The purchase order looks great. Revenue goes up. The sales team celebrates. Then the real terms of the win show up.
Special packaging. Lower margins. Longer payment terms. Forecasting requirements. Chargebacks. Inventory commitments. EDI. Returns. Freight. Dedicated support. The account everyone was excited to win starts consuming more cash and more management attention than anyone priced in. You won the auction and lost the economics.
This is why customer acquisition is an operating decision, not just a sales decision. Before saying yes to a major account, a business should know the answers. Can we serve this customer at a profit. What working capital will it tie up. What operational complexity are we taking on. What happens if the forecast is wrong. Most of all: does this customer make the business stronger, or just bigger.
Revenue is important, but not all revenue creates value. Some of it costs more than it pays. The most valuable commercial decision a company makes is often knowing which deals to decline. The goal is not to win more business. It is to win business worth having.