In so many ways, the key to small business success is repeat clients. That can look different depending on the industry. For me, it’s clients who use us every week, a predictable number of times. For others, it might be people who are brand loyal and only buy, say, Nike shoes. Another might be a subscription model. There are lots of options, and the most successful businesses figure out what works best for them and put it into motion.
I’ve been trying for a long time to work out a contract with various apartment complexes to be their preferred dog walking company. It’s never taken off. I’ve gotten to different points in the process but never closed the sale, as it were. One day, out of the blue, I got a call from a virtual concierge that works with a lot of different apartment complexes. They needed a dog walker to partner with and found me online. The partnership grew and we began offering subscriptions to residents. About 8 months into the launch, it was becoming clear that the subscription model we thought would work just didn’t. It wasn’t very popular and even if it was wildly successful it wasn’t very profitable for either of us. I called a meeting and asked how they thought things were going. They admitted it wasn’t what they wanted and asked what I thought we should do. I was honest and direct. I said that their system wasn’t very user friendly and we were getting a lot of complaints. I wouldn’t be able to continue offering the package at this rate for much longer and that the best path forward, as I saw it, was to switch to a straight referral model. If someone came to us from them, they’d get an introductory discount and the company would get a kickback for the lead. We’d take over all the management of the onboarding and scheduling and billing and all they’d do is get a check. The upside for us is that we can charge what we want and we can treat our customers the way we want to. We don’t have to pay someone to manage an entirely different system than ours and this method provides a lot more opportunity for growth. The upside for them is they’re not paying staff to manage it and to build the interface.
This process is still in motion and negotiation so I don’t know how it’s going to end up. What I do know is that the only way to get through to a large company is to be clear and direct. I went along with them for a little while because I have the flexibility to take some risks and try things out. I think their model had potential and I wanted to see where it would go. Once it became clear it wasn’t working though, I wanted to be clear with what my company needed to stay in the game. We’ve done a great job of handling a broken system and helping to craft a new offering for them but at a certain point, you need to know what you need and ask for it. It doesn’t matter if you lose the account. If it wasn’t working in the first place, is it really a loss at all?
It can be really easy to be swallowed up or strong armed by a larger company you’re trying to work with, even if they’re not trying to. You know that if it works it’ll be a huge boon for you and your business and you don’t want to watch that slip through your fingers. Keep in mind though, that it’s YOUR business. You know what’s best for it and while it’s OK to try things and take some risk, it’s not OK to sacrifice your staff and profits when you know the program isn’t being run the way it should be.