Contrarily, The Whale Hunters Process proposes that you build your entire sales strategy around two core concepts: what you need to discover and what you need to disclose at every step.
Today I am writing about discovery–the logical application of the “two card questions” in my last post.
Wat do you need to learn in your first meeting in order to decide it’s worth your time to have a second meeting? What do you need to know from the whale before you launch a boat, commit resources, engage subject matter experts and your village leaders in a sales hunt? How much of your business development process depends on what you can learn at each step?
If you can’t answer these questions or have only fuzzy answers, you have great opportunity for improvement. We know that a whale hunt is expensive and time consuming. So the sooner you can learn if you are unlikely to make a sale at this time, the better off you will be financially and in opportunity cost. Send that whale “back to Baja” and pursue another for which the timing is more appropriate.
Focusing on what you need to discover will put you in the driver’s seat while also reassuring the whale that you are deeply committed to understanding their needs, their practices, and their problems.
