deal
We’ve also worked with tech companies, manufacturing companies, training companies, marketing companies, logistics companies and print services companies, among others, in the $25m to $500m annual revenue range, doing regular multi-million dollar deals with very large companies.
This kind of sale is qualitatively different than the average sale in these companies in addition to being 10x to 20x or more in revenue value:
It’s exponentially more complex.
It’s riskier for both companies.
It’s expensive, requiring a big investment of time and talent on both sides.
It’s often mission-critical for both players.
Since the pandemic, these deals have become even more challenging in a several ways. Some of these will probably be long-lasting:
- Virtual workforce—key people are harder to reach; they are using cell phones, not office phones; their email inbox is in permanent overload
- Remote work force—multiple influencers are not physically located in the same workplace; online meetings are challenging
- In many industries, buying decisions are postponed or implementation is delayed. Companies are reordering priorities, restructuring their workforces, and reconsidering their business models, disrupting their major buying decisions in many areas.
Despite their challenges, large account sales can yield superior business outcomes for both buyer and seller. For the buyer, a big deal is often a game changer for the business—a deal that will make them significantly better in some meaningful ways—such as product, service, sales, distribution, or operations.
For the seller, a big sale to a large account often means long-term revenue at good margins with opportunity for growth. While it’s expensive to lose a big sale, the cost of winning is less than the cost to win comparable revenue from multiple accounts.
To build a successful large account segment in your business, you need a well-defined strategy that cuts across lines of responsibility, involving marketing, sales, product development and all facets of operations. Not only the selling side is uniquely challenging, but also the delivery side makes special demands on your team. Landing a big sale that your company is not prepared to fulfill is a total disaster!
Here are just a few how-tos your team must master to compete successfully for big deals with big companies:
How to prepare before you talk to big company buyers about big deals
How to reach big company buyers through their networks
How to mitigate risk and why the buyers are afraid of you
How it’s not (only) about price and how to figure out what else it’s about
How it’s about their business, not your solutions, and what the buyers want, need and expect from you
How to guide the buyers’ journey and help them reach the best decision
How to win against bigger competitors
How to bring them onboard and deliver everything you promised
We’ll be working with these and other whale hunting issues all year as we continue to develop our programs and resources. But now is the time to plan for your company’s large account growth for 2021.
So, The Whale Hunters are offering a free Large Account Growth Assessment to discuss your readiness and large account growth strategies and follow-up with actionable recommendations.
Check it out and sign up here.
