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'We misjudged the
size of our market'
Chicago Tribune, November 15, 2004
By Pete Kadens, CEO Acquirent LLC
We have always said starting our business
was far easier than managing the growth of
it.
When we first began, we could not wait for
that first client to pay our monthly retainer
so we could hire our first salesperson and
then bring on client after client to build
our monthly revenues.
What we failed to realize was that there were
many headaches and heartaches that would accompany
our growth. But from each growing pain we
learned a little something that allowed us
to tweak our business model and make us more
productive for each successive client we added
to our portfolio.
Perhaps the biggest mistake we made was misjudging
the size of our market and the need for the
services that we provide. Early on, we conceptualized
that if we took one client at a time and did
a good job for them, we would get referrals
and, in turn, grow our client base.
However, it soon became clear that we greatly
underestimated the number of businesses that
need this service. We simply were not prepared
to take advantage of the situation because
of a lack of infrastructure and capacity.
After launching with just a handful of clients,
we were getting a lot of inquiries and should
have realized that we were on to something
and needed to build some serious infrastructure.
At one point we had more than 40 companies
that were interested in doing business with
us, but we just could not help them because
we were so swamped with our existing client
base.
Our shortsightedness and lack of focus on
building infrastructure with our cash flow
hurt us when one of our larger clients notified
us that he was going out of business. This
client provided us with a stable stream of
revenue that we relied on every month.
Without that revenue, we had to scramble for
clients to fill the void in our cash flows.
But rather than calling on warm prospects
that we should have been nurturing all along,
we found ourselves having to build new relationships,
which required a much longer sales cycle.
Since we lost our large client, we have made
a concerted effort to continuously build and
maintain our infrastructure.
We constantly interview people in order to
establish a stable of qualified salespeople
who we can hire at any time. Additionally,
we are always looking for companies that want
to outsource sales and are a good fit for
Acquirent.
The real moral of our story is to always expect
the worst and prepare for it.
In a sales-oriented business, that translates
into always developing and building your prospect
pipeline regardless of how satisfied you feel
about your existing client base.
BACK
TO NEWSROOM
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