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01/28/2026
The What Then The Who. That's How.
Source: Bill Farquharson, January 26, 2026
Indulge me:
- Pick a vertical market
- Google, “Trends in <<vertical market>>”
- From the results, think of a way you’d solve that issue with your products or solutions
- Think of a specific company in that vertical market
- Think about the job title of the person or people who might care about that issue from your Google search
- Go to LinkedIn, find that company, and search for that job title
Voila! You have just learned the process for making a high-quality sales call in a Big Fish account. Repeat those steps a few more times and you’ve come up with multiple points of attack and multiple points of contact.
This approach is the exact opposite of the path taken by most salespeople. They look at a big account and ask, “Who are the decision-makers?” or worse, “Who does the buying?” Go that way and you will find yourself on the wrong end of the statement, “Your price is too high!”
Most sales reps look for people to pitch before they understand the problem to solve. That’s backwards. In large accounts, it’s critical to find the business need first (the “what”)—then track down the stakeholders who care about it (the “who”).
Looking for a Big Fish strategy? If you wait on who and put your weight on what, you’ll know how. You’re welcome!
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Bill has been a friend of GMA for many years and is, no doubt, known to our members as a top sales trainer and content creator for the graphic arts.
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