In a lean economy, many sales and business development people feel obligated to discount their prices; at least, the discussion of price and where it fits in the sales strategy becomes more important than ever.

Many of my customers struggle with the issues of pricing to be competitive and also maintaining a viable profit margin.

So I’ve spent some time exploring best practices and considering what we should recommend in this market.

I’ll say at the outset that The Whale Hunters way is never to discount a price.  If we believe our price is fair, and if we have a market for products and services at our prices, then discounting will only take us into a downward spiral.  If a customer wants a service, and the service is more than the customer is willing to pay, we are often willing to renegotiate the scope of work, but not the price of our work.

If this is an issue you’d really like to study, I have three resources to recommend:

First, check out Dan Sullivan’s program for entrepreneurs–The Strategic Coach Inc. at www.strategiccoach.com.  Dan’s built a highly profitable and durable business teaching entrepreneurs how to get the greatest value for their services and products.

For professional service firms, try How to Maximize Professional Service Fees by Alan Weiss.  This little book offers 57 ways to manage your fee structure to your advantage.  I’ll repeat just three of his nuggets, incorporated into the chapter “Value Must Be Based Upon Worth”:

• Value is in the eyes of the client
• Fees should be based upon fulfilling value, not performing tasks.
• Time unit billing will always be less than your true value.

A more comprehensive discussion of pricing models is available in Pricing With Confidence by Reed Holden and Mike Burton.   These authors offer ten rules for pricing, the most important of which is Rule #10 — Price With Confidence.

So if the economy has got you worried about the need to cut prices in order to get business, it’s time to arm yourself with some very good advice and reconsider the cost-cutting strategy.

Join The Whale Hunters group on LinkedIn for more discussions about how to be successful selling to big companies in a tough market.

Money that was formerly spent in the for-profit sector is now being spent by government entities.  If your business is not prepared to tap into this fertile source of contracts, it is time to pay attention.  Of course you need to start by educating yourself on the stimulus package and the types of things that are being funded and will be funded.

But beyond that, I offer you ten tips to access stimulus-funded contracts:

1. If you are a woman-owned or minority-owned (WBE or MBE) company, be sure that you have signed up to receive notification of federal, state, and local government Requests for Proposals (RFPs) in your key areas.
2. Pay attention to large nonprofit organizations, locally and nationally, many of which are partnering with government entities to administer stimulus funds.  If you do not subscribe to a notification service, you should consider doing so.
3. Understand that public school systems and public colleges and universities are public agencies who will administer some of these funds.
4. Attend local, regional, or national workshops and seminars being held to advise small businesses and WBE/MBE businesses about the contracting processes.
5. If you qualify as a WBE or MBE but you are not certified, apply now to begin the formal certification process.  You can start in your state and request reciprocal certification, or work through a national service that is recognized by a number of states.
6. Be certain that your financial statements are accurate and up-to-date.  You will need excellent financials in order to win public sector work.
7. If you have not previously done business with public agencies, get some training and/or counseling about how to prepare to win a contract and to deliver on it.
8. Explore the possibilities of developing a strategic relationship with a larger company (one experienced in government contracts) that is looking for reliable subcontractors.
9. Learn how the RFP process works and what it takes to win.  If the process is new to you, engage a coach, consultant, or trainer.
10.  Have a clear-cut process for determining which opportunities are a good fit for you and assessing the probability that you can win.

This is not an easy path to follow.  But if you have been “meaning to” explore working in the public sector, or if you have had contracts with local or regional entities, it is a very good time to prepare your company to be successful in a new arena and/or at a higher level.

The Whale Hunters® are experts in helping small and midsize companies do business with much larger customers.  Visit our website for more information and many free tools to help you plan.

Yesterday I walked to lunch in gorgeous weather for mid-summer—82 degrees, slight breeze—from my perspective it was perfect.  The doorman greeted me, held the door wide open, and said, “Come in, out of the heat!”  He was only being polite, making small talk, but it occurred to me that he had no idea whatsoever that I would not feel about the weather exactly as he did.  To me, it was not hot.  It was just right.

That is often true when we communicate with our prospective customers.  We have a mindset that we know what they need or want, and sometimes we neglect to test our assumptions or, simply, to ask.

Here are some lessons from the restaurant scenario that are applicable to our relationships with our customers—the assumptions that make for bad business:

1.  Assume they know what I am looking for.   I walk into a restaurant whose management assumes I want to be chilly.  So instead of settling comfortably, I am already disappointed. They also assume that I have come in for food, and they don’t understand that if I feel cold it will be hard to enjoy that food.
2. Make it clear that they are being inconvenienced.  If I ask for the thermostat to be raised, someone will argue with me:  “Actually, it’s 72 in here.”  I am therefore supposed to be comfortable.  With a deep sigh:  “I’ll see if we can turn down that overhead fan.”  Sigh.
3. Take no steps to learn.  If they happen to have a customer satisfaction survey, temperature of the room is never an option.  No one is thinking about how my experience could be improved.  They’re only thinking that I am a problem.
4. Assume that I am the only one dissatisfied.  Odds are good that for every patron who complains, several will just eat in silence and fail to return.
5. Don’t solve the real problem.  Given that their patrons have a wide range of preferences regarding temperature, perhaps there could be different temperatures in different rooms.  Or the restaurant could offer shawls to chilly guests, just as airlines used to offer blankets (but no longer do).  Or consider how to separate temperature from air blowers.  Just a thought.

These five principles drawn from my personal experience are useful illustrations of how easy it is to be indifferent to our customers’ preferences.  You have your own set of experiences as well.  What if we draw on our experiences as customers and apply them to the ways that we interact with our customers?  I think it will lead to more powerful customer relationship plans and policies.

What experience have you had that taught you a lesson about customer service?  We’d love to have you post a comment below.

Visit Barbara Weaver Smith online at blog.thewhalehunters.com  or follow me on Twitter twitter.com/whalehunters.

First, I received an invitation from Forbes magazine to join a new site called Forbes Woman.  I was angry and insulted when I visited the site because I thought it was not about primarily about women in their roles is business people.  Rather it featured a lot of trite headlines about fashion and beauty and depression and the wives (who are not business women) of recently discredited men.

It’s not that women are not interested in these topics—men are too, in their own ways.  But Forbes is a business magazine, and they came up short in understanding any kind of special interests or emphasis for women who are owners or executives or employees or students or job hunters or people trying to figure out their next move.

If I want to read about fashion or beauty supplies or celebrity gossip I already have plenty of sources for that.  I don’t need Forbes!  I want to go to Forbes for business news, insights, and ideas.   And with this new Forbes Woman sub-site, I am questioning whether Forbes is a reliable source for business insight.

Second, the Washington Post today featured an article by that says companies with more women in governance and management positions are more successful.  The article cites research, evidence, and examples to support the claim.   

I appreciated that article because it moves us forward as business people—women and men.  We have been a long time in expressing our case so simply—business decisions are better, and business returns are greater—when there is a diversity of people, hence a diversity of perspectives, at senior leadership levels.  It doesn’t mean women are better or that men are better.  It simply acknowledges that, collectively, diverse leadership teams are better and offers powerful evidence of that fact.

So on one hand we have one more example of flawed assumptions about women in business, and on the other hand we have insight into new evidence about the need for women to hold leadership positions in sufficient numbers and at the highest levels of business.  As the “Women On Business” writers and readers, we can help to bring attention to these news events and add our individual perspectives.

I invite you to share your reactions to each of these events and to discuss how they relate to your business insights and experiences.

As part of my own presentation to the audience, I talked about what I see as the movement from a culture of competition (a 20^th century idea) to a culture of collaboration (a 21^st century idea.) I have written extensively about this concept, as I believe it is critical to understanding how the new global economy works and, especially, how it tends to favor women’s traditional ways of working and leading.

The argument goes like this:  the 20^th century U.S. economy was dominated by a “military-industrial complex”, focused on a military model of strategy in which there is a winner and a loser, and favored an aggressive model of leadership.  By contrast, the 21^st century economy is dominated by consumer power, fueled by international connectivity, and favors a collaborative model of leadership.  And by the way women tend to be very good at leadership in that model.

But  . . . some very competitive women are in the audience and on the podium.  After me!    Former Indy Car racer Lyn St. James.  And Head Coach of the WNBA Indiana Fever Lin Dunn.  And they say—Barbara, you are wrong about competition.  We want to win!  Competition is what we are all about!

So, I have been missing something.  Re-thinking my advice and my position. And I understand, of course women are competitive.  Of course we want to win at whatever game we’ve chosen to play. What is my real point then?  Two things:  One, don’t compete against your own team.  Two, collaborate to create a competitive market.

Here’s what it comes down to.  In a sporting league, there is a tremendous amount of collaboration among potential competitors.    The owners (of the teams, the sponsorships, or events) collaborate on game rules, governance principles, media rights, financial models, recruitment, expansion, schedules, play-offs, benefits, bonuses, etc. etc.  Before there can even be a competition, essential collaboration creates the level playing field.

In other words, the so-called adversaries must collaborate with one another at very high levels in order to create the environment in which they can compete.  And that’s what I’m talking about in my case for collaboration vs. competition.  As business women, we should focus on the league, the playing field, the environment in which our companies live and work.  We should focus on the collaborative energies and opportunities to create the best of all possible worldwide “leagues” of business.  Within those leagues we can and should be competitive.  But first, we have to collaborate.

I have met extraordinary women and men on this tour, all of whom have been gracious and generous in sharing their forums with me.  This week I wanted to introduce four more of the women bloggers that I’ve met along the way.

Are you seeking Higher Ground?  You’ll find Rebecca Benston at 2 Higher Ground  .  What a marvelous and inspirational site!  Rebecca writes about her “Five S’s:  self-esteem, self-defense, self-sufficiency, self-actualization and self-awareness.”  Each month she features a woman who is reaching higher ground and draws attention to successful women who are contributors to an upcoming book.  Rebecca maintains an amazon.com bookstore, reviews inspirational and motivational books for women, and has a timeline of influential women on her website.

Do you like Books and Authors?  Joyce Anthony maintains that site for you:  Books and Authors.   Joyce often devotes three or four days to exploring a single book and its author.  She will describe the book, review it, and conduct interviews with the author.  Her blog is a great source of up-to-date information on new releases.  Most recently she reviewed Nikki Leigh’s newest, Book Promo 201.

And even more books and authors? Visit MaAnna Stephenson’s Just the FAQs blog http://justthefactsblog.blogspot.com.  MaAnna is a consummate interviewer presenting authors in blog and podcast formats.  Her own series of books offers JTF advice on web marketing—what she calls “books for non-geeks.”  You’ll find lots of advice about writing, illustrating, promoting, and developing your small business.

How about building your referral network?  A blogger who’s my friend offline as well as online is Hazel Walker, who runs the Business Networking Institute (BNI) and The Referral Institute in Indianapolis.   Hazel’s blog  is all about how to build your business through building a network of referral partners, people who know your business, who know exactly what you are looking for, and who actively promote your business on your behalf.  Of course, you do the same for them.  Hazel’s work takes networking to a whole new level!

It’s my privilege to introduce these women.  Their blogs will inspire you, motivate you, lead you to great resources, and help you grow your business.

Here’s the best question posed to me about a large account sale. 

“What’s going on when we’re pursuing a deal, we’ve identified the buyers’ table, we have a strong internal champion, and we’re getting all good signals; then all of a sudden the buyers go quiet and no longer return our calls?  What should we do?”

First let’s talk about what’s going on.  Here are some possibilities on your end:

• Your team is not good at this stage of the process
• Your most recent encounter(s) did not measure up to the whale’s expectations
• Your harpooner (salesperson) needs more training on how to break this kind of barrier

Here are some possibilities on the whale’s side:

• Someone higher than your champion has pulled the plug on this project
• Someone who matters has decided not to buy from your company
• Someone in charge prefers the incumbent or a competitor
• The project has been delayed
• The budget has been slashed; or the anticipated budget did not materialize
• An internal team or unit has persuaded the buyers to do this work inside
• They never intended to buy from you, but they needed multiple bids, or they were looking for free consulting, or they wanted to lean on the incumbent over price

As you can see, with so many possibilities, it is not easy to say what you should do.  And most likely you are not going to close this deal at this time.  So this is not the time to kid yourself about the situation.

But here are some ideas to consider:

• Convene your team (your “boat”) to review the deal so far.  Does anyone have insights about what might be going on? Do any team members have a contact at the whale who will return a call or email?
• Try to reach your contact(s) by phone or email.  If you cannot get any response for a reasonable period of time, something is going on that is beyond your control.  Send an email that says it appears that they do not intend to pursue this relationship with you right now.  Thank them for the time to date, suggest that they come back to you if circumstances change, and promise to follow up in six months.
• If you learn that the whale bought from someone else, request a meeting to discuss your process and presentation, asking for their honest feedback about how you can improve.
• Review your sales process steps.  Do you find yourself in this circumstance frequently, or is this time unusual?  If it’s a common stumbling point, address process improvement and training.

Sometimes the sales process feels really good when actually you are about to come in second.  Do your best to understand, and move on as quickly as possible.

If you have found yourself in this circumstance, what advice would you offer?

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A great outcome of the tour that I must admit I hadn’t really thought about is the fantastic women who are hosting me-many of them women that I did not know previously.

So I thought I would introduce you to a few of them because they have interesting businesses, inspirational ideas, and practical wisdom.

Are you an accidental entrepreneur?  Molly Gordon, certified business coach, is founder of Shaboom! Inc–tag line, of course, “Life Could Be a Dream.”  [If you're my age, you gotta love that!]   Molly focuses her business on “accidental entrepreneurs,” people whose artistic, creative talent drives them to find a way to sell their products or services, but who are perhaps reluctant to think of themselves as business owners.  Molly is an honest, funny, quirky writer who shares her inner voices as well as interacting with clients and blog visitors.   In the telephone interview, she was warm, responsive, and genuine.  Those are great qualities for a coach, and I’ll bet she is a very good coach.  Follow her blog here, and follow her on Twitter @shaboom.

Maybe you want to be A Successful Woman?  I visited the blog site of Monica Flores, A Successful Woman.  Monica is the founder of a web design company and through her blog encourages, instructs, and enlightens women about success, based on her belief in a mindset for success.  Her interests include” minority women in business, technology, travel, education, music, mentoring, marathons, green issues, gardening, community and political involvement, classical music, dreams coming true.  Please do click through to the “dreams coming through” pages, and while you’re there look at Monica’s slide show about her personal goals.  She thinks BIG in some very specific ways that make her aspirations totally believable and achievable.  Monica is a featured writer here at Women on Business.  Follow her on Twitter @monicadear.

Or how about the Ultimate Sales Chick?  I was a guest on Brooke Green’s “Ultimate Sales Chick” podcast.  I have known Brooke for a few years, but have come to know her better in the last year.  I call her the original whale hunting woman because she was one of the first salespeople to be introduced to what became The Whale Hunters Process.  Brooke is a principal at Caskey Training, and her business is sales training. She has a particular interest in and focus on women in sales.  In the biweekly podcast, Brooke hones in on the balance of home life and work life.  She’s a working mom whose 6-year old Jack is just finishing kindergarten.  If that’s where you are in life and career, you will especially want to follow Brooke.  Follow Brooke on Twitter @caskeychick.

Perhaps you are a Roundpeg.  Lorraine Ball, founder and principal at Roundpeg, a full-service marketing firm in Indianapolis, is a social media maven and marketing guru to small business clients.  She hosted me twice for blog posts this month.  I love Lorraine’s blog because she (or one of her associates) updates it daily, and the entries are always both clever and useful.  Not only is Lorraine a savvy business woman, and not only is she a great resource for small business owners-she is also an endlessly creative contributor to the business community.  The breadth of her interests is an excellent example of how to grow your business by being increasingly relevant to other business owners. I have known about Lorraine for quite awhile, as we both live and work in Indianapolis, but I only recently met her face-to-face, through social media connections.  Follow Lorraine on Twitter @roundpeg.

I hope you will enjoy these introductions to wise and witty business women.  I’ll introduce some more next week.  Meantime, hope you’ll follow me on Twitter @whalehunters.

I think every woman in my group had at least a twinge about whether or not to attend.  Like you, we are busy.  Our businesses and our families need our attention, perhaps more this year than in past years.  A strain of anxiety and even fear permeates our subconscious; many of us have financial challenges that are new, or renewed, in a tough economy.

So here we are making a decision (1) to take time off for ourselves, and (2) to spend money on ourselves to take that time off.  Not really an easy decision for responsible business women to make.

The good news is that almost everyone made the choice to attend.  Oh, some of us came a little later or left a bit earlier, but we had two full evenings and a day in between to be together.  And I came home refreshed, renewed, and reinvigorated.

Why is it important to retreat on occasion, and perhaps especially now?  Sometimes we need a retreat to

·         Renew body and soul

·         Recommit to goals or modify goals

·         Reconnect with your significant friends and advisors

·         Remind yourself that you  are not alone

·         Relax and unwind

·         Remember to laugh

If you’re concerned about spending nonessential money, and if you’re worried about a time commitment, get together with your peer group and design creative alternatives.  Gather at one woman’s home.  Bring a dish to share and grill hamburgers.  Trade services with a facilitator that you know and trust.  Or, do it yourself—create your own agenda and activities.  Do a 24 or 36-hour time frame if you can’t do 2-3 days.

The most important thing is to get together with likeminded friends who are facing many of the same challenges as you.  Give yourself the gifts of a little bit of time, a little bit of changed scenery, a little bit of respite and relief.  It will pay enormous dividends.

I would love to hear stories of your retreat experiences.  Please post your comments to encourage others to make this commitment to our own well being.

Please visit my blog at blog.thewhalehunters.com and follow me on Twitter !

Nikki Leigh is the inventor/promoter of Virtual Blog Tours, which is the digital equivalent of an author’s book tour-only cheaper, easier, and broader.  It consists of visiting other people’s blogs on a carefully crafted schedule.  The blogger may use your guest post, or conduct an interview with you, review your book or event, record a podcast, and/or feature you as a radio guest.  There is about a month of preparation in which Nikki makes all arrangements for the visits and you write guest posts and respond to interview questions.

If you want to promote a book, a training course, a webinar, an event, a new product, new website, etc.-a virtual blog tour is worth considering.

After the first week, I am getting some traction with cross-posts and search engine hits.  Traffic to my blog and website is increasing daily, and subscriptions to my newsletter have picked up.  So that’s my report on Week One of the blog tour!

Whale Hunting Women is about how women do big deals in business and in their communities.  In my experiences with Whale Hunting clients, women-owned or women-managed companies have been particularly successful in implementing this team-based, collaborative process for greater success in selling bigger deals to bigger customers.  This book analyzes their success and offers guidelines to readers.   There is a dual focus:  one, how women can build on their natural talents for whale hunting; two, how women can overcome some of the challenges or fears that sometimes keep us from going after bigger things.

Here’s an excerpted chapter called “Hanging from your Own Rope, “ a discussion of how we sometimes commoditize ourselves without realizing it.   Have you ever done that?  How do you convince yourself that you can go after bigger sales with bigger customers?

More about Whale Hunting Women.  Follow Barbara on Twitter.