下一个伟大的公司将来自：B2B

    客户的长期价值至关重要

    一般而言，B2B公司的销售周期比B2C公司更长。但大多数B2B客户都是长期客户，最终，B2B公司可以从客户获取更多价值。1999年，贾伊•谢卡瓦特成立Fieldglass，他花了超过一年时间才找到第一批客户，其中包括威瑞森（Verizon）、美国国际集团（AIG）、葛兰素史克（GlaxoSmithKline）和强生（Johnson & Johnson）。但他一直紧紧抓住这批客户，现在这些客户每年在合同雇工方面的开支都达到数十亿美元。到目前为止，Fieldglass的客户保持率超过99%。

    要获得稳定的收入，应该抓住能够产生经常性收入的机会。

    将最有可能重复使用公司产品或服务的客户放在首位。

    姆斯卡莱罗深知，金融公司将是其在线交易平台的理想供应商，因为金融公司会在IT方面进行大量投入，并且经常要清理库存，为最新技术腾出空间。MarkITx的第一家客户是芝加哥商业交易所（Chicago Mercantile Exchange），从2013年8月以来已进行了22次交易。

    开发有粘性的服务或产品

    要与客户保持长期关系，必须创建天生具有“粘性”的产品与服务，并且为同一家公司客户包含多个层级的整合服务。MarkITx的仪表板可以通过应用程序接口（API）连接到客户公司，为客户提供其资产的实时市场价值数据，以及更新IT基础设施的最佳时间。结果，这些公司会经常查看仪表板，而且在需要出售资产的时候，会更倾向于使用MarkITx。通过投身客户遇到的实际困难当中，Fieldglass可以提前为客户打造整合性服务。例如，公司会密切关注劳动法的变化（谢卡瓦特估计，仅在欧洲，每月便会有25-30处变化），并确保其软件能及时反映这些变化。因此，为了解决问题，客户对Fieldglass变得越来越依赖。

    从眼前寻找商机

    思考一下你的公司目前面临的问题，或者你会如何解决行业内的问题。商机无处不在——或许这些机遇没有那么令人兴奋，但却非常可靠且有利可图。谢卡瓦特在产生创建Fieldglass的想法之前，曾做过合同程序开发员，为一家技术供应商工作，并为买方和客户提供咨询，后来他发现了管理合同雇工所面临的挑战。对行业内情的了解，也使他创建的公司轻松打败了其他5家竞争对手（这些公司都已破产）。

    清楚何时采取下一步行动

    思考一下，你现在的工作能否变成更大的事业。2010年，Eved进军国际市场之前，还是一家本土服务公司，公司规模在4年内增长到1,000万美元，并入选Inc. 500强（Inc. 500）排行榜。但弥赛亚清楚，海外有更多机会。于是，她出售了Eved的服务部门，保留了研发部，将其重新打造成一家全球性公司，她的目标是公司市值达到十亿美元。（财富中文网）

    本文作者琳达•达拉赫是西北大学（Northwestern University）凯洛格商学院（Kellogg School of Management）创业实践临床教授，凯洛格创新与创业行动（Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative，KITI）执行主任。达拉赫作为芝加哥数字初创公司服务中心1871的董事会成员，对上述公司有详细的了解。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Long-term value of customers is critical

    Generally speaking, B2B companies have longer sales cycles than B2C firms. However, most B2B customers are long-term customers and, in the end, companies can extract greater value from them. After Jai Shekhawat founded Fieldglass in 1999, it took him more than a year to land his first customers, which included Verizon VZ -0.80% , AIGAIG -3.34% , GlaxoSmithKline GSK -1.33% and Johnson & Johnson JNJ -2.36% . But he held on to them, and now each spend billions on contract labor annually. To date, Fieldglass boasts a customer retention rate of more than 99%.

    To generate steady revenue, focus on opportunities to generate reoccurring revenue

    Prioritize customers that are most likely to use your product or service repeatedly.

    Muscarello knew that financial companies would serve as ideal suppliers for his online exchange because they invest heavily in IT and frequently purge their inventory to make room for the latest technology. MarkITx’s first customer, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is now on its 22nd trade since August 2013.

    Build something that sticks

    To develop a long-term relationship with your customers, you need to create products or services that are inherently “sticky” and provide several levels of integration within a company. MarkITx’s dashboard plugs into companies via API and provides real-time data about the mark-to-market value of their assets and the optimal time to refresh their IT infrastructure. As a result, these companies regularly check the dashboard and are more apt to use MarkITx when it comes time to sell their assets. Fieldglass takes integration a step further by staying enmeshed in its customers’ problems. It monitors, for example, changes in labor laws (in Europe alone, Shekhawat estimates that there are 25-30 changes per month) and ensures that its software immediately reflect those shifts. In turn, customers grow more dependent on Fieldglass to manage their problem for them.

    Look for a business idea on your desk

    Think about the problems your company is facing or how you might address issues in your industry. There are business ideas there — maybe not sexy ones, but solid, profitable ones. Shekhawat came up with the idea for Fieldglass after serving as a contract developer, working for a technology vendor and consulting for buyers and customers, where he witnessed the challenges of managing contract labor. That insider knowledge also enabled him to build a company that easily overshadowed the five preceding competitors (all have since gone out of business).

    Know when to venture further

    Consider whether the work you’re doing now could parlay into something bigger. Before Eved went global in 2010, it was a local service company that grew to $10 million in four years and landed on the Inc. 500. But Mashiach knew that there was a bigger opportunity out there. So she sold Eved’s service side, took its R&D and re-launched it as a global company, with her sights set on a billion-dollar goal.

    Linda Darragh is a clinical professor of entrepreneurial practice and executive director of the Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative (KIEI) at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Darragh knows the companies mentioned above as a board member of 1871, Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub for digitalstartups.