By: Harley Kaufman

Harley Kaufman — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 22:38:50 +0000

Interesting that you used Sears as an example of not so good corporate behavior. They
have deserved it for years. A little research about their business practices in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s of the last century might uncover corporate behavior that consciously made themselves progressively more and more important to suppliers – exciting them with increasing consequential orders provoking more capital investment with borrowed money. Then, one day, the story goes that Sears reputedly would come along and tell them that they were going to find another supplier. Panic, despair, fright and all that. Finally, the Sears question: “Do you think your company might be for sale to us?” Ruthlessly and devastatingly simple, don’t you think. The cautionary tale is just as simple — don’t let one customer become such that your whole company depends on their revenues! Make sure you have a growing base of like sized customers before you pat yourself on the back!

By: Bob Curtis

Bob Curtis — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 18:16:52 +0000

I always chose to go for the higher margin singles and doubles rather than chasing the low margin “home runs”.

There are several good reasons for this strategy.
1. You don’t overbuild staff and infrastructure to handle the big deal.
2. Big deals are notoriously difficult to close, finance and even more difficult to administer.
3. The bigger the customer the more resources it has at its disposal to look for better pricing from a competitor, even after the deal is closed.

Comments on: Should you cast your net where the big fish swim?

By: Harley Kaufman

By: Bob Curtis