Everyone dreams of landing that big client: the fame and fortune and open doors to a whole new world of opportunity. If only you could land that first big fish…But as Oscar Wilde so wisely stated, “There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”

The reality is that working with large corporate clients can indeed be very rewarding. However, if you are not wholly prepared, it can prove an overwhelming strain on your existing resources, practices and infrastructure.

So what can you do to ensure that targeting a larger client invites interesting challenges, but not an equal number of unpleasant surprises?

Adapt your sales process to their procurement practices.

If you deem it worthwhile to go after big clients, then it is worthwhile to master the intricacies of their bureaucracy.

Start by studying how these big companies operate – particularly how they buy a product or service. Big companies often have complex buying procedures and the buying decisions are often made by groups of people, not individuals.

Demonstrate your capability in this regard, and you will position yourself as a supplier that clearly understands the corporate structure within which they must work. And proactively making it easy for them to do their job enables you to better service them while bolstering their confidence in you as a trusted provider.

Adapt your Service Delivery to their requirements.

This may seem obvious now, but before you go after big business, make sure you have the capability to deliver on your service promise.

Be aware that big companies generally demand a higher level of service – advice, information, assurance and communications – so be brutally honest with yourself: is the Service Delivery infrastructure that has worked for you thus far truly sufficient to meet these new requirements? If the answer is “yes”, go forward!

However, if the answer is “no”, don’t feel bad: your candour just saved you from disappointing your first big client, from giving them cause to terminate their relationship with you, from flushing your hopes down the drain. A little honesty goes a long way, eh?

So, what is a brutally honest business owner to do? Here are a few tips:

• Nurturing big accounts is a long term commitment requiring a lot of marketing and/or client management, so develop your resources to the point that you are sure they can reasonably manage the strain.

• Build up your current customer portfolio so that you will not be dependent on one or two big accounts when you get them. Putting all your eggs in that one big basket is never a good idea, and the SMB landscape is littered with the remains of businesses that have ignored this wisdom.

• No mater what you do, keep up your marketing efforts to your current market space, and keep winning business there. When the tough times come – and they always do, either politically or economically – a big client may quite suddenly decide to sever your contract, through no fault of yours at all. You don’t want to be left in the lurch because you neglected your current market.

Make sure that you afford a large client.

That’s right. As odd as it may sound, make sure YOU can afford THEM.

Look at your financials and make sure they can manage the demands of working with a large account. Things like much longer payment terms and legal fees for complex contracts & financial arrangements may harshly impact your cash flow, inventory levels and material costs.

Particularly in this tight credit environment, obtaining sufficient credit to finance increased production levels may also be a big challenge. Make sure you talk to your accountant and banker well ahead of time to get a clear picture of your current landscape as well as your options.

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So, should you step up to that big account? Well, don’t be afraid to, because you could very well find yourself in some very nice win-win situations. Just go about it intelligently: decide ahead of time how far you are willing & able to adapt the way you do business to successfully take on a big corporation as a client and business partner.

If you have confidence in your infrastructure, the capability to provide exponential value, and strategies to innovate solutions, there is no reason you can’t “go big”!