Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A Major Milestone

We, at Quality Solutions, hit what is for us, a major milestone this week - one that I couldn't even have envisioned just a few years ago. And, one, that would be simply wrong not to acknowledge in public.

This week, with the receipt of a signed agreement from Standard Publishing, we now have 50 direct, active, clients. The words 'direct' and 'active' are critical in that sentence. In 'active', I mean that these are clients with whom we have had payment for our services in 2007. 'Direct' is a little more complicated. As many of our clients distribute books for other publishers, the actual number of publishers we serve is well in excess of 2,000.

For those of you reading this, 50 may not sound like much. But, it is huge for us. Only seven or eight years ago, we had 5 direct, active clients. All of those were very large companies, and we were a bit of a puppet on a string. Our fortunes either soared or (more often) plummeted based on the whims of just a few people.

At 50, we are in a much more stable situation. This year we weathered a 'perfect storm' in that we had four of our clients got acquired by other publishers (and one more is in progress now). Fortunately, in all four cases we were able to either keep or expand our presence in the new parent organization, but for a while there, in each, it was touch and go.

I cannot begin to say how proud I am to be part of this team at Quality Solutions. It's just an incredible group of people who are completely dedicated to making our publishing clients more successful. Their hard work and dedication are certainly an inspiration to me.

Given our current momentum, the next milestone, 75, looks quite attainable. It's just a matter of time.

2 comments:

Joe Wikert said...

Hi Fran. Congrats on reaching that milestone! Here's to your next 25, and the 25 after that, etc.!

Fran Toolan said...

Thanks, Joe. I appreciate the support... So... I can't resist asking... when will Wiley become a client? (just kidding...)