Who Are Your Top Customers? Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 202

Are you spending enough time on your top customers? No matter your industry, the answer to this question has tremendous impact on your business. Far too many people fail to focus on their top customers. Instead, they spread their resources thin over a crowd of less qualified clients. It’s time to take a step back and evaluate your own customer pool.

The first step is to ask yourself: Who are my top customers?

The ABC method is one of the best ways to get your answer. Simply categorize your clients into three groups: the absolute best, with the highest potential (A), the “good” clients (B), and the clients who give you the most difficulty and trouble (C). It might seem oversimplified, but this process works wonders to help you gain insight into your customer relationships.

If you’re like most people, then you have way more customers in the B and C categories than you should. Why? Because it’s extremely common to think that everyone who looks like a customer, is a customer.

On the contrary, it’s important to make sure potential clients are qualified before they become your customers. It’s a matter of saying “no” to new business when someone doesn’t fit your ideal profile of an A-level customer. And sometimes, it means saying “goodbye” to those existing customers who are draining your time, energy, and resources—for their benefit, and your own.

Here are some important questions to help you determine who your top customers are:

1. Does the customer bring you joy when you work together?
2. On a scale of 1–10, how would you rank your relationship with the customer? Would you say the relationship is rewarding for both of you?
3. Does the customer often push you to raise the bar in your work together? Does the customer come up with new ideas to help both of your businesses grow?
4. Does the customer send referrals to you on an ongoing basis?
5. Is the customer always excited and enthusiastic about engaging in your new offerings and services?
6. Does the customer give you testimonials that accurately reflect the great work you do?
7. Does the customer make suggestions for new services you should offer, and give you constructive feedback on your existing offerings?

As you can see, it’s not always about a dollar amount when it comes to identifying your top customers. Once you learn to focus on those customers who make you answer “yes” to the questions above, then you’ll see a marked transformation in your business. It’s all about working with people who bring you joy, and avoiding those who don’t.

While it can be difficult to say goodbye to customers, sometimes it’s what you have to do in order to help your business grow. The wish I have for you is that you surround yourself with A-level customers—and that they bring you even more A-level customers to work with.

Not every opportunity is a good opportunity. Learn to focus only on top customers, and avoid clients who drain your resources, energy, and enthusiasm for what you do.

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