Laura is one of eight salespeople at a marketing firm. However, Laura isn’t just an ordinary salesperson. Her personal sales revenues are $10M while the entire organization’s revenues are $20M. In other words, her sales number is the same as that of the other eight salespeople combined.
Laura has mastered the art of harpooning the whale.
She has three clients that each bring in over $2M while the rest of her revenue is spread out among a number of smaller clients. Laura’s colleagues look at her with awe because she has landed such large accounts, but she knows that harpooning the whale doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are three simple steps towards closing massive sales:
Change Your Mindset: Most salespeople sell to prospects that are small enough to be within their comfort-zone when they could just as easily be making more lucrative deals if they switched their focus to the whales.
Call High: Closing a very large deal requires that you sell to a company’s foremost decision-maker. While managers and purchasing departments are limited, a CEO or VP can always tap into budgets. Start calling on the top dogs.
Focus on Issues of High Importance: Once you are targeting the upper echelons of a company, you need to start focusing on what those folks care about. Think about what keeps them up at night: company revenues, profits and organizational stability. Be sure that you are discussing issues that are important enough to engage them.
By implementing these three practices, any salesperson can share Laura’s harpooning success.
How do you close larger sales? Please share below in the comments.
Marc Wayshak is author of the book Game Plan Selling and a sales motivational speaker.
Enjoyed this article? Please share away!
Get instant access to our free sales training:
Why Prospects Push Back on Price, Give 'Think-It-Overs,' and Ghost in Sales Until They Meet a Sales Superstar Who Is Following These 7 Simple Keys
About the Author Marc Wayshak
Marc is is the best-selling author of three books on sales and leadership, including the highly acclaimed titles Game Plan Selling, The High-Velocity Sales Organization and his forthcoming book, Sales Conversations, Mastered.
Marc is a contributor to Inc, HubSpot, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Huffington Post Business. He also hosts a popular YouTube channel on sales strategy with over 103,000 subscribers.
Marc helps thousands of people his data-driven, science-based approach to selling that utilizes all the best tools available to sales organizations today.
