Whale Hunting

The Whale Hunters Process™ is based on this seminal book ,  co-authored by our Founder and CEO Barbara Weaver Smith and published by Wiley in 2008.  Available for purchase at amazon.com in hardcover, Kindle, and audio formats.

Click here to download your free copy of tools and templates from the book.

For thousands of years, the Inuit people of the frozen North have risked life and limb to hunt the biggest game on earth—the mighty whale. They endure treacherous seas, frigid temperatures, and deadly ice floes for days at a time in order to catch these elusive and massive mammals. Why risk so much when they could have fish and caribou so much more easily? Because a single whale can provide a village with food and oil to last an entire year.

Would you hunt small game day-in and day-out, when you could hunt the biggest prize of them all every year?

It’s the same in the sales business; small fish will keep you fed, but landing each whale-size account can fill your corporate belly for years. Hunting the biggest, most profitable deals is no easy task, and if your target escapes, you’ll lose time and resources. But the payoff is almost always worth your risk and effort.

Top 50 Sales Books
Top Sales World Names Whale Hunting to Top 50 Sales Books 2016

Whale Hunting provides a clear, step-based model for successfully finding, landing, and harvesting whale-size accounts—the kinds of accounts that transform your business. For small and mid-market companies especially, whale hunting can mean the difference between merely surviving and thriving spectacularly. But you have to be smart, and you have to be prepared. This revolutionary, one-of-a-kind sales guide will show you how to:

  • Scout your best prospects, learn all you can about them, and get their attention
  • Hunt your whale using a cross-functional team of experts throughout the process of selling and closing the deal
  • Harvest new accounts by delivering superior service and setting the stage for future long-term business

Whale Hunting isn’t a theoretical or experimental take on sales, but a proven, practical system that has earned $2 billion in new sales for the authors and their clients. The secret to success in today’s fast-moving corporate environment is to find and land the biggest creatures in the sea. Why spend all your time reeling in small accounts, when you could land big accounts regularly and predictably?

REVIEWS OF WHALE HUNTING:

“Whale Hunting is required reading for anyone that is going after the big fish in a market. Engaging, practical, and well-organized, it is simply the best book on major account selling out there.”

Keith R. McFarland
Author: The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday
Companies Become Extraordinary Performers

“The Straight forward Whale Hunting system gives companies a roadmap for landing the elusive anchor accounts- the big accounts that let them get to the next level of people, services and revenue. Tom and Barbara have put the key principles together to learn how, with the power of the remarkable story of the Inuit whale hunt. This is an entrepreneur’s must read!”

Dr. Tom Hill
Co-author: Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul

 

“WHALE HUNTING . . . has a specific and well-defined purpose-to teach managers how to land really big accounts—and it delivers on that purpose in a clear, practical, convincing, and entertaining way. I can tell you that it not only maps well into the big-account sales process but it also makes for fascinating reading.”

Dave Godes
Associate Professor
Business Administration Harvard University

 

“Searcy and Smith introduce a 9 phase sales cycle to help small to mid-sized companies accelerate their growth by capturing a “whale.” Whale Huntingshows readers how to create this process and duplicate it again and again. A must-read for anyone who is trying to capture a whale of their own!”

Cathy Langham
President
Langham Logistics