Drilling for Gold: How Corporations Can Successfully Market to Small Businesses

by John Warrillow

Book Overview

Unearth the lucrative opportunities of the small business market The new entrepreneurial explosion has many Fortune 500 companies pinning their hopes for prosperity on the small business sector. But most blue chip behemoths simply don2t know how to reach small businesses-they don2t understand this segment2s diversity and how to effectively reach out to its various parts. Drilling for Gold will show the big companies just how small businesses tick...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471128902
• ISBN13: 9780471128908
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

How to tap into 40 million small businesses in N. Amer & EU

Here's the secret to this book and John Warrillow's success: Research. Not someone else's research. Not a rehashed or reworked version of a previously published work. No, Warrillow gets his own facts and draws conclusions for us (the readers) from these facts alone. No skillful contrivance to get us to believe something that isn't true. This book is the real deal. So that's the foundation. What do we learn from the book? Well for starters, we first learn there really isn't a "small business market." For me, it was like finding out there wasn't a Santa Claus. How he came to that conclusion is obvious (once you read the book, that is). We also learn about Mountain Climbers, Freedom Fighters and Craftspeople--their motivations and how to target them. But Warrillow doesn't stop there. He gives us the words and the guidelines for reaching out to small businesses. He also goes out of his way to tell us how not to talk to small business owners. I liken it to advising a friend how to avoid putting their foot in their mouth. You get the idea John is one of us--someone who's on our side who wants to prevent us from doing something embarrassing (like something that could be career-limiting). And that's just the first half of the book. The second half is just as deep and pragmatic. The discussion of aggregators and networking, alone, is worth the price of the book. If you're selling to small businesses--pick this book up and keep it within an arm's reach. John M. Fox Author, Marketing Playbook

Packed with Knowledge!

The small business market, the coveted target of many salespeople, is a myth. At least 85% of small businesses are not real sales prospects; they are one-man shops, paper companies and fly-by-night shows. John Warrillow provides an invaluable service to salespeople around the world by explaining how to spot and eliminate this "sludge." He also tells how to segment viable companies to identify the best potential prospects. We from getAbstract strongly recommend that all salespeople read this priceless book.