I heard Deborah Bateman from National Bank of Arizona speak at the NAWBO/Score conference in Phoenix. Deborach is Executive Vice President responsible for sales and marketing at the bank. She talked about a new business women group she had formed. It’s a great example of a whale hunt!
Deborah founded the Womens Financial Group, a group of women at the bank who she is mentoring and grooming for leadership positions. They wanted to recruit a high-powered advisory board of women from key industries in their area. Here’s how they approached this need:
1. Determined the list of industries that they would target (chart the waters)
2. Decide who were the most influential women in each of those industries (target filter)
3. Choose one women in each category to invite. (whale chart)
4. Invite them to become part of the advisory board (harpoon)
They invited 12 women; every one of the 12 accepted!
Here’s the thing–they didn’t limit their list to people they knew or people who were customers of the bank. They identified who would be the most powerful board members.
Whale hunting isn’t always a sale, but it’s always a big deal!
