How many of you have worked for leaders that implement culture based on the last book they have read? If you are lucky, you may get to experience six different cultures during any fiscal year!
Fortunately, The Whale Hunters Process™, when implemented by a leader and his or her team can alleviate this experience for your workforce! How? In my experience, implementing The Whale Hunters Process™ has helped our team build, be clear and save time.
I’ve just become a regular blogger for Blog World and New Media Expo blog on the topic of B2B Sales and Social Media. You can find me there every other Wednesday. For my first post, I wrote Ten Tactics to Drive B2B Sales with Social Media. It’s an outline of specific tactics that I’ll be blogging […]
In today’s world “instant gratification” is a very strong mindset. It seems we may not have learned enough from the economic collapse of the past few years. “Instant gratification” is especially prevalent in the sales world these days, as well. It seems that the teachings of “getting to no” in conjunction with management pressures to close deals today have created a sales professional that is only interested in spending their time with prospects who are ready to buy now. Effective prospecting in sales has become what day trading is to the stock market – no one is investing for the long term.
Today’s prospecting behaviors involve finding someone who is ready to buy, submitting piles of proposals, or responding to RFQ’s (Request for Quote) that have little chance of being won.
Making a commitment to hunt whales is the beginning of a dramatic cultural shift. It’s more than just a new business development strategy. Embarking on this process successfully requires vision, planning, implementation and personal development from everyone involved, particularly the CEO.
Many small businesses need to look bigger and act bigger in order to secure whale-sized business. Whales prospects are afraid of doing deals with businesses that look like a Mom and Pop shop. Is this you? Solopreneurs and small businesses now have the advantages of technology to make them look and act bigger in order to win the bigger sales. (Being more efficient and eco-friendly can’t hurt either).
Implementing needed, comprehensive change is hard. It’s really hard when it changes they way your company brings in revenue. As I’m finding with many small businesses, however, sometimes the implementation isn’t as difficult as just getting started. Sometimes just having an idea really heard is just as hard and doing the work. Even worse is when no one admits there’s a problem! In order for The Whale Hunters Process™ to really work, both leadership and employees need to be bought into the program. In order for everyone to be on the same page, it can take some convincing.
Nothing makes a stronger statement to your clients than “thank you.” Thank you is part of the customer experience. “Thank you” demonstrates appreciation, builds loyalty, and personalizes the relationship. After all, if you are not truly grateful for your client’s decision to enter into a business relationship with you, it is only a matter of time before your client will realize you expect their business and you don’t value it. “Thank you” is the easiest and most sincere way to initiate your gratitude for the opportunity to establish and continue a valued business relationship.
Are sales professionals trying to sell out of fear instead of quality? It seems they sell to “stay alive” just because they want to keep their jobs. More than ever, this is when we need to be sure everyone is on the boat! Sales team members can’t be expected to sell alone. If we expect sales professionals to land bigger deals, then we need to send them out with the tools to be successful, and the most powerful one, is a full boat!
What’s your growth strategy? (If you’re reading this, I hope its whale hunting.) What are you employing to take your business to the next level? Whatever your strategy or tactics, I think it really all starts with a “think big” mentality/philosophy. You have to first embrace a philosophy of growth before you start work on anything else. Some resent conversations have left me convinced some businesses don’t want to grow. Or, rather, their fear of change is bigger than the desire for growth. Now is not the time to be afraid of the future.
To mitigate the risk of losing, small companies must become incredibly disciplined about vetting new business opportunities against their target filter. The more selective you become about pursuing new business the greater your close rate will be. Don’t waste your time going after new business that isn’t a good fit and therefore you will have a low likelihood of winning.
As we teach companies to become whale hunting organizations, we talk about what it means to be hungry for new business and what it means to have that same warrior spirit. Think about your team, and ask yourself, “Do I have the right people on the bus?” For small businesses that aspire to be in fast-growth mode, it’s a critical question.
To manage the handoff between sales and delivery, you may want to start with a checklist. The checklist is the next step up from a to-do list because it creates organizational process. That’s one of the reasons that The Whale Hunters Process™ works—we help companies build the bridge between what’s sold and delivered through process. Communication is great and can always be improved. Process on the other hand can be standardized, written down, charted out, and taught without the risk of mis-interpretation