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Why is it that all salespeople want to sell to really-big-companies? We like nothing better than customer name dropping of really-big-companies at parties or on the golf course. When a really-big-company shows interest in our products or services we can hardly stand the excitement because we’re soon going to get a really-big-company order, make lots of commission and become famous. While some of us have sales positions that require us to sell to really-big-companies, I am not a big fan of them myself.

Experience has shown me that the most successful salespersons have a lot of middle sized customers. They have enough customers to cover them if they lose one or two (and you always do) and they aren’t held hostage by a few really-big-companies. Keep in mind that there are only 500 Fortune 500 companies but there are literally millions of not-so-really-big-companies to go fishing for.

So what is not to like about really-big-companies? I have three complaints. One, every competitor and their mother is also trying to sell really-big-companies. The sales effort required (i.e., hassle) to sell these kinds of companies can be significant. Two, despite their apparent size and capital, they can and do beat you down on price to the point that your profit margin can be embarrassing. Three, once you do sell them they can take an extremely long time to pay their bills because of their inherent bureaucracy. I used to work for a Fortune 500 company that told vendors up front that, “If you want to do business with us you’ll have to wait at least 120 days for your bills to be paid.”

There can be advantages to selling to really-big companies. One that comes to mind is that you can use them as a reference company. “Hi, I’m Joe Blow with XYZ, Inc. and we count Really-Big-Company as one of our customers.” Be careful when doing this, however, as some really-big-companies might not want you disclosing the fact that they buy from you. For more information check the back of their purchase order that will contain a lot of extremely small print legalese.

Some of us have sales positions that require us to deal exclusively with very large corporations. But for the rest of us my experience has shown me that you get a lot more return on your sales efforts with medium sized companies. If you construct an account base around lots of medium sized companies you have more insurance against losing that one really-big-company. There is a related really-big-company category that is the mother of them all, governments. But that’s for another post.

Tags: Fortune 500

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