Make sure that you never focus too much on large accounts that force you to keep your ‘eggs’ in one basket!

Many sales people get way too comfortable when they derive all their income from MEGA accounts. The approach works great as long as things are rosy, but the loss of one account can turn high expectations into disaster overnight.

Examine your customer list to make sure that it is diversified in the size and types of companies that you service. You should create most of your sales from numerous small and medium sized accounts, rather than just a few large ones.

I learned the lesson the hard way. Several years ago, more than 25% of my sales volume came from just one account–The Dallas Times Herald. Then in a single day it ended when I picked up a copy of that day’s paper and the headline read, “Herald sold to the Dallas Morning News.” I lost one-fourth of my business overnight and learned quickly that I needed to expand my market.

The loss of the Herald and the need to replace the sales volume associated with it, forced me to design a bounce-back mailer program that offered a free gift to anyone who returned the card. Fortunately, the idea worked and a year after its implementation, I earned back enough customers to replace the volume that was lost when the customer went out business.

The loss of my largest account taught me to never put my eggs in one basket!