Comments on: Ignoring Conventional Wisdom to Field a Big Hunt Sales Team http://www.huntingbigsales.com/2009/07/17/ignoring-conventional-wisdom-to-field-a-sales-team-for-big-hunts/ Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:49:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tom Searcy http://www.huntingbigsales.com/2009/07/17/ignoring-conventional-wisdom-to-field-a-sales-team-for-big-hunts/comment-page-1/#comment-6354 Tom Searcy Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:43:28 +0000 http://huntingbigsales.com/?p=772#comment-6354 Great question- The baseline principles of hunting big sales as laid out in this blog and in my book with Barbara Weaver Smith, "Whale Hunting:....." work even for a firm your size. Your sales team is the team of 10 you have- even if some of them are not sales-oriented or sales trained. As I have discussed in many places, the authenticity of those people and the clarity of what you offer can often make up for the size of the company. You need a "scout" more than any other position- someone who can identify the firms best suited, according to tight criteria, for what you offer. You need someone in your team who can secure an executive sponsor inside of the targeted company who "gets it" about your company. From that point forward you are working on using a sales process to take that targeted company and your small team through a series of steps to secure the deal. You will focus on the key language of this type of hunt and focus on what keeps big companies from buying from smaller companies- and it is not your creativity or product or service- but things very different than that. I know it is a shameless plug, but you should sign-up for one of my one-day workshops and we'll take you through the key principles. You end the session with a clear step-by-step process, roles and responsibilities for your team of non-sales people and a target assessment to know that you are not wasting your time. Please keep reading the blog and i hope that we get the opportunity to connect. Good luck on all of your big hunts! Great question-
The baseline principles of hunting big sales as laid out in this blog and in my book with Barbara Weaver Smith, “Whale Hunting:…..” work even for a firm your size. Your sales team is the team of 10 you have- even if some of them are not sales-oriented or sales trained. As I have discussed in many places, the authenticity of those people and the clarity of what you offer can often make up for the size of the company. You need a “scout” more than any other position- someone who can identify the firms best suited, according to tight criteria, for what you offer. You need someone in your team who can secure an executive sponsor inside of the targeted company who “gets it” about your company. From that point forward you are working on using a sales process to take that targeted company and your small team through a series of steps to secure the deal. You will focus on the key language of this type of hunt and focus on what keeps big companies from buying from smaller companies- and it is not your creativity or product or service- but things very different than that.

I know it is a shameless plug, but you should sign-up for one of my one-day workshops and we’ll take you through the key principles. You end the session with a clear step-by-step process, roles and responsibilities for your team of non-sales people and a target assessment to know that you are not wasting your time.

Please keep reading the blog and i hope that we get the opportunity to connect. Good luck on all of your big hunts!

]]> By: Layla Masri http://www.huntingbigsales.com/2009/07/17/ignoring-conventional-wisdom-to-field-a-sales-team-for-big-hunts/comment-page-1/#comment-6352 Layla Masri Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:01:14 +0000 http://huntingbigsales.com/?p=772#comment-6352 Great stuff, Tom. My question is how you see this approach being tailored/differing based on the size of the company. Case in point...I run a 10-person interactive agency, whereas our competitors 10 person sales teams as part of a much larger staff. We just recently snatched a huge website redesign from literally the biggest names in the interactive world (including several folks with over 300 people and offices worldwide). So, I am confident we can do things right but still struggling how to create a sales team that's appropriate for our current size. Any suggestions for what a company of my size should (and should not) be doing? Great stuff, Tom.

My question is how you see this approach being tailored/differing based on the size of the company. Case in point…I run a 10-person interactive agency, whereas our competitors 10 person sales teams as part of a much larger staff.

We just recently snatched a huge website redesign from literally the biggest names in the interactive world (including several folks with over 300 people and offices worldwide). So, I am confident we can do things right but still struggling how to create a sales team that’s appropriate for our current size.

Any suggestions for what a company of my size should (and should not) be doing?

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