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John Smith should鈥檝e been on top of the world 鈥� he was the owner of a highly profitable electrical contracting company. So why did he wake up once a week in a cold sweat, dreading the inevitable?

Because he knew that locked up in his office was Fluffy, an 800-pound gorilla poised to wreak havoc on everything he鈥檇 built.

What is the 800-pound gorilla?

The 800-pound gorilla metaphor was born of a decades-old riddle:

Q: Where does an 800-pound gorilla sit?
A: Anywhere it wants to.

That鈥檚 because an 800-pound gorilla is so powerful that it can act without regard to anyone else. 800-pound gorillas come in many shapes in the construction industry 鈥� from an 鈥渋rreplaceable employee,鈥� to a customer base that rises and falls at the same time. (We all saw how that worked out in 2008.)

In John鈥檚 case, the gargantuan primate plaguing his dreams came in the form of a client commanding more than 50 percent of company revenue.

What鈥檚 wrong with the 800-pound gorilla?

If you鈥檙e failing to see the problem here, you鈥檙e not alone. Many business owners would probably be thrilled (initially, at least) at the prospect of such a large revenue opportunity.

But that would change when Fluffy sits down wherever it wants.

The problem with having one client commanding so much of your revenue is that it knows it has you in a chokehold and operates accordingly. You will probably have very little say over pricing or project timelines. When times get hard for Fluffy, he passes that pain onto you 鈥� by pulling projects, paying more slowly, becoming more demanding, etc.

Suddenly the gorilla you were initially so thrilled to capture is tearing your business apart limb by limb.

The hidden dangers of housing Fluffy

The obvious solution here is to find ways to make this relationship more sustainable 鈥� but for most businesses, this is vastly easier said than done.

For starters, you鈥檝e built your business around Fluffy. You staffed up the organization and purchased new equipment based on the assumption that Fluffy would remain soft and cuddly for years to come.

To make matters worse, you also haven鈥檛 put forth any energy toward sales, business development or marketing. As a result, you鈥檝e become out of touch with the marketplace and have no relationships to build upon to replace Fluffy. Moreover, since your P&L reflects artificially low marketing and sales investments, your business鈥� profits create a deceptively positive financial model.

In other words, you鈥檝e been so preoccupied with serving your 800-pound gorilla that the real, long-term threats to your business have gone unnoticed and unattended.

Taming your 800-pound gorilla

Fortunately, there is a solution to the Fluffy problem. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to begin preparing your company for this shift:

• How diverse is your client base?

This won鈥檛 happen overnight, but step No. 1 will be to better understand your current client mix 鈥� what it looks like today, and how you鈥檇 like to see it change. This means evaluating not just 800-pound customers, but also type of work, services, industries and locations.

• How sophisticated is your marketing infrastructure?

If business has been booming, you鈥檝e probably been riding on the coattails of outdated marketing strategies or an old website for far too long. It鈥檚 time to dust off your old marketing plan and put forth a new strategy that will get your company back off the ground.

• How strong is your sales team?

With the right marketing infrastructure in place, it probably makes sense to add someone to support your business development efforts. Be sure to vet thoroughly and budget accordingly.

• Are you looking around the corner?

Client concentration isn鈥檛 the only threat to your business. Many others 鈥� like regulatory pressure or generational shifts in the workforce 鈥� could impact your company in an equally profound way. Successful business owners are constantly on the lookout for these trends and pivot their organizations to shoulder the impact.

The takeaway

While parting ways with an 800-pound gorilla will never be easy, it is far from impossible. Kinesis has worked with a number of clients for whom one customer comprised 50, 70 or even 90 percent of revenue and found their way out.

With the right preparation and resources, you too can transform Fluffy from a King-Kong-style nightmare into a friendly organ grinder sidekick.

Shawn Busse is founder and CEO of Kinesis. Contact him at 503-922-2289 or [email protected].