Bolder!

Do big deals scare you?

In my new book Whale Hunting Women, I've written about the special talents and skills that women bring to whale hunting and also about the special fears and habits that get in our way.  For my two guest posts on Aprille's blog, I'm writing a little about each of these trends.  First, the fear of being small; and second, why whales are afraid of you!

Do you ever feel like a minnow who can't possibly go hunting a whale?  I call it the "minnow mindset," and it hits many small business owners at times.  It's the feeling that you are just too small to tackle something ten times or twenty times your average deal size.

It's not enough just to work on "confidence."  You can take actions that will help you to grow your attitude as you grow your company.
•    Learn to say "No" to sales or deals that are too small or too cheap to meet your needs
•    Develop your Whale Hunters Process--a specific sales process to go after a large account
•    Learn how big companies buy your product or service
•    Build your "boat" of subject-matter experts who will provide introductions and support—for example, your customer service manager, your banker, accountant, satisfied client

I've also written about how to live in a culture of abundance rather than a culture of scarcity.  In a culture of abundance, everyone believes that there is enough to go around and that new markets arise every day in response to new products and services.  

If you become a student of your customers—those you have today and those that you hope to have tomorrow—you will begin to break that minnow mindset.

To learn about Whale Hunting Women & to order your copy today, visit http://cli.gs/WHWEbook

Thank you for visiting this post about Barbara Weaver Smith and Whale Hunting Women.  Two people who comment during the tour will be entered a giveaway – post a comment on any post about the tour and you will be entered. The winners will win a three-volume audio set of Whale Hunters Wisdom. Volumes include I: Mind of a Hunter, II: The Hunt, and III: The Whale Hunting Culture ($90 value).

Barbara Weaver Smith's website - http://www.thewhalehunters.com

Barbara Weaver Smith's blog - http://blog.thewhalehunters.com

Order your copy of Whale Hunting Women – http://cli.gs/WHWEbook

To see the tour schedule visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/04/whale-hunting-with-barbara-weaver-smith.html

Only a Minnow in a Sea of Whales

Do you ever feel like a minnow in a sea of whales?

How do you break the minnow mindset?

When my son Brad was in kindergarten, his teacher left the room briefly one afternoon. While she was gone, a couple of sixth graders stopped into the kindergarten room and teased the children. Brad came home in tears.

"I'm never going to sixth grade!" he cried.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"Because they're so big!"

Brad suddenly had a terrifying vision of his future: one little five-year-old in a classroom of big, scary sixth graders! He didn't understand that all of the little kids would grow up together and become the sixth grade meanies!

At The Whale Hunters, we find a similar type of misunderstanding among business owners. It's a mindset that makes you feel small even as your customers and competitors have grown bigger and meaner. We hear you express this fear as a refusal to turn down business that is no longer essential, profitable, or suitable for the company you are becoming. You have grown as big and as important as all the other sixth graders, but your self-perception hasn't grown alongside your business.

Do you ever feel like a minnow in a sea of whales?

Here are some give-away comments:

• "It's not a great deal for us, but the customer is prestigious."
• "This customer may be too small for us today, but we'd better take them because they might get big later."
• "We can't turn down this deal; the customer is influential in our marketplace."
• "We've built this business on doing the things that bigger companies turn down!"

How do you break the minnow mindset?

The consequences of this misunderstanding can be deadly to your business. Instead of doing bigger deals, better deals, and more profitable deals to feed your growth, you run the risk of devoting too much attention and too many resources to a growing number of accounts that are too small for you.

Our key recommendations:

• Outsource smaller accounts to a strategic partner
• Develop your target filter for new customers in terms of criteria that will feed your growth
• Measure and re-assess how your business makes money
• Map your sales processes to meet your criteria
• Manage your sales organization to achieve evolving company goals

Can you cast aside the minnow mindset?

Excerpt from Whale Hunting Women, Volume I, by Barbara Weaver Smith. The Whale Hunters, 2009.

To learn about Whale Hunting Women & to order your copy today, visit http://cli.gs/WHWEbook

Thank you for visiting this post about Barbara Weaver Smith and Whale Hunting Women.  Two people who comment during the tour will be entered a giveaway – post a comment on any post about the tour and you will be entered. The winners will win a three-volume audio set of Whale Hunters Wisdom. Volumes include I: Mind of a Hunter, II: The Hunt, and III: The Whale Hunting Culture ($90 value).

Barbara Weaver Smith's website - http://www.thewhalehunters.com

Barbara Weaver Smith's blog - http://blog.thewhalehunters.com

Order your copy of Whale Hunting Women – http://cli.gs/WHWEbook

To see the tour schedule visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/04/whale-hunting-with-barbara-weaver-smith.html

Dear Success Seeker

Every once in awhile I come across a book I keep on my desk so it's handy when I need a dash of inspiration.

"Dear Success Seeker" is one of those books for me. It's a collection of original letters from some pretty amazing women. Women such as Rosa Parkes, Patti LaBelle, Phylicia Rashad and Billie Jean King. Diverse fields of success but with a very important commonality. They are all role models, success figures and, most of all, generous to the women coming up behind them.

If you want to know their "secrets to success", they've willingly shared with the editor, Dr. Michele Wright, a highly successful woman herself. Dr. Wright overcame a learning disability and severe speech impediment (she didn't speak before the age of 5) to earn her PhD in Public Policy and become recognized as an expert in the field of success.

She calls the women who contributed to her book "Success Warriors". I love that!  Strong women who are holding out a hand to you and me as we put our own dreams into action. Women who know what it's like to struggle but keep going. Women we can look up to.

One thing struck me as I read these letters. Vision, either planned out or spur of the moment inspired these women and got them into action. You can feel their connection to inner values and a life purpose through their letters. And, because they are included as Success Warriors, I know they didn't back away, even when the going was hard or the path difficult to find.

Dr. Wright had a vision, too, for this book . "Enjoy this book and savor every priceless word of wisdom; then certainly you will be equipped with the necessary tools to be successful, and one day go out to invest in the lives of others."

I love the balance and generosity in that statement. Success for its own sake isn't enough. We are meant to go out and invest it in the most precious of commodities - lives.

If you're serious about your own success, do yourself a favour and get a copy of this book to keep close by. Consider it an investment in your own success.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Plan to join me as I welcome Michele Wright to be my first guest during my exciting and free on-line event -

"In Praise of Bolder Women"

The live web cast will be on May 7 at 6 pm EST.

Register at www.aprillejanes.com/bolderwomen.htm

 to receive exclusive invitations to all the events in May.

Become a Natural Networker

How to Become a Natural Networker?

By Maureen G. Mulvaney, MGM

Most children are natural net workers. The minute we were mobile, we began making friends - on the playground, at the dentist’s office and in school. To reclaim your ability to network naturally, all you have to do is reclaim your childlike curiosity. It’s as easy as one, two, three.

1. Shift Your Perceptions of Networking.
As children we heard “Don’t Talk to Strangers.” As adults, we are asked to attend networking events and accost strangers with our Business Cards. This isn’t natural. Our parents and teachers who didn’t want us talking to strangers encouraged us to make friends. Shift your artificial perception of networking to doing what you’ve been doing since childhood: meeting and making new friends.

You must also shift your perception of where to meet your new friends. As kids, we networked anywhere there was another kid. Natural networking takes place everywhere there are people. Look at all the places you go during the day: dropping off kids at school, the grocery store, the airport, and the bank. View these places with a new set of eyes and make them your portable networking office. Make your office hours any time there is an
opportunity to make a new friend.

2. Talk to Your ‘New Friend’
The easiest way to talk to a new friend is to ask questions and be genuinely interested. Children can’t help themselves from asking questions. As adults we must unleash our childlike curiosity. Psychology 101 teaches, “The one asking the question is in control.”'

Take control of your destiny by asking questions. A simple, magic question that can start a
meaningful conversation is, “You must love what you do, right?” To a new mother, you might say, “

Oh, what an adorable baby, don’t you just love being a mom?” To a dentist, you might say: “Oh, you’re a dentist, you must love your work, right?” Ask the magic question in a caring manner and you’re new friend will respond openly and honestly. You will discover her needs or dissatisfactions. Either way, you have entry into a thoughtful conversation.

3. Make the Exchange.
Once you have made a ‘new friend’, you’ll want to keep in touch. As kids, we just said, “Wanna come over to my house to play?” Friends naturally say, “Let’s Keep in Touch.” Ask
for their contact information or business card. Simply say, “I’d like to keep in touch, got a card?”

Always carry business cards, and when you hear, “I don’t have a card,” say, “No problems, here’s one.” Because we’ve all been trained to make friends, most people will hand you their contact information without hesitation.

Natural networking is meeting and making new friends wherever you go, curiously asking questions and making sure you keep in touch. It’s exactly what you’ve done your whole life. Go out and make a new friend, today?

Maureen G.Mulvaney, better known as MGM, is the author of The Women’s Millionaire
Club-the Traits and Patterns of Success of Women Millionaires of Network Marketing. As an
international professional speaker, MGM teaches small businesses How To Attract Paying Clients, Who Become Lunatic Fans, That Refer Others.

The Women's Millionaire Club, by Maureen G Mulvaney, is being offered beginning on March 17th, 2009 at 12:01 am. I invite you to go to this page - http://mgmsuperstar.com/wjtc/exclusive.html - to access the order page and then return to this same page to access the bonus page. Then, on the Exclusive Private Invite page, enter your order confirmation code. That will allow you to gain entry to the FREE Pot o' Gold Bonus Items.