The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business

CHAPTER 1

The Biggest Business Mistake

When you find yourself in the majority, pause and reflect.

—Mark Twain

Many of the people who lead companies, from huge multinationals to brand-new startups, think that if they can just get their product or service into the hands of a Mega-Customer, all their problems will somehow magically disappear. The thinking goes like this: “If we can make enough sales, profits will rise, business will grow, and we will be unimaginably successful. The trick is to find ever-bigger customers who can buy increasingly larger quantities of what we produce.”

One of the most influential developments since the turn of the century has been the rise of large-scale customers across the business spectrum. We call these Mega-Customers ...