While I generally prefer to steer clear of analogies that compare sales and client relationships to hunting (we’re serving our clients, not eating them!), I have a personal connection to the excerpt below from our recent book, The Growth Engine.
As a kid growing up in Montana during the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone, I have a vivid memory of seeing them in the Lamar Valley for the first time—majestic and smart and powerful and hugely beneficial to the ecosystem. The way they approach hunting as a group for highest impact is fascinating, and a good reminder to use your BD time and energy in the right places.
Thanks again to Mike Phillips for contributing to our research with his fascinating story!
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In 1995, Mike Phillips led the effort to restore wolves to Yellowstone National Park. The project translocated 31 wolves from Canada to Montana and Wyoming, acclimating them in remote pens before releasing them into the wild. Acclimation attenuated the wolves’ natural homing tendency. While the wolves were in captivity, Mike and his team provided food and water to ensure that the animals were healthy upon release, giving them the greatest chance of survival on their own.
Upon their release, the wolves no longer had food or water brought to them – they had to get back to hunting. Some of the wolves were quite young when they were flown to Yellowstone – pups just a few months old – so their parents, the Alpha Male and Alpha Female, had to quickly teach them how to hunt.
Wolves are fast, smart, capable hunters, and they hunt as a pack. Within days of release, one of the wolf packs – the Crystal Creek Pack – was successfully hunting elk in the Lamar Valley. The mother wolf would often initiate a hunt only to have her younger offspring quickly take over by targeting an elk that was predisposed to predation (for example, an elk with an arthritic leg). The average weight of a cow elk is 500 pounds. Grey wolves generally need to eat at least five pounds of meat a day, so this single elk – this single hunt – could feed the Crystal Creek Pack – a family of five – for at least two weeks. Contrast that with hunting mice, which weigh a fraction of a pound. If it chose to, a wolf could easily hunt field mice instead – but it doesn’t do this. A mouse can’t feed the family for a week; it can hardly satiate a wolf for an hour. The energy a wolf would need to expend having to chase down 10+ mice a day could lead it to starvation.
One of the most important issues facing professional services firms is deciding which clients to serve and, perhaps more importantly, which ones to avoid. Determining an ideal client profile (ICP) is crucial for successful growth, but it requires discipline and intention, often overlooked as firms scale. In short, your ICP is that 500-pound elk, not a colony of field mice.
The first-order questions about whom to serve may seem straightforward – such as which industries or regions, and how to prioritize between new and existing clients. However, almost every firm serves too many clients. Those in professional services naturally want to help solve problems, making it difficult for partners to say “no” to potential clients, even when it’s the better answer.
The more explicit a firm can be about whom they are serving – the firms and individuals most in need of and able to buy their services – the more effective they will be. A simple litmus test is to ask four people on your sales team to name four clients you want to serve and four you do not. This is more likely to spark debate than show consensus.
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If you’re interested in learning more about our research on building sales effectiveness in professional services, check out our book, The Growth Engine.
If you’re interested in learning more about the wolf reintroduction, check out Lost Wolves of Yellowstone.
