Resource Guide
Methods that Work for Creating Corporate Clients, page 23
The willingness to start small allowed Terri Hornsby, president of T.L.C. Adcentives in Katy, Texas, to turn a $30 contract with Texaco into $90,000 in revenues within a year. T.L.C. Adcentives is a promotional advertising firm helping companies to establish additional brand recognition through logo items. The firm is certified as a women’s business enterprise through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council
“The original invoice was small,” she acknowledges, “but I didn’t go after it for the money. I saw it as the door into a major oil company.”
Her next contract was for $300, and the projects took off from there. Why was a huge corporation looking for a $30 contract in the first place? “It was one of many they were directing to my competitor, who had done several projects with them. The client asked them to bid on the project five times, but they ignored the request because it was too small. They simply weren’t responsive.”
Hornsby uses a combination of strategies to access the corporate market. In addition to the willingness to respond to a potential client’s needs, for example, she also credits her success to certification as a women’s business enterprise. She stresses however, that it is not simply being certified that creates the business. “Certification gives you an entrée into a number of venues,” she says, “but taking advantage of them is the way to make certification work.”
She advises women to attend meetings geared to women’s business enterprises and purchasing professionals, as well to participate regularly in the golf tournaments and other organized networking events. She points to her own participation on several committees as key in creating contacts that resulted in business opportunities.
“Some may think that certification can provide a windfall,” she says, “but on its own, it doesn’t. It provides an advantage, which makes relationships easier to cultivate. It is up to the women’s business enterprise to make the most of this advantage.”
Citation
Center for Women’s Business Research. “Methods that Work for Creating Corporate Clients, page 23.” Washington, DC.