As a business broker, I look beyond top-line sales. Buyers do, too. In the first two articles in this series, I covered technology and staying involved in your operation. Now let’s talk about another mistake I see operators make all the time: chasing revenue instead of profit.

Bigger accounts can be exciting, but if they don’t make money, they may actually reduce the value of your business.

So many operators get caught up in acquiring new accounts, usually facing competitors bidding on the same account. “Bid it to win it” is generally the mentality to sell a new account. But, is it actually profitable and aligned with other accounts your company has?

You may not always be able to get accounts with 50% or higher margins, but what you do not want is for all your larger accounts — or the majority of your accounts — to be low margin accounts. It all trickles down to the bottom-line profit and lowers the overall value when it comes time to sell the business.

You should never acquire an account based on a higher commission unless you can charge the customers higher prices. Acquiring a larger account is always exciting, but is it profitable?

As a broker, I’ve seen it too many times: you can have sales of $10 million and lose money on the P&L. I’ve seen the opposite as well: you can have sales of $2 million and make a very nice living. Slow and steady growth is the key in small- to medium-sized operations. Staying debt-free and profitable is generally better than having higher sales but being buried in debt when it comes time to sell the business. Try to keep a mix of accounts and not let 1 to 25% of your customers make up the majority of your sales.

Large accounts like Amazon centers and other distribution centers generate high sales volumes. If you factor in theft, which is always high in larger accounts like distribution centers, and low prices and a high commission, is it worth taking these accounts? Do that math all the way through.

You should always have the mentality of “build it to sell it,” even if your plan is to build the business for a long-term career path.

At some point, many business owners decide to sell. Maximizing the value of your business will pay off now and later. Beyond that, however, you should always consider profitability when acquiring customers. If you can’t afford to lose a newly acquired customer, and if you were to lose it, would it put your business in danger? If so, think it through. Contracts are great but can be broken, leaving you in possible jeopardy.