An Incorrect Measure of Success

As a small business owner, customer acquisition is my biggest challenge. How do I make sure people can find me, understand what I do, and see how my services could help them?

In the early days of running my own business, I was thrilled to have clients who were willing to pay me to help them improve their business processes. I’d meet them at their facility, map out improvement opportunities, and aim to secure a paying engagement.

Sometimes, I’d get the purchase order. Other times, I wouldn’t. It was all on me. If I could paint a clear picture of how I could help, and it resonated with their needs, I’d land the job. If I couldn’t make that connection, the opportunity slipped away.

When I did win the business, I was ecstatic. It felt like a validation. People valued what I brought to the table. And if I did a good job on that first engagement, surely more work would follow. It didn’t always work that way.

I can still remember an engagement with a steel slag producer. Steel slag is the waste product from steel mills, repurposed for things like roadbeds and other construction uses. I facilitated a value stream mapping session to support their strategic planning process.

The team was extremely engaged. My sponsors seemed satisfied with the outcome. Although there were some challenging moments during the week, I thought we’d worked through them together and ended with a great result.

Surely, they’d bring me back. But they didn’t. I followed up multiple times—emails, phone calls, check-ins but got little to no response. The crickets were chirping.

That’s when I realized that acquisition is not the objective. Customer retention is the true measure of success. When you can align your approach to the needs of your client and design to fit their needs and not yours, there is a much better chance for continued collaboration.

Over the years, I’ve had my fair share of “one and done” clients. And while I’m grateful for those opportunities—and I’d like to think I helped them in a meaningful way—they’ve been some of my greatest learning moments.

Fortunately, I’ve also developed a few long-term client relationships. These are the ones where there’s alignment in approach, trust in the process, and a shared belief in the power of continuous improvement. These partnerships are where the real magic happens.

At the end of the day, quality beats quantity. If you focus on alignment, collaboration, and shared outcomes, you won’t just win business, you’ll build something that lasts.