Eighty percent of your results come from twenty percent of your clients – as a business coach, I advise CEO’s to considering firing the bottom twenty percent of their clients (they’re sucking up eighty percent of your time).
Feels odd to be thinking about getting rid of some of your revenues at any time, but these clients likely generate very little revenue, and perhaps even cost you money. So get rid of them. A client of mine lost a $3 Million Dollar account last week, and when we looked at the numbers, they realized that they actually didn’t make a penny of net profit for them. Dropping that client, just made their business easier to run now too.
Your bottom 20% also take up more of your time and energy.
When cutting these bottom twenty percent clients, you can also eliminate some of the waste or overhead you have in supporting them. You’ll free up time in all areas of your business especially shipping, customer service and accounting. You’ll save time in your sales meetings by not talking about these clients.
Fire the bottom twenty percent: clients who take up time, suck up energy or don’t pay their bills. You’ll free up more time for your profitable clients and get more business from new, better ones.
Who would you rather spend time with? Your Top 5% or your Bottom 20%? Where are you spending it now?