If You Want Your Company to Grow, Fish for Whales
You can’t get big without thinking big right from the start. As an entrepreneur starting a business, it’s easy to see yourself as “the little guy.” If you do, you’ll forever stay the little guy.
Too many times I’ve seen entrepreneurs name their companies after themselves (e.g., Tom Jones, LLC). Sometimes they stretch to seem bigger (e.g., The Tom Jones Group). Sometimes it’s a “creative” stretch (e.g., TJG Strategies – like we’re too dumb to figure that out?). Unfortunately all of those names are transparent and smack of small thinking.
The impact of small thinking is you’ll never get the big opportunities. As a B2B company, you’re looking to land the whales – those huge companies who will buy massive amounts of your products or services. If they get the sense that you’re small, they’re not going to give you a chance to serve them because they worry about supply disruptions, financial strength, and your ability to meet their gigantic needs. This is one of the reasons I went with thoughtLEADERS from the start rather than “The Mike Figliuolo Group.” A corporation is much more willing to work with another corporation than they are to work with an individual.
Fortunately, the answer to this problem is quite simple.