Debt load or the age of your equipment isn’t always your biggest problem – the concern should be the percentage of your sales that’s sitting in the top two or three accounts.
So, here’s what usually happens. You land that great account and before you know it, they’ve grown substantially through recurring and programmatic work. It becomes reliable and everyone begins to depend on that volume coming in. Then the outbound sales activity softens because the pressure is off. The internal client facing staff eases up as well because they don’t need a lot of estimates and the work repeats. Lastly, that new CRM doesn’t get ramped up because after all, who needs a pipeline when these top accounts are humming along.
All Good Until The Day It’s Not
Then something happens. It can be gradual or hit you like a ton of bricks. A change in management, a new owner or a new competitor. It just happens. All of a sudden, you’re looking at a decline in revenue. You could turn to your pipeline and turn up the heat. The problem though is there is no pipeline. Pink Floyd refers to this as “basking in the glory of yesterday’s triumphs.” You quickly determine that the pipeline is dry, and the discipline of business development has taken a back seat to taking in orders. Think “account retention” and account acquisition.”
Account Review
Take a hard look at your top accounts – if they represent 30, 40 or 50% of your revenue, you’re dependent on those and may have abandon any growth strategy that may have existed. These are symptoms of a business that stopped hunting because their belly was full.
Break Through The Ceiling
Having an account and growth strategy means building a solid pipeline that is focused on building relationships, having meaningful conversations and earning those “at-bats” – well before you need them. Start by being honest with yourself. Get your team together to identify those accounts that are either fully captured, growing or at risk and create a positive roadmap for each. What should your pipeline look like, how many strategic clients would be needed to both manage the risk and keep the growth on the right trajectory.
The truth? If you’re leading a printing business today, you already know all of this. So, what’s in your way of moving forward? Sometimes you need someone from outside the building to help move the ball forward because running the day to day can make it easy to avoid those difficult discussions. The right outside perspective doesn’t always bring in a new strategy. It might just hold that mirror up long enough for you to stop moving. This impediment isn’t permanent. But it won’t just go away on its own.
Business transformation and creating new habits doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s driven by those who are willing to ask to hard questions, make the tough calls and stay the course. Good luck. Let me know how you’re doing. Oh, and have fun with this.
Mike Philie helps owners and CEOs in the Graphic Communications Industry validate what’s working, identify what needs to change, and create a practical path forward. PhilieGroup | mphilie@philiegroup.com | LinkedIn
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