Increase Sales for Your Startup with One Question
JD Solomon Inc has achieved success through our first two years
Bill explains to me that it comes down to one question, “Do you have some work for me?” That is an important observation. He has just taken over a regional office six months previously. I have been brought in to evaluate whether the company should shut it down. Thirty days later, the Board of Directors votes to do just that. There was not enough work.
This one question has been relevant throughout my career. I use it as a form of battle cry to all levels of staff. In the first two years of JD Solomon, Inc, it is one of a few factors that are critical for our success.
Core clients provide the lifeblood of any business. 10 to 20 percent of your clients provide 75 to 90 percent of your business in most cases. Identifying those core clients is the first step. The second step is regularly and directly asking, “Do you have some work for me?”
The Start Up’s Core Clients
In December 2019, we identified 8 to 12 clients who would likely be our core clients. Eight of those potential clients have become core clients, responsible for a little more than 80 percent of our revenues over the first two years. There are three to five decision-makers in each organization that can give us contracts. That means our universe of “sells” essential to our success comes down to 25 to 40 people. As it should be, our primary focus is on this relatively small group of people.
These eight clients are the ones we have multiple forms of contact with each month. And that contact goes beyond working on the current job. We continue to look forward and ask the question each month, do you have some work for me, or its companion question, when will you have some additional work form.
Peripheral Clients
There are another dozen clients who have either contracted with us or who we believe may contract with us. For our working in the public sector, there are a number of procurement hurdles ranging from getting on an approval list, having to be pre-qualified, waiting for a specific procurement to be advertised, to building a performance history with the public client. The bottom line is that it takes time, but a couple of today’s peripheral clients will be tomorrow’s core clients.
The number of people, three to five, remains the same. So the “sales” universe is somewhere between 35 and 60 additional people. We do not have the resources to touch each of these people each month, but we target bi-monthly. They are also part of all of our electronic communications.
Public Relations
Everything else, as Bill once said, is public relations. He said it much more direct — “if you are not asking the question, ‘do you have some work for me?’ then all you are doing is public relations. Most consulting businesses fail because they do too much public relations.” Prophetic back then. It is a natural law to me now.
Public relations is all the time spent on advertising, social media, community organizations like the chamber of commerce, and professional organizations. There is value in this, including maintaining an allied network, building an allied network, and risk mitigation (people who know you well are more likely to work things out when something goes wrong. However, your startup requires knowing the difference between winning work and doing public relations.
The Next Three Years
JD Solomon, inc. will meet its 3-year plan in terms of revenue, client base, and growth in just over two years. We are currently developing our new strategic plan which will include our people, our clients, and our services. Regardless of the plan’s details, our business development strategy and tactics will be anchored by “Do you have some work for me?” and “When will you have some work for me?” We will not have the resources to do otherwise over the next few years.
Visit our website http//www.jdsolomoninc.com to see more about our client-focused approach.
