On Bended Knee Will that big-name client end up making—or breaking—your business?

Growing businesses have always had to be quick and nimble tocompete in the big leagues. The concept of getting the sale now andadapting to fulfill the orders is practically ingrained in theentrepreneurial fast-growth mentality. But when times are tight,you have to be particularly careful about what customers you takeon and under what terms. Winning a big client could either fulfillyour dreams of steady income for the next six to 18 months and adda big name to your resume or bankrupt you faster than you can say"widget."

It all depends on how strategically you plan, experts say.Entrepreneurs tend to manage from the gut and fail to thinkinstitutionally, says Jeffrey Bolton, managing partner withaccounting firm Daszkal Bolton LLP in Boca Raton, Florida. "Sogoing into a deal, they don't do the legwork," he says."They don't have the firepower internally to figure outwhat their bid should be and how to monitor the bid."

Before bidding on any project, make sure you do hard cash-flowprojections and job costing, taking into account a host of factors.First up: "If the job is big enough, will [you] have theinternal capacity to produce it without having to grow [your]company to handle that one contract?" says Bolton. Having togrow to support new business isn't necessarily a negative, headds, but that client may take up a big part of your business."And when the client knows that, they can squeeze you,"he says.