Do you really know who your most valuable clients are?
Let’s say your company is doing well, even thriving. You’re growing topline revenue, you’re profitable, and you’re at least keeping up with if not outright beating your top competitors.
You’re walking in high cotton, as an old saying goes.
But amidst all that success, do you know exactly who your most valuable customers or clients are? Not generally, but precisely.
I mean very specifically. As in you have specific parameters that a client or customer must meet in order to be classified as among your very best. And you know how many are in this category, how much revenue they generate, what portion of your top and bottom line revenue they provide, how profitable they are, and their names. And their kids’ names, their dogs’ names, and their birthdays.
Small Category, Huge Impact
But what’s the point? Just this: For many businesses, a small number of their customers provide a huge percentage of their revenue, while a huge portion of their customers provide the rest of the company’s income. It’s common for 5-10% of a company’s customers to generate 50% or more of the topline revenue.
What is also common is for the leaders of many businesses to be unaware that their biggest clients dominate their revenue stream so overwhelmingly. And often they can’t name every one of those mega-clients.
Which blows my mind.
Because a client who has such an oversized impact on the company’s income should be treated like a king or queen and absolutely never taken for granted. The company simply cannot afford to lose those geese that lay the golden eggs.
Treat Special Clients Specially
If treating those super customers like royalty means a small customer has to wait or possibly even be guided to another provider, so be it. More than a few studies have shown that companies that make special efforts to focus their attention on their highest-value clients grow faster than those that do not.
Those efforts start with digging into your numbers so that you know how much income is coming from how many clients. You might be stunned to realize some of the clients you thought were among the biggest really are not, and vice versa.
Then it’s time for some client relationship management basics, including:
Tracking your company’s contact with the big clients. Who said what to them and when? What has been promised to them and was it delivered on time? Who is responsible for delivering extraordinary service to that client?
Surveying your biggest clients or talking with them individually about what they are happy with or unhappy with in their relationship with the company. If they identify problems, fix them immediately.
Building a 360-degree profile of these clients so that you know as much about them as possible. Are they on social media? Do they support one or more charities? Are big life changes coming soon such as a wedding, birth, a house sale, etc.? Do you know their birthday at least so you can send them a gift that aligns with their interests?
Connecting with them one on one. If you are professional services provider, you should be seeing your largest clients face to face on a regular basis. This could range from visiting with them in their office or home, to taking them to dinner or a ballgame, to sending them a bottle of that great wine you saw them commenting on on social media. If you provide physical products, consider letting your largest customers be the first to see the new models as just one of many ways you could become their friend, not just someone they buy from. The point is to make them feel special.
Making sure they know all the services or products you have that might be helpful to them. This is an opportunity to grow a big client into an even bigger one. Quite often companies provide many more services or products than even their biggest clients realize.
Consider asking them for referrals. If they’re already a big client of yours, chances are good they are quite happy with your company. And that their friends and family might have similar interests and spending habits.
Get creative with how you make your biggest clients and customers realize they are special and that you greatly value them. But be authentic and willing to create bespoke experiences that demonstrate clearly that you are going above and beyond to make them not just happy but ecstatic. That will help ensure your success lasts for many years to come.
