In sales, what you know is as important as who. Build your knowledge base with regular updates from Tom and the other pros at Hunt Big Sales, and watch your successes grow along with your grey matter.
September 23, 2009
The “Coach” interviews Tom Searcy about RFPs Suck!.
DURATION: 37:58 minutes
August 16, 2009 Business Book Summary #15: “Whale Hunting” Tom Searcy and Barbara Smith
5 ways you’ll get the most value out of this summary:
Generate ideas for yourself: Watch the summary and listen to the interview with a pen and paper at hand. Jot down any and all ideas you get from the book.
Put those ideas into action: come back daily and see how I’m applying these ideas in my life and business. I’ll be posting below the video.
August 7, 2009 ‘Set the pace’ in retail sales jobs
It is important for people in retail sales jobs to be confident in setting the pace in meetings with potential customers.
That is the view of Hunting for Big Sales, which has recommended taking a proactive stance in pitches, rather than a “Dr No approach”. MORE »
August 3, 2009 Responding to an RFP
Recently, our interior design firm received an RFP (Request for Proposal) to perform purchasing for a hotel renovation in the DC Metro area. I must say that, as a small business, I am not fond of RFPs. MORE »
September 7, 2008 Whale Hunting By Tom Searcy & Barbara Weaver Smith
I found this book to be an expert sales guide on landing the biggest, most profitable deals.
Using the ancient Inuit whale hunt as a metaphor, Whale Hunting provides a clear nine-phase model for successfully finding, landing and harvesting whale-size accounts--the kinds of accounts that transform your business. The methodology of whale hunting turns the dangerous endeavor of selling large companies and big contracts into a strategy for success. You can read through the explicit, repeatable processes for MORE »
July 15, 2009 Radio Interview:
Jim Labaito interviews Tom Searcy on helping the leadership of growth oriented companies realize their potential.
DURATION: 46:49 minutes
June 30, 2009 Whale Hunting: Landing Big Accounts and Transforming Business Starts with Employee Communications
Our CEO, Cathy Dunkin, has seen Tom Searcy speak, has purchased several copies of the book to share, and is leading our team in discussions about the book's whale-hunting process and what it means for Standing. Below are my reflections on the first section of the book... MORE »
June 26, 2009 Landing Big Sales with an RFP Target the Booming Government
sector in a Down Economy
I know what it's like to grow a small business. In Fact, I've made a career out of it... VIEW ARTICLE »
June 5, 2009 The Chief Troublemaker on Small Business: Whale Hunting Is Your Metaphor for Landing Large Accounts
At a recent Vistage meeting, I had the pleasure of hearing Tom Searcy, author and CEO of Hunt Big Sales, a sales consulting and training company, talk about how small businesses can land big sales that will transform their companies... MORE »
May 19, 2009 RFPs: If You Can’t Beat ’em, Win ’em
Faithful readers of this blog will know I’ve been railing against the RFP process for quite some time.
I recently came across a great resource published by Hunt Big Sales. It’s an e-book titled, “Landing Big Sales with an RFP.”
April 28, 2009 Whale Hunting, Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company
Often when I am networking I hear small business owners say things like “I really want to have Eli Lilly, AT&T or GE as one of my clients.”... MORE »
April 28, 2009 Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills
Salesmen are the dreaded enemy of dinner time and door bells, but making a career in sales doesn’t have to condemn you to being the dreaded enemy... MORE »
April 03, 2009 Want to Be a Marketer
Have any of your guys checked out Hunt Big Sales? I read the stuff there, downloaded some ebooks and gave a direction to this whole thing. All the resources on this website is free and enough to help you to formulate an organized attack... MORE »
March 02, 2009 Top Sales Resource, February 2009
This month I only have one to share with you! It must be because it's a short month. Enjoy!
LBS_RFP_Large Landing Big Sales with an RFP by Tom Searcy
This is the first ebook I've seen on this grossly overlooked topic - and it's definitely a winner. Smaller firms hoping to land large corporate customers will find the most value, but even sellers from big companies will learn some new tricks... MORE »
February 19, 2009 Social Media and Cold Calling, Can’t We All Just Get Along?
When you’re cold calling, you’re the hunter. As in the book Whale Hunting by Tom Searcy and Barbara Weaver Smith, they stress preparation, knowledge and having the right team, so you also need to know your company’s sweet spot. Nevertheless, 90% of the satisfaction in cold calling is preparing and knowing that you’ve got a prospect that needs to talk to you because you can help them. If you can’t help them in a meaningful way then you’re a meaningless cold caller and in that case you’re a detriment to your business... MORE »
February 18, 2009 Hunting the right customers for your small business
When you’re hunting for sales, there are two primary customer species you should be tracking:
1.Rabbits: These are your bread-and-butter customers that you should expect to have many transactions with every month. Rabbits may not buy a lot individually but,... MORE »
February 16, 2009 Book Review: Whale Hunting
For most of us, sales are critical. Do you ever wonder what it would be like to go after really big customers? Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company uses the way the Inuit hunt a whale as a metaphor for landing the big sales contract... MORE »
February 12, 2009 Social Media Podcast - Lumenatti
Recently, I was interviewed by Tom Searcy, the President of Hunt Big Sales. Tom has spent nearly two decades in CRM, having run and sold a large CRM call center and software business... MORE »
February 10, 2009 Request for proposal may help bottom line in the end
BY RALPH COKER
Your question will be answered in a three-column series based on my experience and the e-book "Landing big sales with an RFP," by Tom Searcy. This column will cover how to determine whether it's worthwhile to respond to the RFP. Later columns will cover how to determine whether your business can handle the additional business and how to prepare an effective RFP... MORE »
February 18, 2009 Tom Searcy to appear on the Small
Business Advocate radio show
How to land big sales and transform your company
Featuring Tom Searcy
Tom to speak with host Jim Blasingame about how smaller companies and sales teams can compete and win large sales in highly competitive markets... MORE »
February 02, 2009
Strategist Offers Ways Small Businesses
Can Profit From Stimulus Plan
By DONABEL BELTRAN-HARMS
With the $819-billion economic stimulus package proposed by President Obama approved by the House and already being
deliberated on by the Senate, major players in industries such as alternative energy, manufacturing and infrastructure are preparing themselves for when the distribution begins. With a staggering amount up for grabs, everyone wants to be first in line... MORE »
January 23, 2009
Tom teaches the west coast how Hunt Big
Sales in this interview by "Coach"
Ron Tunick on "The Business of Life."
Listen in as Tom tells the “Coach” how small
businesses can prosper in rough times.
DURATION: 18:06 minutes
December 19, 2008 Sales and RFP Advice From a Man
Who Secured Billions in Big Sales
I discovered that Tom Searcy, founder of Hunt Big Sales, wrote a new free e-book titled “Landing Big Sales with an RFP.” I was glad to hear about his e-book, because Tom’s book Whale Hunting is on my list of books by successful businesspeople... MORE »
December 16, 2008 Down Economy. Fewer Deals. Respond To An RFP! By Dave Stein
When I worked coaching sales teams I generally took a tough, if not black and white, position on responding to blind RFPs. My clients heard me say again and again, “Follow conventional wisdom: If you didn’t write it, your competitor probably did. Let’s come up with more productive ways to spend your time...” MORE »
November 01, 2008 Rockstar Interviews: The Whale Hunter By Jason Bates
Last week I managed to secure an interview with the amazing Tom Searcy. Few people have taken small companies and created the explosive growth that Tom has. Even fewer have done it twice... but FOUR times!? Four companies, four successes, four IPO's. Taking his companies from $15 million to $150 million in short order is a Rockstar talent, and Tom has it! He graciously agreed to share some of his secrets in an interview for a piece I'm writing for a national newspaper. This is a great interview!
Tom leads a company called Whalehunters that helps other companies achieve explosive growth through large account sales. But, can he provide insight into how can you personally achieve explosive growth in your career? I think he can!
DURATION: 27:05 minutes
Listen to the interview above to find out the best career advice Tom ever received. Find out his three keys for creating urgency for your staff, and understand how you can help people overcome overload. There are some great comments here from an executive at the top of his game.
October 27, 2008 Icebreakers: Searcy Says Content Grabs Eyeballs
Tom Searcy, CEO of Hunt Big Sales — a b2b growth consultancy - and co-author of Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company, answers this week's icebreaker question: What is the key element in handling media marketing during a downturn?
Tom: Whether marketing media, food products or anything else — during an economic downturn or an upswing — good and engaging content is always key. You have to remember that your audience is also cutting back during this time and is therefore skeptical of being "sold" anything, so starting your relationship off by offering something free and helpful will not only grab their attention, it will increase their affinity towards you and your media. In terms of budget shortcuts, you can run cheap and exorbitantly successful campaigns if you're wise in the ways of social media and the various outreach options it allows you. Dispense your en-gaging content and storyline to several niche audiences and tie it to the issues at hand. If your media product is half as good as your campaign, you'll likely be pleasantly surprised with the resulting ROI.
July, 2008 Fear Trumps Pain:
Finding the path to sustainable growth By Doug Davidoff
If you've been to the bookstore recently, you have seen several newly published books promising you the "inside secrets" to solving one of your business' biggest challenges — increasing sales. Whether it's
Jeffrey Gitomer's series of "sales bible" books or Brian Tracy's most recent repackaging of his material — the vast majority of these books rehash ideas and theories that have been around forever.
Most of the ideas in these books never really worked, and their repackaged content is a waste of time for the serious salesperson or growth-oriented executive. However, every once in a while, a new book with tested methodology, original insights and valuable content comes into the market and deserves your attention. Whale Hunting:How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company by Tom Searcy and Dr. Barbara Weaver Smith is one of those books... MORE »
February 25, 2008 When Small Fry Go After Big Fish By Keith McFarland
There was great celebration at my old company when we closed a deal to provide services to one of the nation's largest telecom companies. But our good fortune almost sank us. I remember feeling as if my team and I had harpooned a giant whale from a rowboat, and we were being dragged around the ocean hanging on for dear life.
A book was recently released based on that same whale-hunting metaphor, and I wish it had been around in the days when my company was struggling to land its catch. Tom Searcy and Barbara Weaver Smith's Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company (January, 2008; John Wiley & Sons) is a must-read for any small company trying to land big prey... MORE »
October 20, 2002 Have We Reached the Party To Whom We Are Speaking?
Telemarketers Aren't So Bad. Really. Just Ask 'Em. By Don Oldenburg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Just as Tom Searcy reaches mid-theory about why Americans' contempt for telemarketers is so terribly unjust, he stops cold, as if someone had slammed down the phone on him for the millionth time.
His grin widens at the inescapable irony around him here at Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World. The richly decorated warehouse a few miles from the French Quarter is where the nation's best and brightest telemarketers have escaped the workshops of their national convention to party Mardi Gras-style. They are surrounded by wild and hellish props, super-size gargoyles and giant demon heads showcased from the famed annual parades... MORE »
July 15, 2010
Tom Searcy presented "Your Biggest Deal Ever: How to Rise to the Top and Stay There" at The ASI Show Chicago, July 15. ASI Chicago is the biggest event of the summer for the specialty advertising industry, catering to more than twice the distributors of any other Midwest show.
Tom will once again be speaking at the Inc. 500|5000 Conference this year, held from September 30 through October 2. The event offers educational sessions, rousing keynotes, important networking, and unforgettable special events. Past speakers have included Former President Bill Clinton, Intuit founder Scott Cook and many more business experts and leaders.
The Great Lakes TeleServices Association (GLTSA) has contracted Tom Searcy as the keynote speaker for the 2010 GLTSA annual meeting. This event is set to be held October 25-27 at the Marriott Courtyard Chicago Magnificent Mile Hotel. GLTSA brings quality educational services to the telephone answering service and call center industry in sales, marketing and supervisor training. For more information visit www.GLTSA.org.
March, 2010 Tom Searcy to speak at Inc. magazine’s GROWCO in March, 2010
GROWCO 2010, an Inc. Event, mines the pages of Inc. to present lessons learned from the trenches. Speakers include founders and CEOs of fast-growing companies, icons in the business community, acclaimed business adviser, and authors of bestelling, definitive business tomes.
At GROWCO 2010, expect brass tacks advice to take your company to the next level. Learn how to develop a vision, manage a team, perfect an elevator pitch, create a brand, get the most for your marketing dollar, connect with customers, close deals, and find capital.
GROWCO: Grow Your Company Conference JW Marriott Orlando
Grande Lakes
March 14-16, 2010
November, 2009 Newpreneur of the Year
Tom Searcy offers the keynote at Inc. magazine and Alibaba.com’s Newpreneur of the Year Series, 2009 SEE SOURCE »
March 02, 2009 Acclaimed Expert Set to Share Secrets to Achieving Dramatic Business Growth
Even as the economic downturn forces companies to shut their doors, business owners have a very real opportunity to grow their businesses through big sales if they have the right training. At Inc.’s GROWCO Conference, March 18-20 in Orlando, a renowned expert on facilitating quick and massive business growth will share powerful programs of creating the kinds of big sales that put businesses on the track to meteoric growth. MORE »
February 09, 2009 Tom Searcy to speak at Worldcom’s 2009 AGM Seattle
Growing Your Company During The Recession
Sponsored by Vistage International
Tom Searcy, CEO, Hunt Big Sales, presents in a high energy session the
Five Best Practices for Hunting Big Sales. Attendees will learn how to
spot and avoid toxic deals and black hole prospects; how to speak the
language of large sales; tips for building a hunt team and maximizing its
effectiveness; how to get more leverage and information than competitors
and methods of cutting the sales cycle by more than a third
Searcy’s process has been used to close $2.3 billion in new
business through big sales. The core principles of this process are not just
another training approach; they’re a means of completely transforming a
company’s approach to landing large accounts. Lessons from this session
will immediately help attendees create their own Market Filter, refine their message, and develop
a step-by-step sales process for landing large accounts.
March 18-20, 2009 Tom Searcy to speak at Inc. magazine’s
GROWCO in March, 2009
Inspired by the compounding success of the Inc. 5000 and its community, Inc. brings you GROWCO, Grow Your Company Conference, a two-day event created for business leaders who want to achieve sizable growth within their organization.
For a full list of speakers—or to register—visit: www.GrowCoConference.com or call 877.209.5412.
GROWCO: Grow Your Company Conference www.GrowCoConference.com
March 18-20, 2009
JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes
Orlando, Florida
December 19, 2008 Tom Searcy to be a guest on radio show Abdul in the Morning Searcy will discuss
the economy’s effect on big sale hunting
Monday, December 22, 2008
Between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. EST
Searcy has been asked to brief listeners on the shift (if any) of small and medium businesses’ “sale hunting” habits in light of the declining economy. Guest-hosted by Pete the Planner, who is also the host of Skills Your Dad Never Taught You, the two will explore the age-old quantity versus quality argument as it relates to new business initiatives.
Abdul in the Morning has been labeled as one of the most politically influential radio programs in Indiana.
October 25, 2008 Tom Searcy Presented The Whale Hunters
Process to The Eagle Summit Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Connecting highly successful individuals from all backgrounds and learning and interacting with interesting and talented people is the basis for the Eagle Summit. Tom Searcy, an Eagle Circle Member, was invited to present at the invitation only event. Tom Searcy led the audience through the story of the Inuit Indians on hunting whales. With this metaphor in mind, Tom created a nine-phase model1
to hunt, land and harvest large size deals for explosive growth.
October 21, 2008 The Blue Chip Business Award presented by Westpoint Financial Group and Locke Reynolds
Tom Searcy Presented Whale Hunting:
How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company
Carmel, IN
The Blue Chip Business Awards celebrates those who face significant challenges in business and successfully overcome them with positive outcomes. The award is a symbol of strength and dedication to the journey of overcoming these challenges. Nothing is more challenging today than our economy. Tom Searcy's presentation on whale hunting served to educate the audience on the concept of hunting and landing whale size deals in order to gain explosive growth.
September 15, 2009 RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business Is the Insider’s Guide to the Dreaded RFP Process, Helping Companies Succeed in a System Designed to Favor...Someone Else
It’s no secret that most companies are at a disadvantage when they set their sights on that coveted large account and enter the RFP process. (A cursory online search for the phrase “answering RFPs” produces a good 30 articles detailing how awful the RFP process is for every one article advising you how to deal with it.) But thanks to a new book by Tom Searcy... MORE »
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