Creating demand for big-ticket business services inside the C-suite requires much more than contact with that executive.
If your service will impact a couple of business units, there may be 25-30 stakeholders who have a point of view about your company. Knowing their interests and needs before proposal time, increases your odds of winning an assignment.
Assignments leading to approved vendor status can have cycle times of +24 months.
This may explain why the cost-of-sales in business services firms is upwards of 40% of revenues.
High lifetime-value clients rather than one-time assignments can challenge even the most optimistic Big Game hunter. However, becoming an approved vendor enterprise-wide means sustainable revenue growth.
In the process of client acquisition, Big Game Hunting delivers 4 transferrable business assets to a company:
1. A systematic business development process; everyone within the company becomes fluent in the system
2. Personalized access to “wish list” companies within an identified industry, including stakeholders surrounding an engagement
3. “Green Light” or referrals from senior leadership to members of their team.
Offering a context for the initial contact, or having an “ice-breaker” can double an executive’s receptivity.
An ice-breaker might be a conference where the executive you want to reach has presented, an article where the individual was quoted or, best of all, an industry award.
4. Exposure within each business unit of “wish list” companies increases the odds of winning an assignment.
You may have an image of Teddy Roosevelt or Ernest Hemmingway on safari.
They went on safari with trackers and jungle guides.
