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 ready. But many entrepreneurs start their business by leaving a whale company and providing their service back into that company as an independent contractor–so if your first client is a whale, you need a team to serve that whale, and you can probably serve another one.
Who might be on your boat?
- Your banker, who can attest to your line of credit and access to capital as the account grows.
- Your accountant, who can reassure the whale that you have the capacity to meet its requirements for invoicing and payment
- Your strategic allies or subcontractors, who can define the terms under which they deliver services for you.
- Other partners in your endeavor–MarCom team, landlord, executive coaching group, professional association leaders
Bottom line, you can “launch a boat” with external allies but you don’t want to launch a boat alone.
Let us know your experiences–when have you felt most alone in going after a big deal? How did you handle it?
