Whale Wars
The competition for large clients or “Whales” is heating up. Find out what you need to do to land these clients and why you haven’t yet.
What is a Whale? A “Whale” in business is often referred to as the big client or big account that if landed would mean incredible revenues to you and your organization. Amazingly, for various reasons, these large clients are often not pursued to the degree that one would think. Often times it is assumed that these clients would have no interest in the goods or services that you have to offer, or it is assumed that the competition to land these accounts is so heavy that your time would be better spent pursing mid-level leads. Both assumptions are completely inaccurate. The fact is that many of your competitors have given up their pursuit of these large clients after initial rejection or have never tried at all.
How do you land a Whale? Simply put, by planning and persistence. Your first step is developing your U.S.P. short for Unique Selling Proposition. What do you offer that is unique, something that describes your product or service in 2-3 sentences that will grab someone’s attention or will make you stand out. For example, let’s say that you are a consulting firm, a good U.S.P. could be “Our average clients experience a 25% increase in sales revenue along with a 20% reduction in overhead cost.” Certainly this would be of interest to anyone, even top level CEO’s.
The next step is persistence, again where most of your competitors will fail. Don’t expect your prospect to say yes the first time, in fact plan on initial rejection as the first step in the process. Be professional, courteous and polite but always make sure the Whale understands that it is your goal and mission to have them as your client. Don’t pester them daily rather strategically follow up, each time with a new message still tied to your U.S.P. “Mr. Jones, I just wanted to let you know that I recently finished a project where my client experienced 30% sales growth in 30 days. I told them about my quest to gain you as a client and they said they would be happy to give me a referral!
Finally, it is important to strategically find an angle of entry, or a way that you are going to get in front of your prospect face to face. A great way to do this is by calling the Whale and asking them for business advice. “Mr. Jones, I know you are a busy man but I really admire what you have been able to accomplish as chairman and I would appreciate a few minutes to pick your brain to help me take my consulting firm to the next level”. This accomplishes two things, you will obtain valuable information to help you in your business as well as build a rapport that can result in securing the account.
