The Risk No One Talks About in Project-Based Businesses

For leaders of project-based businesses, the single most dangerous time is when your order book is full. A good year often creates the conditions for a disastrous next year because pipeline building stops.

The Danger of a Full Order Book

When you're busy delivering, business development grinds to a halt. This creates an inevitable "pipeline cliff." The revenue you build in your busiest months is the stability you'll have in your slowest months.

The pipeline you build in your busiest months is the revenue you will have in your slowest months.

Always-On Outbound

You need an outbound system that identifies and nurtures future clients regardless of how busy you are today. Decouple business development from your delivery team's schedule to break the feast-or-famine cycle.

The Takeaway

Invest in pipeline-building when you least feel you need to. Stability comes from a machine that finds the next project while you're busy finishing the current one.