is your team hunting for global whales? (inspired by @bweaversmith)

“Armed with these four strategies, you will gain a competitive advantage in the global sales arena.” ~ Barbara Weaver Smith, WHALE HUNTING WITH GLOBAL ACCOUNTS

I will admit it when I read that I thought it CAN’T be that simple. Then I remembered what I tell my clients, Just because it’s simple doesn’t’ make it easy!

Knowledge – Structure – Process – Vision

Those are the four strategies outlined in Barbara Weaver Smiths new book WHALE HUNTING WITH GLOBAL ACCOUNTS.

I have to admit that as a salesperson, I’ve always been a fisherman vs. a whale hunter myself. Yet I’m always drawn to what Barbara has to say, probably because after I implement her ideas I make more money (yup every single time).

Here are some of my take-away ideas, that will work if you’re team is hunting whales or fishing in the global account waters.

KNOWLEDGE
> know more than anyone else
> don’t accept trivial answers to important questions
> you have to be able to turn information into knowledge FOR your customers
> without knowledge you can’t possibly be customer focused

STRUCTURE
> “Whale Hunting begins with clarity of roles, responsibilities, and rewards.” (part II, introduction)
> organize to encourage salespeople to excel
> make sure your structure serves a global account’s preferred method of doing business
> delivery, recognition, and HAVE to scale to the sales you make

PROCESS
> make sure you create a “deliberate, replicable yet flexible sales processes” (part III, introduciton)
> it is as important to decide NOT to go after an opportunity as it is to go for it
> “the Buyers’ Table” – the configuration of people who will participate in and influence the decision to buy (part III, ch 8) = another example of there isn’t ONE decision maker… especially in a global landscape
> make sure everyone who touches the customer is looking for new, repeat, and expansion business opportunities

VISION
> create a team approach from the beginning and be able to articulate it
> “Every call should have a plan, and every team member should be involved in rehearsing.” (part IV, ch 10)
> be willing to examine your vision and modify it to match what your customers need
> information has to become knowledge and that knowledge translates into insight for your customers

I’ll end with; never forget that cultural and language differences have to be taken into consideration when hunting global whales and fishing in global account waters.