Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company

2

Signs of the Times

THE ANCIENT INUIT KNEW EXACTLY THE RIGHT TIME TO HUNT WHALES. It was spring. The ice was breaking. The whales were moving north through the body of water now known as the Bering Sea. We can well imagine that whale hunters wished the whales would move in July or August when the days were never-ending and the temperatures were balmy. Driven by forces beyond their control or knowledge, however, the whales moved during the time when the wind was treacherous, the temperatures below freezing, the ice floes moving erratically, the waves mountainous, and the daylight sharply limited. And so year after year, the Inuit braved these conditions and hunted the whales because it was the right time to do so.

Today’s businesspeople do not have such obvious, unmistakable signs of the correct times to shift their company’s focus from smaller accounts to those 10 to 20 times larger. But if you know where to look, you will see indications that whale hunting should be on your agenda.

In the business environment of the early twenty-first century, we observe signs of the spring’s ice breaking in multiple layers. Ice is breaking at the global level, at a societal level, and within the smaller realms of your industry and your business. Whales are moving. It is time to hunt them. Here ...