A sales pipeline should resemble a town with multiple economic drivers (e.g., agriculture, manufacturing). Relying solely on a few large "whale" accounts is like a town depending only on oil. A healthy 70-30 mix of smaller and larger clients creates resilience against market shifts or the loss of a single major account.
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Most founders worry about a single client representing too much revenue, but the same "concentration risk" applies to lead sources. If one channel (e.g., Instagram) generates over 40% of your leads, your business is vulnerable. Diversification makes you safer and more valuable to buyers.
For consumption-based models, simple size-based segmentation (SMB, Enterprise) is insufficient. Stripe and Vercel use a two-axis model: company size (x-axis) and growth potential (y-axis). A small company growing at 200% YoY is more valuable and warrants more sales investment than a large, stagnant one.
Instead of pursuing large companies, elite sellers identify and focus on key business events, like mergers or new market entries, that create an urgent need for their product. This strategy shifts focus from account size to the probability of a timely need, leading to more efficient prospecting.
Instead of maximizing the volume of prospects at the top of the funnel, strategically narrow your focus to fewer, high-potential accounts. This 'martini glass' approach prioritizes depth and engagement over sheer productivity, leading to better quality opportunities.
Achieve stable, linear growth by combining multiple business lines that have opposing cyclical natures. Instead of cutting a volatile but profitable unit, add a counterbalancing one. This "Fourier transform" approach smooths out revenue and creates a resilient, all-weather business.
Instead of diversifying randomly, a more effective strategy is to expand into adjacent verticals. Leverage your existing, happy clients for introductions into these parallel industries. This approach uses your established credibility and relationships as a bridge to new markets, lowering the barrier to entry.
Average reps find security in a pipeline packed with low-quality leads (a "sewer pipe"). Top performers prioritize quality over quantity, resulting in a leaner but more potent pipeline (a "water tap"). They are comfortable with fewer opportunities because they know what's in there is highly qualified and likely to close.
Large enterprise clients are often diversified themselves with multiple departments and divisions. A powerful de-risking strategy is to leverage your existing relationship as a proven vendor to get introductions and sell into these other parts of the organization, effectively diversifying your revenue stream within a single account.
A top enterprise AE focuses intensely on only 20 of his 400 accounts (5%) for a six-month period. These accounts are chosen based on the high probability of a compelling event occurring. This extreme prioritization allows for deep, meaningful engagement rather than spreading efforts thinly across an entire book.
To mitigate client concentration risk, the quantity of relationships you maintain within a single customer account must be directly proportional to the revenue it generates. Relying on one or two contacts is a critical failure point, especially during leadership changes, transforming generic advice into a specific, quantifiable strategy for account security.