Quite simply the 80/20 rule.
The principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
While the 80/20 rule applies to many aspects of life, in business, I have found that the strongest correlation is with revenue. 80% of business revenue will come from 20% of clients, services, products, or some combination thereof.
Do you know who these customers are or what these products or services are? Do you know exactly and specifically what is driving most of your business revenue?
If you don’t—you have homework.
If you do—you too have homework. Reach out and continue to build a working relationship with your top 20% of customers. As Jeffrey Gitomer intones “Customer satisfaction is meaningless. Customer loyalty is priceless.”
And in these uncertain economic times for small businesses, we need all the loyal customers that we can get.