In a famous quote, Lew Platt, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, said “If only HP knew what HP knows, we would be three-times more productive.”
He meant, of course, that HP employees individually and in small teams had critical knowledge of the enterprise, the customers, and the market: research and development, processes, procedures, manufacturing, quality control, and so on. And all of this knowledge is of great value in the sales and business development processes as well as in R&D and customer service.
But this priceless individual knowledge wasn’t known collectively, so that it could not be brought to bear on each new issue, problem, or opportunity. Everything took longer than it should have because critical knowledge wasn't shared deliberately throughout the enterprise.
Surprisingly, this problem may be even more acute in smaller companies.
I just finished working with a small business team preparing a very significant proposal in response to a federal government RFP. This is a very successful company with significant technical expertise in their field, a track record of great success, and very apparent management excellence.
Yet, as we tried to put "into words" HOW they do what they do, they were stymied. They are so accustomed to doing it, it does not occur to them to explain, or to write down the steps, or--in essence--to capture the knowledge.
In fact, they almost think that to explain it step-by-step would be boring and insulting to the reader. "Doesn't everyone know how we would approach this? After all, it's just common sense."
No matter how small you are, or where you are in the development of explicit processes, I encourage you to be certain that everyone in your company "knows what you company knows."
Whenever your team is selling, whether face-to-face or through an RFP, you can use explicit processes to your great advantage in going up against larger competitors, who are more likely to have well-crafted process materials.
And that means paying some special attention to documenting and sharing "how we do it here." Your proposals will get better; they will get easier; and you company's knowledge base will explode.
Do you have an example to share about "knowing what you know?" If so, please post it below.
Rosemary Brehm and Brian Zaas are teaming up to launch Whale Hunters Chapters in the Tampa area. Their first chapter will begin in early April.
Here's how you can learn more.
They are hosting an Intro to Whale Hunting at 12:00 - 1:00 pm. This is a free event with light refreshments served. You can register for this event here: Open Registration--Free Event
Later in the same day you are invited to cocktails and hors d'oeuves at Capital Grille from 4:30-5:30 pm. This event requires a $30 registration fee for food and beverages. You can register here: Open Registration
Rosemary Brehm, president of turningpoints2results, is an entrepreneur and expert in helping organizations accelerate their potential into profitable results by focusing on five key shifts in their businesses: strategic business performance; leadership alignment; team dynamics; customer intimacy, and competitive positioning. In addition to her consulting services, Rosemary is certified as a Professional Facilitator (CPF) through the International Association of Facilitators.
Rosemary was founding Chair of the Tampa Bay Women President’s Organization and served that group from 2003-2009. She is a member of the International Association of Facilitators; the Senior HRD Forum; ASTD; and the Organizational Development SIG. She holds a Certificate in Training and Development from New York University and a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the State University of New York at Geneseo.
With over 22 years of experience in leading business development and sales efforts for Technology, Software, and Outsourcing solutions, Brian Zaas has a background in business operations optimization, systems integration, custom application development and technology leadership. He has been responsible for driving global business development and professional service efforts for leading Fortune 500 corporations including Fujitsu, CA, and MCI-Worldcom as well as start-up growth for Pilgrim Software, Best Programs Telcordia, and most recently is leading efforts for Enterprise Solutions with Avineon.
He has led strategic and innovative solution areas for Fortune 500 and emerging growth customers in need of IT, technology, outsourcing and the infrastructure management. Brian has also consulted with market leaders across a number of industries on leadership, pipeline development, innovation, and sales in new product development and market penetration focusing on large, complex deals.
The Whale Hunters are proud to introduce these new Certified Whale Hunters Patners who will provide services to the Tampa business community.
Anita Grantham is a Certified Whale Hunters Partner in Phoenix, AZ. Anita is recruiting members now for her Whale Hunters Chapter which will convene early in March.
Anita is a native of Phoenix and has been Chief People Officer for
Anita is passionate about helping business owners be successful and achieve their goals. She has worked with numerous entrepreneurs to help them grow both business and talents. She also works with college students who are preparing for their careers and their first job.
For more information about The Whale Hunters Chapters, please click here.
Our local Chapter Chairs are now recruiting members in Denver, Detroit/Ann Arbor, Indianapolis, Naples, St. Louis, Phoenix, and Tampa. More cities are coming on board weekly; let us know if you are interested.
Click here for more information on a Whale Hunters Chapter.
Do you know how to interpret economic and business development news? Do you feel as if we walk a tightrope between hype and despair? Are we headed for disaster or beginning a recovery? As small/midsize business leaders, how can we tell, and where should we look for helpful information?
I am pleased to announce the monthly Whale Hunters Expert Series teleconference on Wednesday February 17 at 12 noon Eastern time (that's 11 am Central, 10 am Mountain, and 9 am Pacific) , with our featured guest Jason DeRose, Supervising Editor, NPR's Economic Training Project.
We'll be discussing some guidelines for processing economic news as small business owners plan for their companies’ short term and long term directions. Much of today's economic news is hype and hyperbole. Instead, we will be talking about what kind of evidence we should look for, how can we tell if a report is sensible, how can we best interpret the information that we hear, see, and read. And we'll have this conversation in the company of an expert who is responsible for training journalists to improve their ecoomic news coverage, especially at the local level.
Jason DeRose is the Supervising Editor for National Public Radio's (NPR) Economic Training Project. He works with local member station reporters as an editor, trainer and mentor to improve business and economics coverage throughout the public radio system. He is based at NPR West in Culver City, California.
Prior to his current position, Jason worked as an editor on NPR's mid-day news magazine Day to Day, as a reporter and producer at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., and as an editor, host, reporter and producer at member stations in Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and Tampa.
He's served as a mentor and trainer for NPR's "Next Generation Radio Project" and Chicago Public Radio's "Ear to the Ground Project" — programs that teach aspiring high school and college students public radio's unique reporting style.
Outside of public radio, Jason has worked as an oral history interviewer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and as a journalism trainer at the International Center for Journalists. He has also taught journalism ethics, radio reporting, multimedia storytelling and religion reporting at DePaul University in Chicago and at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Jason graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, with majors in religion and English. He also holds a master's degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School and studied at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
The call is free but you need to register first at http://thewhalehuntersexpertseries.eventbrite.com/ -- you will receive dial-in information. Call format is 45-minutes of interview with Jason followed by 15-minutes of Q & A with the participants.
I believe small business is the future of the American economy. This discussion is all about how we can get news and information that s relevant to our needs and how we can intrepret that news.I hope you will join us!
The worst thing about large accounts is that buyers tend to pigeonhole you in the niche where you currently fit.
Sometimes, selling new business to your existing large accounts is more difficult than landing a new account. Here's an example: We had a client that provided engineering validation services to the manufacturing division a large corporation. After several years of providing that service successfully, our client had introduced a totally new service--technical writing. Not only manufacturing but also marketing, R&D, training, and customer service could have used these new services provided by a company that the parent company trusts based on past performance. But the current end-users had no contacts in the other divisions, and the manufacturing division had pegged our client for engineering validation, not technical writing. Ultimately, our client found that it was easier to go elsewhere for the new business.
For another example, we had a client that provided a unique method of delivering discount coupons for local restaurants and other retail establishments to employees at their workplace. They were very successful in serving local and regional franchises of national chain restaurants and groceries. There was often a promise that if there service passed "a test" they would be considered for a national application. However, the national marketing buyers never do business with the companies they consider to be "local" suppliers.
So, sometimes it if best to move on to another customer. But there are ways to influence your current large clients if you are strategic about it:
- Begin to build relationships outside of your current work area when the contract is new. These will take much time to develop.
- Engage your entire team--every area that touches the whale--in planning for new business.
- Turn "common knowledge"--what each person knows about the customer--into "shared knowledge" -- what everyone knows
- Separate fact from opinion and gossip about the customer and the divisions of its business
- create a grid of all the potential buyers of your products/services (divisions, locations, departments) and your offerings. Determine the most likely next sale for your company.
- strategize that sale as you would any new business, leveraging existing relationships
Yet small business absolutely runs on trust. It is the key differentiator between your company and your large competitors. But that will only be apparent to the whales if you actively work on the trust relationship all of the time.
Here are some suggestions:
(1) Get with your team on a regular basis to audit the trust relationships. Assess whether you are gaining or losing trust over time.
(2) Look for the weakest links in your chain. Whatever department or service creates the most hassle for the whale is the one that will determine the whale's overall sense of your trustworthiness.
(3) Discuss whether there are any inadvertent "trust busters" in your company--throw-away lines to the whale that pit one area of your company against another. These are communications like "Well, customer service is always trying to cover themselves" or "I hear that training is really backed up" or "If they don't take care of you, just call me." Often these are well-meaning phrases but they lead to a reduction in trust.
(4) Remind your team that "the village survives because we hunt." Whale-sized customers are difficult. They have high expectations. They do thinks differently than you may be accustomed to and they challenge your team's good will and your resources. Nevertheless, it's better if everyone develops an attitude that the whale is what feeds the village.
In The Whale Hunters model, business development does not end with the sale. You will not be successful at growing your company unless your service delivery matches--and especially exceeds--the promised you made during the sales cycle.
How is your company doing on trust with your key accounts?
Our new monthly Expert Series conference call (every third Wednesday at noon Eastern time) features a prominent speaker on a timely Whale Hunters topic. This is a FREE call, and for the first call no registration is necessary. Just dial in!
The call is hosted by The Whale Hunters founder Barbara Weaver Smith with FEATURED GUEST Danny Ayala, Director of BidSourceTM, The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce government bid procurement program. BidSource has helped small businesses in Arizona win $1billion in contract awards since its inception in 1988. Discussion will focus on RFP requirements for local, state, & federal government and following federal stimulus dollars. Topic: Winning RFPs and Government Stimulus Funds
Call duration: 60 minutes
Dial in: 866-476-8702
Participant Code: 929182#
You’ve made the big sale to the big customer. You’ve inked the letter of agreement. You’ve shaken the hands and toasted the toast. Now what?
Most likely your deal now moves out of the hands of the buyers’ table and into the depths of legal and accounting. The formal contract remains to be completed, and the timetable remains to be determined. You are in a much bigger hurry to get started than your new customer is.
What can you do? Here are some tactics:
· Learn to anticipate that this will happen; don’t let it take you by surprise. Understand that bureaucracies do not move at the speed of entrepreneurs.
· Create and implement a carefully crafted plan for that period of time we call “sewing the mouth shut”—the time between when the whale says “yes” and you receive payment for your first invoice.
· In that plan, stipulate what steps people on your team will take with people on the whale’s team in anticipation of getting started. Most important:
o Schedule—work with the whale’s team to set get-acquainted meetings, site visits, information exchange, fact-finding, etc.
o Invoice—your proposal should have included some preliminary work that can be done while the contracts are processing. Make this whale a customer at your earliest opportunity.
o Visibility—have a system of simple reports to several of your new customer’s end users to keep them apprised of how you are preparing to fulfill your contract with them.
· Keep your account manager in close contact with his or her counterpart, and take action promptly if there is any lack of expected action.
Through some tough experiences, I’ve learned how important it is for the seller to own the ramp-up process. My team would be trying to schedule key events and activities with little success. We would be frustrated that the new customer was holding things up. But of course the whale always thinks that YOU are holding things up, which is why you need to manage the deal especially after you’ve sold it!
Have you had a deal that faded away after it was sold? I’d love to hear about it.
One of my long-time business friends called recently with a whale hunting problem. He is in the software development and training business and has had several whale-sized clients over the years.
This time, however, the prospect refused to sign his company’s standard contract in favor of their own. And this contract was onerous. In particular, it stated that the whale company would own all rights to any materials created for them or modified for them. The seller would technically no longer have the right to re-sell templates or standard software that had been customized in any way for this customer. They would also lose the right to include this customer’s bugs and fixes, anonymously, in their ongoing FAQ materials available to all customers.
Furthermore, the small company’s hesitancy on this contract was making the whale angry and the deal seemed about to slip away.
He asked what I thought he should do? Here are a few ideas I offered:
1. It’s very common for a big company to have a very different view of contracts than the small company does. Sometimes you will have requirements in your standard contract that no large company is going to sign, period. Other times, you will be faced as my friend was with a contract that frightens you. If you want to complete your big sales, you’ll have to find a way to come to terms quickly.
2. Big companies have staff lawyers; maybe you don’t. If not, be sure that you consult regularly with an attorney who specializes in entrepreneurial ventures and will come to understand your business. Have your attorney review the contract with an eye to any pitfalls. Now is not the time to save money—invest in some good advice.
3. If the attorney’s advice is ambiguous, you’ll just have to decide how much you want this business. Is it likely that the customer could or would cause you real trouble down the road contractually, or are they just using boilerplate language to protect their own interests? If there seems to be real danger, now is the time to say no. But if any danger is remote and unlikely, and otherwise you want to do the business, get the contract signed.
4. Once you begin doing the work, be scrupulous about following the rules of the contract. If issues arise that are not clear-cut, negotiate them and get agreement in writing.
Contracts between big and small companies are tedious because each faces different kinds and levels of risk, regulation, and responsibility. If you routinely have problems negotiating a contract with a large customer, work on your own contract to make it more familiar to the whales.
Have you ever lost a job through contract negotiations? Have you signed a contract that proved to be a mistake? Post your comments below.
In many industries, price has become the only apparent differentiating factor in contract awards. Pricing wars put small and mid size business at a disadvantage because larger competitors can low-ball a bid in order to freeze you out.
How will you know if you are in a pricing war? And if you are, how can you respond?
In an RFP circumstance, you should intend to be the lowest cost suitable provider or to decline to bid. Unless,
- you can beat the field on unique past experience (and don't kid yourself!)
- you can beat the field on a unique plan of work (which will save money)
- you know what the current provider is being paid (and you can beat it)
- you are the incumbent (and you can leverage the relationship)
So how will you prepare your pricing strategy? Here are some ideas:
- Explore your bidding history. What are the proposals in which you have lost out on price? Do you have detailed feedback on pricing and other elements of your proposal? If so, use them going forward.
- Find and use data. Be certain that you understand standard pricing for sales in your industry, especially pricing among your large competitors.
- Hire a consultant. Use a pricing expert to help you consider options and to understand the competition.
- Take more training. For government contracts especially, many training programs are available for your team to learn more about costs and pricing for government business at the local, state, and federal levels.
- Match your deliverables to the requirements. When you must compete on price, don't add any frills or "nice to haves." Stick with the minimum requirements and price aggressively.
We would love to hear your personal strategies for winning the pricing wars--or examples of coming in second and lessons learned from that experience!
1. Own the room. Your most important tactic is to control the space in which you are meeting. If the presentation is at your headquarters, you can assign seats, issue name tags, and provide table tents. But if--more likely--your team is presenting at the prospective customer's site, how can you own the room?
- First, be absolutely certain that you know who will be in attendance. Check and double check with your key contact(s) and their staff.
- Match up your presenters with their attendees. Be certain that everyone on your team knows who they are responsible for on the whale buyers' team.
- Show up early. Bring table tents. Place them where you want them. Intersperse their team with your team.
- If you are providing handouts or presenting any kind of digital presentation, own your technology and arrive in plenty of time to be certain it will work in their space.
2. Surprise them. Everyone else who has presented to this buyers' table has led them through a boring power point deck of some kind. You need to be different!
- Only use slides if you have powerful visual images to present.
- Use no text on your slides--visual images only.
- Insert short audio or video into your slides.
- Ensure that no one on your team is watching the slides while they are being presented.
- Be sure that each person has his or her power tools, power points, and power questions.
- Rehearse with an internal and/or external team of supporters who will role play the potential client.
- Be very clear who on your team will field questions from the prospect and direct them to the appropriate person on your team. This person should not be the lead presenter.
Prepare everyone to speak comfortably in a sales/new business setting.
- Provide everyone with the confidence needed to present assertively.
- Communicate how important their performance is to your company's growth.
- Praise and reward great participation.
But this practice cannot happen successfully unless you devote some time to preparing. The harpooner (salesperson) needs to learn how to orchestrate a team presentation. No longer doing most of the talking, the sales lead introduces team members and manages all facets of the presentation, on the fly.
Likewise, key subject matter experts [SMEs] need to learn how to participate in a client-facing presentation. They will need the confidence that comes from knowing what is expected of them, having rehearsed, and understanding the whole plan.
We recommending preparing SMEs with three sets of material:
1. Power Points. Not a slide deck but a few key statements. Each SME should know the most important points about your company, your product/service, and their role in the delivery. And the harpooner should be prepared to ensure they have the opportunity to make their key points.
2. Power Tools. These are the fear-busters, those tangible pieces of evidence that calm the buyers and make you look capable of doing business with a whale. Power Tools are documents, white papers, testimonials, charts, graphs, diagrams, pictures, processes--brief but very professional representations of your company's capabilities in areas that are likely to make the buyers afraid.
3. Power Questions. The buyers want to know what YOU need to know in order to serve them well, and they will expect your presentation team to ask intelligent and probing questions. Be certain that each SME is prepared to ask one or more critical questions of the buying team, questions that will promote a lively discussion.
Teach your SMEs to incorporate power points, tools, and questions into the presentation. Rehearse so that they understand when to speak and when to listen. Invite other employees to role play the buyers and offer constructive feedback.
You will find that SMEs write better proposals and bring a new client on board faster and with fewer glitches and that your entire company becomes more excited about sales and business development. They will have a new respect for the sales process, a better understanding of the customers, and a bigger stake in your growth.
How do you engage SMEs in your sales process? We'd love your comments, tips and suggestions.
Big companies are not content to meet only your sales team or "pitch team." They want to meet the people who will actually do the work--who will manage your delivery to them, who will handle problems, who will provide training, who will work with their IT team, etc. Small companies can sell advantages in this process because many big companies sell with an "A" team and deliver with a less-experienced "B" or "C" team. The team you send will be your "A" team--the people who will lead this project if the sale is made.
So the sales development process for a whale hunting company includes both the sales team and members of the operations team(s). You may also have people on your boat who are not employees of your company. Your banker, for example, ready to confirm that you have a line of credit sufficient to ramp up this project. A strategic ally, such as a staffing firm, ready to confirm that they always provide the additional staff you require when you bring a new project on board. Your commercial real estate broker, ready to inform your prospect about space available for a project work team or for warehouses, call centers, increased manufacturing capacity, and so forth. You might consider having a current or past customer whose job was much bigger than your average at the time, ready to discuss how your ramp-up process worked.
Obviously, all of the people on the boat need to be trained and need to rehearse before the team goes before a client. That's the topic of tomorrow's blog.
Do you engage subject matter experts in your complex sales? How does that work for you? We would love to have examples, questions, and comments.
I wrote yesterday that your early meetings with the Buyers should be all about them and what you need to learn. But the more you learn, the more you need to begin to disclose to them about your products, services, unique value proposition, your team, etc.
A strong sales process will identify what you intend to discover and what you intend to disclose at each step. Of course your plan is subject to modification depending upon the whale's agenda; however, the more you control the timing and the content, the better your company will be positioned to make a big sale.
Now is the time to keep in mind that whale buyers are not usually looking for the best or most creative or most innovative idea. They are looking for a reasonable solution that will work, meet their budget, cause the least resistance and the least internal disruption. In other words, a safe choice.
What does this mean to you? Your early disclosure should focus on these points:
- ease of transition--how many things will NOT change if they hire you
- short term ROI--what benefits can they expect to realize in the first few months that will make the buyers' team look good
- safety factors--what qualities of your company are persuasive that you are solid, predictable, stable, and financially sound
- how much your company and the whale company have in common re: sales and implementation processes, standards, systems etc.
Loretta hosted a free teleclass introducing The Whale Hunters Process--you can listen to it here (registration required).
Loretta is also the first Whale Hunters Chapter Chair in Phoenix, AZ. Her chapter convenes on October 1, and membership places are still available.
A Whale Hunters Chapter is a new way to learn and implement the proven Whale Hunters Process for accelerated business development. Chapters are composed of 12-15 leaders from noncompeting companies--entrepreneurs, owners, executives, and sales professionals. A chapter meets ten times over the course of a year; each session includes learning and application of one phase of the nine-phase process, which the member can then implement in his/her company, receiving feedback from the peer group and support from the Chair. A unique feature is Deal Coaching--members can bring a deal question, issue, or problem to the group to receive advice, coaching, and specific assistance in a non-competitive environment.
The face-to-face meetings are supported by a new Whale Hunters Online Community, featuring access to a large collection of Whale Hunters resources and online discussions with an international community of whale hunters--business people committed to growing their business by doing bigger deals with bigger customers.
This online community is now in its beta version, and access is free (for a limited time)to anyone who is interested in business development. I invite you to join!
Whale Hunters Chapters are forming now in Phoenix and Indianapolis. Soon they will be starting up in Denver, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. Let is know if you are interested in joining a Chapter in your area, or if you would like to explore becoming a Certified Whale Hunters Trainer who is eligible to convene chapters and earn revenue.
Today I want to bring you up to date on some new services that The Whale Hunters are offering to our "community" -- that is, to our clients, workshop participants, interested bystanders, and the 5000+ people who subscribe to our Whale Hunters Wisdom newsletter.
We've started a Whale Hunters group on LinkedIn. Through this group you an stay informed about Whale Hunters events in cities around the US, meet other whale hunters, and discuss large account sales and business development issues. Local communities will have their own sub forums. I hope you will join us!
We've also launched The Whale Hunters Beta Community, which we offer at no charge during the beta phase. In this online community, you can download Whale Hunters articles, ask questions, participate in discussion boards with other whale hunters, and--most important--participate in the Deal Coaching forums.
Members can request deal coaching help from other members in an online or offline environment. Here's an example. Suppose you are a chief, shaman, or harpooner at a company located in Nebraska. You have a big opportunity to pitch a whale in L.A. As we build this network, someone in the online community will know your whale. Someone can advise you on the whale's culture; give you tips on your approach. Someone will know the people with whom you are meeting, or will know someone who knows them. Someone can offer you advice on doing business in L.A. Someone else can offer you advice on your presentation, your materials. And you can do the same, when someone needs priceless knowledge from your base of experience.
Check out the online communities--we will do our best to support you with the tools and training that you want, but the real power will be generated by our whale hunting participants!
Contact me barbara@thewhalehunters.com for more information, or post your questions and comments here.
In addition to my introduction to whale hunting, here are some other articles in that edition that are relevant to the business owners, executives, and sales professionals who follow this blog:
Innovators Get an Edge by Sandra Watson
Developing and Nurturing Business Relationships by Jim Perrine
Business Tenacity by Donna Davis
You can easily click through to these and other articles from the home page link above.
Let us know what you think about this new journal--give the publisher some feedback!
Today I encourage you to read Margie Traylor's story of how Whale Hunting transformed her company, Sitewire Marketspace Solutions, an interactive marketing agency located in Tempe, Arizona.
Sitewire was a ten-year old company that had hit a plateau in its growth. Sales were flat, there was a mismatch between the company's increasing capabilities and the needs of its client base, and extended efforts were not producing results. If you are experiencing any of these circumstances, you'll enjoy reading about the Sitewire transformation through The Whale Hunters methodology.
My friend Mike Yarnall, who is now a Certified Whale Hunters Trainer, sent me an article that really resonates with whale hunting these days. It was published in the Harvard Business Review, March 2009, and you can read a summary version at no charge or you can purchase the article or a subscription to HBR. It's called In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers, by Philip Lay, Todd Hewlin, and Geoffrey Moore.
The gist of the article is that in a downturn economy, the best way for you to complete a sale is to confront the prospect with customized, irrefutable evidence of what it will cost if he/she does not take action to alleviate an egregious problem. You, of course, are framing the issue in general, conducting the research, and customizing your findings to a specific prospect or current customer.
This article is well worth reading and purchasing the full version. For my friends at Agency Management Roundtable, you'll find that this is a more highly developed version of the Whale Hunters activity that I presented as The Terror Trap. More to come on that.
Thanks to Mike for a great reference, of which he said, "I have read this article at least 50 times."
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