How To Land A Big Fish – Part III

Did you hear the news? The greatest golfer and the premier ski racer of our time have confirmed the rumors that they have been dating for the past few months.

For Tiger Woods, it means that a beautiful, young, successful woman has chosen to be in a relationship with him despite his extremely-public, messy divorce after admitting to numerous extramarital affairs.

For Lindsey Vonn, it means that she gets to date a smart, good-looking billionaire who shares her tremendous athletic drive and knows all about the pressures and ups-and-downs that come with being a world-class athlete.

They’ve both “landed Big Fish” in their professional lives — he’s won 14 major titles, and she’s won an Olympic gold medal. Now the argument could be made that both of them have “landed a Big Fish” in their personal lives as well.

And that fits right in with the recent discussion we’ve been having here about How To Land The Big Fish in your business that can give your revenue and profits a huge boost and sustain you for years to come.

Last week, I wrote about what you need to do to instill a big company mindset into your business and overcome some key mental obstacles that keep most small business owners from being successful.

This week, I’ll cover two more important parts of the preparation stage before you actually approach your potential Big Fish.

First, you’ll want to uncover something very important to know about your Big Fish – namely, what their buying habits and procedures are.

You’ll want to discover four main things:

1. Responsibilities: You need to know which people have some influence over purchases, which ones do the actual buying and who has the power to kill a deal if they want to.
2. Their List: You need to know how to get onto their list of preferred vendors. Your name needs to not only be on the list, but at the top of it – and in as many categories as possible for maximum opportunity and interaction. Ask about their procurement program and what you need to do to go through the application process.
3. Their Lingo: You need to learn the company’s unique language and communication methods, including report names, buzzwords and even the nicknames they have for their employees.
4. Fiscal Budgets: It’s essential that you find out your Big Fish’s fiscal budget, so you know exactly what investments and expenses they are planning on making for the year.

Next, let’s take a quick look at the potential red tape you are likely to encounter along the way. Keep in mind that while bureaucracy might as well be a four-letter word because of the emotions it stirs in all of us entrepreneurs, recognizing it and figuring out how to deal with it are necessary evils when you’re looking to land a Big Fish.

Fortunately, there are two ways to learn from any company’s internal system:

1. analyze their activity – events, product launches, hirings, firings, etc.
2. review any of their communications you can find – websites, brochures, annual reports, procedure manuals, press releases, etc.

Always keep in mind the best part of dealing with another company’s red tape: You get to learn as much as you can from it, but you don’t have to get caught up in it (think about it: If you hate dealing with their red tape, just imagine how their own employees feel about having to deal with it!).

Once you’ve done your homework, you’ll be ready for your big approach. We’ll cover that all-important part of catching your Big Fish in next week’s post.

If you need help with any of this, try my FREE test drive of SSSMarketingUniversity.com, where you’ll find all the right tools to help you get the job done.