Sales and Revenue
Your Best Customer May Not Be Your Biggest
Your best customer is the one whose needs fit what your team does well, at a cost to serve that works for both of you. That may not be the account at the top of your sales report.
That number shows how much an account buys. It does not show everything your team does to serve it.
When I work on a growth question, I often start with the customer you would clone. Your biggest customer, your favorite person, and your best fit may be three different answers.
In a strategy meeting with a manufacturer, I asked about the customer they would like to have more of. Then I asked what made that customer the best. I guessed volume or margin.
The answer was predictability.
The customer ordered repeatable products. The relationship was easy to manage, and there was a simple way to reach the right person. Volume mattered, but it wasn’t the whole answer.
That gave us more to work with when we talked about finding similar customers. We could look at the kind of work they needed and how they bought, along with how much they might order.
The reason matters more than the name. It tells you what kind of work to pursue and what your business needs to do well.
Look at the Work Behind the Sale
Use a few real accounts. Bring sales and the people doing the work into the review. One person may love the relationship while another spends each afternoon sorting out its changes.
Neither view should be the whole answer.
An account that needs a lot of changes is not automatically a bad customer. Its work may be complex and worth doing. Your process may also be poorly suited to it. Find out which. Otherwise, you risk treating a service problem as a customer problem.
Check what the work takes and what the customer values. Look at the records for the cost to serve it. Keep estimates marked. Ask the team where effort goes that the sales total does not reveal.
Turn the Review Into a Choice
A reason like predictability gives you a direction to test.
You can look for prospects with that need. Sales can ask how they plan their orders. Marketing can explain the help those buyers need. The team can see what it must keep doing well.
The description should be precise enough to use in a real conversation. “Great customers who value service” will not help someone judge the next prospect.
Name the need, the strength you bring, and the conditions that help the work go well. Then check that view against new accounts instead of turning it into a rule that never changes.
Review a small group of accounts this week. Write one plain reason you would choose more of one relationship. Include what your team must deliver to earn it.
The customer you want more of should be a customer you are prepared to serve well.
