Just 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 … [Read more...]
How to Stop Scaring Big Prospects
Whale 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 … [Read more...]
Susan Boyle and What She Means For Us
The 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 … [Read more...]
Five Ways to Power Your Boat
Since 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 … [Read more...]
Don’t think too small
Break 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 … [Read more...]
Whale Hunting Inspiration
When 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 … [Read more...]
How to Increase Sales Tomorrow: A Step by Step Agenda
If 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 … [Read more...]
Grow Your Business in a Culture of Abundance
In 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 … [Read more...]