"80% of our business comes from 20% of our clients." Ever heard that bit of wisdom? It's known as the Pareto Principle, named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He also observed that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.
Most sales managers will tell you that 80% of their station's billing is produced by 20% of their sales staff. Program directors know the Pareto Principle as "P-1 listeners".
What becomes important to us is knowing which of our clients make up the 20% that produce 80% of our income. Once we identify these clients, we can devise ways to take very good care of them. These are our "A" accounts. These are the accounts we should see or talk to on a weekly basis.
It's a good exercise to look at your client list, ranked by billing for the last year, largest to smallest. How much does your top 20% spend with you in a year: $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000? What about your next tier of spenders? How can you move them up to the "A" list?
Knowing which 20% of our pods contain the most peas is the beginning of even larger revenues. After all, the easiest people to sell are those who already do business with you.