Author Archive
Sales Lessons from the WNBA
Posted by: | CommentsJust about one year ago I personally “discovered” the WNBA—the Women’s National Basketball Association—as embodied by my local team the Indiana Fever. I say “discovered” tongue in cheek, because the Fever celebrate their tenth season this year, so I can’t claim to have been out in front on noticing them or attending to the powerfully good sports entertainment they provide.
Here’s the thing. Once I went to a game, I was literally amazed by the quality of the performance by the Fever and their opponent. I promptly signed up for courtside season tickets for the upcoming season that kicks off in June. Because I’ve become a big evangelist for women’s professional basketball, they’ve named me to their community advisory board and given me lots of opportunities to be involved. That’s all good.
But it’s not my point. My point is, why was I amazed? Why was I surprised? Why didn’t I assume that the WNBA would put high quality athletic talent on the basketball court?
How to Stop Scaring Big Prospects
Posted by: | CommentsWhale cultures can be maddening to smaller, more entrepreneurial companies. Have you ever been selling into a very large company and left meetings perplexed because they would not make a decision that was so clearly in their best interests? How can you explain their reluctance? How can you bring them to a decision?
The nature of big companies and government agencies is to seek safety over benefit. The people who work there are often penalized for making a public mistake, and rarely for simply doing nothing or making a so-so decision. For that reason, fear trumps all other emotions in their process of making a decision. Smaller companies that sell to whales usually tout the benefits that they will provide, with little attention to the whale’s fears. Therefore they often make mistakes during their sales process that create fear in the whale and lead to unsuccessful hunts. To hunt more successfully, you must learn how to stop scaring whales.
Susan Boyle and What She Means For Us
Posted by: | CommentsThe past week has been defined for me by Susan Boyle’s phenomenal performance on Britain’s Got Talent. Can’t tell you how many times I have watched her sing “I Dreamed a Dream” on YouTube, tears streaming down my face every single time. I’m reposting below an entry that I wrote yesterday for my own blog.
Let me just back up a little. As a woman coming of age in the early 60′s, the quest for women’s rights has always been a defining theme in my life. And I don’t know when I’ve ever seen or heard anything more illustrative of that quest than Susan Boyle’s performance a week ago, and the tremendous outpouring of support and recognition she has received in the aftermath. Why this is instructive for us is that Susan defies all the strerotypes of what make women attractive, or acceptable, or smart. She’s just so damn good that the rules will change for her and with her. So here goes . . .
Five Ways to Power Your Boat
Posted by: | CommentsSince I started writing for Women on Business, I’ve focused on particular women’s issues and perspectives. But I have not introduced you properly to Whale Hunting, which is my company’s system to grow your business fast by selling bigger deals to bigger customers. So that’s my topic for today.
When you are a smaller company selling to other small companies, you can conduct a relationship sale– owner-to-owner or lead sales person to executive-level buyer, for example. But as you move into bigger organizations and more complex sales, everything changes in the sales process.
The bigger the customer you target, the more people will be involved in the buying decision. We call those people “the buyers’ table,” the group who will be affected by a decision to buy and who will influence that decision. It will be your job to discover who they are and what they need in order to make a positive decision about you. And in today’s world of increasing regulation to counteract mistrust, you will discover big companies deliberately increasing the distance between you and their buyers. So you shouldn’t go alone, and you can’t buy them a beer or invite them to a golf outing-you need to launch a boat.
Don’t think too small
Posted by: | CommentsBreak the Minnow Mindset
Bonnie Marcus of Women’s Success Coaching interviewed me for her podcast last week. I mention this only because Bonnie calls her podcast a “bragcast.” She is driving home a point: that women often do not assertively claim credit for our accomplishments. One of Bonnie’s chief goals as a success coach for women is to encourage and empower us to talk about our achievements in a positive way. [p.s. It is fun to record a bragcast with Bonnie Marcus!]
This experience reminded me of an incident with my son Brad when he was a kid, a story, which I think illustrates Bonnie’s take.
When my son Brad was in kindergarten, his teacher left the room briefly one afternoon. While she was gone, a couple of sixth graders stopped into the kindergarten room and teased the children. Brad came home in tears.
Whale Hunting Inspiration
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you think about it, whale hunting is outrageous. It requires a BIG way of thinking. When the Inuit people decided to go out in their little umiak to bring back a whale, they weren’t thinking small. So when you find yourself thinking too small, where do you find inspiration? For me, sometimes advice is not enough; how-to is not what I need. Sometimes I just need some inspiration and examples to think bigger. I got three doses of think big inspiration this week!
First, I had the opportunity to meet with Sharon Lechter for a business development coaching session. Sharon is co-author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books and a founder of the Rich Dad company. Most recently she founded two new organizations, Pay Your Family First devoted to financial literacy and YOUTHpreneur to nurture young people as entrepreneurs.
How to Increase Sales Tomorrow: A Step by Step Agenda
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re like me, you’ve got to be thinking about increasing your revenue stream for the short term. I mean, I have the long term under control—strategy, business model development, cost management. But nothing else works if you don’t keep the income side generating new sales. So I’ve designed a one-day agenda focused totally on sales, and I invite you to try it! Here goes~
8am: Ask five ravens for help. “Ravens” are friends who want to see you succeed. Send five emails first thing this tomorrow morning with this message—“I need to sell **** this week. What suggestions do you have? How can you help?”
8:15am: Reach out to five mavens in your network. “Mavens” are influencers. Spend 30 minutes figuring out how to get your message in front of them with a request to pass it along. Method might be via social media or more direct contact. A phone call, IM, Tweet—however you reach thought leaders.
8:45 am: Research five new prospects. Who is your target customer? How do you typically identify new customers? Spend 30 minutes on Google or Twitter finding prospective customers with whom you’ve not previously had contact.
Grow Your Business in a Culture of Abundance
Posted by: | CommentsIn a growing company, it is very easy to be afraid that you will not have enough—not enough money, not enough staff, not enough time, not enough customers. I call that the culture of scarcity. And in today’s tough economic times, we are being bombarded relentlessly by scarcity messages in all media.
But in order to grow your company, you must cultivate a culture of abundance—a belief that the glass is half-full, and that yes, we can even have a bigger glass!
