Big Juicy Fish Syndrome
by Ilene Chunko
How many times have you heard someone with a great idea for a new product or service say, the first client they need to get is Walmart, Home Depot, GE or some other huge corporation. I have seen this behavior many times and I’ve nicknamed it the “Big Juicy Fish” syndrome. Honestly, selling something new to one of these giants can tie a new business and a new product up in knots. The length of time it takes to work through these behemoth bureaucracies, meet their standards, and have them test your product means you are expanding an enormous effort for zero revenue. In addition, from the marketing viewpoint, you’re risking your reputation. Should something go wrong with the pilot, or your customer service is not operating smoothly, or whatever … a bad impression with one of these giant companies is very hard to recover from.
I prefer to see my clients test their new product and do a roll-out to smaller, more local businesses at the beginning. These types of businesses usually have a much shorter sales cycle, make their decisions faster and are more forgiving of the glitches that can happen when something new is introduced. The trade-off is near-term cash flow in place of large sales. However these, smaller sales can provide both stability and experience for a new venture, product or service, preparing them for the hurdles and extended time-frames involved when tackling sales to a large corporation.
As they say, you only have one chance at making a good first impression and this is especially true in our internet connected market. So before you go full-tilt to get your new product known, why not reduce your risk by taking an interim step and ensuring you are ready.
The big juicy fish are still out there, you’d just be saving them for another day.
