Do you have an 80-20 headache?

All entrepreneurs…Ok let me qualify that…Most entrepreneurs are insecure, worried creatures. Prospecting, hunting, scraping, scoping, begging, cajoling, chasing and delivering orders is not enough. The Purchase Order just received is not enough. The entrepreneur must immediately start worrying about the next order.

In most cases, the first order is the easy part. Its always the next order that business owners fret about. The first order is the delivery of the product, the next order proves your delivery on your promises. However, if you have done a great job in the first order, what’s there to worry about?

In most cases the worry stems from the 80-20 principle. The `Pareto principle’ at work. The fact is that 80% of business usually comes from one client. To borrow a phrase from Newton: Most businesses prosper by standing on a giant’s (big client’s) shoulders. But this creates a dilemma. Should the entrepreneur focus on that one client only and continue to shower maximum affection on that one client? OR instead, use the limited time and resources at hand to get the other 20% to buy more? If 20% of the clients give 80% of the business, then why not just simply focus only on them? Selling to a minimum viable segment is beneficial, isn’t it? (if business school hasn’t already, then your investor will surely tell you that)

But experience shows that all clients-big or small are important. Often, hidden gems lie in the other 20%??!!! In a dynamic business environment anything can happen. Important clients get jailed, get fired, get transferred or become your competitors! Companies make mistakes, technology becomes obsolete, government policies become hostile. And poof, there goes your 80%! On the flip side, sometimes smaller clients become dark horses, end up being your back-up in bad times.

The bottom line is that every client: big or small is important. However, given that the entrepreneur is already stretched for time and resources, the biggest challenge is to make every client feel that they are the only ones. Those that learn to do it, have the highest recall among buyers. This perhaps is the biggest learning of a successful entrepreneur.