This time of the year is an ideal time to conduct a business/client analysis to help you provide clarity as you set your goals and strategies for 2020 and beyond.
Sometimes, we can be spinning reactively to grow the business. By pausing to take the time to do this Ideal Client Analysis, it will give you the clarity to move forward with proactive planning and decisions.
At Teneo, we are in the process of completing our client analysis and I’m amazed at what we have learned about our business…and I’ll admit I thought I knew our business and clients intimately!
Here are some key areas/questions to ask yourself:
- How many new clients did you secure this year?
- How did you acquire these clients? Marketing, referrals, tradeshows, internet?
- What services did you sell them?
- Who is the key decision-maker and who else is influencing the decision?
- What is the comparison of client sales for the past two years, by the client?
- How many increased or decreased and why?
- Sort your clients by sales to rank your clients by A, B, C. How has your client ranking changed in the past two years?
- What is your average client size? How many clients do you have above the average client size? How many clients do you have below the average client size?
- How much time are you spending with these clients? What is your ROTI – Return on Time Invested? In other words, how much time are you spending with these clients in comparison to the revenue and/or GPM they generate? Are you surprised by any of the clients below the average size? How many high maintenance clients do you have?
- In reviewing your Top 10 clients, what are the similarities they have in common (industry, services they purchase, decision-maker, etc.)?
Before you set goals for 2020, go through this process so you’ll have more clarity around what you need to do for the coming year. Share on X
This analysis can take you 1-2 hours to complete and is well worth it to help gain clarity for your business in 2020 and beyond.
Based on what you have learned, how will you approach your business differently in 2020? Share with us your key findings!
We learned we have secured many more clients this year, yet the average client size and top clients are smaller in revenue.
We also realized the impact of introducing 4 new training programs this year without showing how they create a training pathway for a consultative culture for the entire organization. That’s an easy fix so there’s more impact next year.
Before you set goals for 2020, go through this process so you’ll have more clarity around what you need to do for the coming year.
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.