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Reading the Mind of a Whale — 3 1

The whale has a Target Filter of its own- it has its own "2-Card Questions," and it believes that only about 4% of the suppliers/partners/vendors in the marketplace are the right ones for them. In truth, whales use many of the same tools that The Whale Huntersâ teach in finding the right whales and in disqualifying the wrong ones to eliminate prospective suppliers or vendors. This filter is what is hidden in the criteria of a whale's RFP. This filter drives the questions in the interview process and the questions during your credentialization presentation. The filter is what the caribou bring to the meetings in their heads. It is not completely written down, unless a formal rubric has been established in an RFP process, and even then there is a lot of room for individual bias to show up. However, a whale's target filter is very real, and if you want to be selected as a key partner in a whale size solution purchase, you have to discover the Whale's Target Filter and understand it and leverage that knowledge.

If you can determine a whale's filters up front, you have the opportunity to shape all of your interactions through the sales process from that powerful position.

Most whales don't know, they just know. Often times a whale can not completely explain its Target Filter for selecting potential solution providers. The members of its buyers table show up at meetings believing that they will "know the right provider when I see it." However, if you ask the right questions, you will see a series of patterns that will show you the very specific filter they are using based upon the past decisions that each member has made in selecting a provider. Here is where your "2-Card Questions" are helpful. Questions like:

  • In past vendor selection processes, what are the things that ‘tripped up' otherwise good potential providers to your company?

  • When looking at other major partners you have added in the last year, what have you learned about selecting them that you are teaching to all of your people?

  • What is your best way of calculating value when you consider whether to work with a potential provider?


You can find additional questions in our "Free Book Tools" section at http://www.huntbigsales.com/books.php. Also, the three past newsletters on "Good to Great Questions" will be helpful.

Whale Target Filter categories are different. It is about constructing a Target Filter from the perspective of a whale when the whale is considering new vendors and partners. The object is to build the filter for the whale around the categories that it will use to determine if they are spending their time with a highly viable candidate for buying services. Score the categories based upon importance. Also, be able to determine if the categories are different for different members of the Buyers' Table. The categories will all be heavily weighted towards risk, since the purpose of the Whale's Target Filter is to disqualify vendors and risk is what motivates them.

Sample categories include:

  • Value Threshold - What is the aggregate financial improvement selecting your company will give the whale as compared to all other options?

  • Company Stability - whales often buy from big and publicly traded companies because they understand their financial stability

  • Advantages - not all advantages are created equal- what are the "must haves" v. the "nice to haves" from the whale's perspective

  • Quality Standards - ISO?, TS?, QS?, AS? Pick a standard and a version for your industry, what is the whale using and what is its minimum expectation from a vendor?

  • Systems Alignment - Is there a requirement around EDI, EFT, supply chain management and ERP systems and what is it?

  • Culture Fit - trade associations, common language, industry trends and other telltale signs that a whale is looking for in your conversations that indicate your company is a fit


Using these categories and your "2-Card Questions," you will be able to capture much of the mind of a whale in how they are thinking about buying your solution.

How to build a Whale's Target Filter for you to work with.

Just as you have built your company's Target Filter to define your ideal whale, (see "Target Filter" under "Free Book Tools" on the website, http://www.huntbigsales.com/books.php, as well as Chapter 3, "Know the Whale," from Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company), you need to build your whale's Target Filter for new suppliers.

  1. Define your Filter Categories- Some examples have been given above. You can add to these with the specifics of your industry and the types of criteria that you have experienced through RFP/RFQ processes and past whale-size presentations.

  2. Establish the whale's minimums and maximums -
    "A" Characteristics are those that represent the ideal expectation of a whale in that category for a potential supplier. "C" Characteristics are the minimum standards that will be acceptable for a potential supplier. Remember - good characteristics are specific, measureable and have historical proof that they were important in the past.

  3. Weight the Filter Categories - Not all categories have equal weight. Some will be more dominant by whale and by participant from the whale's buyer's table. You need to be able to assign weights from your early meetings and conversations to determine what is most important.

  4. Use the Filter - Every meeting and interaction gives you an opportunity to add to the filter and to evaluate the expectations of the whale on working with potential partners - you most importantly. We advocate bringing the filter to the preparatory meetings and adding it to your file on whales. Weight and score every participant from the whale so that you can make certain that you are framing your presentation and solution discussions around those Target Filter Criteria that are most important to the whale.

The big mistake. We often find that whale hunting boats make the mistake of guesstimating what the core Target Filter issues are that a Whale is considering. Instead of working from a template that they have developed in advance, they try to read the people, the room and the company from a gut-level perspective. To win in whale hunting, precision and process will get you further than gut.

Integrate this practice into your whale hunting processes and you have moved to the Master's Level of Whale Hunting.


— Tom Searcy





Tom Searcy, The Whale Hunters Company, Large Account Sales, Business Growth, Sales Process Development, Fast Growth Strategies, RFPs, Key Account Management, Current Account Growth, Sales Management, Breaking Business Growth Plateau's, Prospecting System, Business Acceptance Process, Sales Management Development, Big Sales, Big Deals, Deal Coaching, Transform your company, Explosive Growth, Whale Hunting

FOOTNOTE: 1 COPYRIGHT 2006-2008, THE WHALE HUNTERS, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.