Should I have big or small companies as clients?

Dear Aunty B,

I am in a catch 22. I have a load of small clients that are long-term and nicely profitable. And we are getting better at picking the good ones. Problem is they are costly to find, costly to acquire, costly to look after and take up a lot of time and resources.

We have just held a strategy session with some experts who have strongly recommended shifting to a large customer base. These guys are very experienced and one has run a large corporate so I am sure they know what they are talking about. But I am nervous about letting our “small fry” (as he calls them) go.

Do you have any views?
Tas

Dear Tas,

Of course I have a view. Am I ever short of a view? Huh? So here is my view. Tell your advisors to go for a hike. As much as we all love our large clients, you can end up being a serf. It is also very risky. You know what it feels to lose a client that makes up 30% of your revenue? It makes you feel sick for days.

It is our smaller clients that can hang around, be very loyal and provide the base and stability for your business. So don’t ditch your small clients. Work out cost -ffective ways to reach them, sell to them and where you can create templated products and solutions for them with few touch points.

Your business can easily go after one or two large clients at this point. And you should bring large companies into the mix. But remember everyone else is after those same large companies and while the deal is bigger so are the demands.

Be smart,

Your Aunty B 

To read more Aunty B advice, click here.

Email your questions, problems and issues to auntyb@smartcompany.com.au right now!