The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

There are many roads to reach annual billing of $1 million. It’s a milestone in many industries. Most account lists are some combination of client levels, but let’s look at three possible scenarios to reach $1 million in billing:

• 1,000 clients spending $1,000 each
• 100 clients spending $10,000 each
• 10 clients spending $100,000 each

The reason to stop and think about your client list this way is that it ends up determining how you spend your time each day and, ultimately, your sales career.

Are you looking for big enough deals, big enough potential?

Let’s look at each of these scenarios, keeping in mind that the exact numbers may not apply directly to your business, but the concept of low, medium, and high revenue clients will:

$1,000 clients:

• This shouldn’t require a custom buyable solution.
• You would need about 5 sales each working day to reach your 1,000 sales by the end of the year.
• The required amount of service and renewals for this level account needs to be super simple.
• Bonus: Do any of these have the potential to be $10,000 accounts with the right idea?

$10,000 clients:

• This level of investment requires you to deliver more specific value.
• You can spend more time with each client—but not too much, since you’ll need to find and service 100 of this level of clients to reach your $1 million.  
• Renewals here will take some time, and some good ideas.
• Bonus: Which of these could grow to a $100,000 account with the right idea? 

$100,000 clients:

• These are key accounts, or even super keys on most account lists. They are harder to find and develop, and require delivering high specific value to the client.
• Service is ongoing, and these clients are worth it.
• Renewals are more difficult, but the continual servicing this account requires should help you keep identifying and serving new needs.
• Bonus: Growth potential is still a factor to consider, but retention here is key! 

You’ll never make a more important decision in sales than to spend more time focusing on high-potential accounts.

How do you want to spend your day?