Business Development: How to Win Bigger Contracts

At the PMPA Management Update Conference, February 21-23, 2014, in Las Vegas, John Wirtz will present a business development session on winning larger contracts, or “whale hunting,” for precision machined parts manufacturers.

Too many machining companies function day-to-day, enduring difficult feast or famine revenue cycles that make life in the precision machining business a roller coaster ride. It doesn’t have to be that way. 

With some vision, planning and lots of hard work, small to mid-sized machining companies can break the cycle and generate the kind of explosive growth it takes to hire and retain the best people, invest in new technology and take control of their own destinies. One way to do this is using a process called “visioneering,” which involves sitting down with the owners and senior managers of small to mid-sized machining companies, creating a vision for the future of the company and then engineering a business development program to make that vision a reality. 

Sometimes visioneering means learning how to land contracts for machined parts that are 10 to 20 times the size that the company traditionally pursued; this is something Tom Searcy, CEO of Hunt Big Sales, calls “whale hunting.” Other times, it means leveraging more traditional business development activities with the power of the internet to drive profitable sales and aggressive growth. 

This business development session at the Management Update Conference will teach precision machining companies how to go after bigger accounts that generate the revenue that will enable them to break through those revenue cycles. Those who attend this session will learn:

• How big contracts are different and how to win them instead of finishing in second place.
• How to structure teams, target the right whales and make the initial contact.
• The four-step process for going after “whale-sized” accounts.
• How to understand the five most common fears of buyers when sourcing large contracts to smaller companies, as well as how to address those fears.
• How to manage the details of a customer visit to address the customer’s concerns and confirm that their original decision to use their company was a good one.
• How to formalize the launch process for major contracts and market it to prospective customers.
• How to determine if whale hunting is right for their business, and if it is not, how to grow their business with more traditional business development strategies, beginning with a free business development audit for PMPA members.

About John Wirtz

Mr. Wirtz is the president of Pinpointe Marketing, a business development firm dedicated to helping the owners and senior management teams of small to mid-sized machining companies aggressively grow their companies. Prior to opening Pinpointe Marketing in 2010, he was the vice president of sales and marketing at Whirlaway Corporation, an $80 million precision machining company located in Wellington, OH. He has more than 30 years of experience in working with manufacturers of highly engineered products on both the consulting and corporate sides of the desk. 

For more information on the Management Update Conference, visit short.productionmachining.com/PMPAmanage.