As we speak, your sales, marketing and customer success teams are abusing precious time by pursuing misaligned prospects (vs. aligned prospect) and unknowingly “prioritizing” your worst clients (instead your best).

The Big Picture:

Over the last decade, we’ve had the unique privilege of analyzing the revenue distribution patterns of many B2B services firms. Over & over again we see the Pareto Principle (a.k.a. the “80/20 rule”) in full effect.

More specifically, we typically see ~20% of their clients driving 80%+ of revenue & profitability. Additionally, we often see the bottom 50% of their clients contributing less than 10% of revenue and profitability.

Zoom In:

Diving deeper, we see a lack of definition and understanding of their Top 20%. Compounding the problem, time (their most precious asset) is being distributed evenly across their clients. Or worse…the smallest, least profitable and most misaligned clients are occupying their resources because “the squeaky wheel is getting the grease”.

In addition, sales & marketing efforts lack precision and focus on their Top 20%. The wide net is catching both misaligned and aligned prospects. Salespeople, who aren’t great at disqualifying, are investing time and resources advancing prospects who will never close.

The only thing worse than wasting time and energy on a misaligned prospect is closing it because now you have a misaligned client on your hands.

Zoom Out:

It’s critical to identify and truly understand your best clients. We call them your “Blue Chip” clients. Examine them…what makes them unique? Are there similar demographics? Do they share similar values or beliefs? Are they experiencing similar “trigger events”?

And on the flipside, it’s important to identify and understand your worst clients. We call them your “Graveyard” clients because if you have too many of them it will kill your business. Identifying the “Red Flags” and “Disqualifiers” will help your business development team avoid and disqualify these prospects and invest more time with aligned prospects.

Between the Lines:

It is your responsibility to provide clarity, focus and definition. If you can help your team “aim small” (Blue Chip profile), then they will “miss small” (and avoid the Graveyard profile).

Go Deeper:

• 20% of your Clients Generate 80%+ of your Revenue

Carver Peterson helps growth-minded leaders and organizations achieve predictable and sustainable revenue growth through a refined strategy, defined process and aligned structure.

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