Revenue can be deceiving.
When a major client fills the revenue table, it’s easy to believe that this is proof of stability. The numbers look good, plans are being met, and the company seems more secure than ever.
Yet certain dynamics, creeping in alongside the revenue, gradually erode what does not show on the financial statements.
First, a deadline is extended because the client is important. Then, a request is accepted that wasn’t part of the agreement. Next, a delay in payment is overlooked because ending the partnership would be too great a risk.
Little by little, the company no longer adapts to the market. It adapts to a single client.
The team begins to operate according to that client’s priorities. Other customers are left waiting. The best employees are increasingly forced to work under pressure. The rules that apply to everyone no longer apply to the one who generates the most revenue.
Then the problem is no longer with the client. The problem lies with the company that has allowed a single business relationship to become more important than its own standards. No client should have the power to dictate your organization’s culture. Losing a major client is a risk. So is a partnership that causes the company to neglect other clients for a long time and overburden its people.
From the manuscript of the book “You Do Not Run a Company. You Run Consequences.”
Comments