Field Guides / Sales & clients
A big anchor client is a gift and a risk at the same time. While it lasts it pays for everything, and in the back of your mind you're thinking: I hope it never ends, I know it probably will. Don't wait for the day it goes. Work out who your most profitable clients are, then go and find more clients like them.
I've lived this. For twelve or thirteen years I was Sony's go-to producer for their camera launch films in the UK. A massive client, constantly feeding me work. I always knew it would end one day, and eventually it did. It was a great gravy train while it lasted. The trouble is that when one client keeps you that busy, you never have the time to build the alternative. You're too busy dealing with what's in front of you.
There's also a hidden cost owners miss. You scale up around that client to serve them, which means staff and freelancers you wouldn't need without them. If they leave, you lose the revenue and you're left carrying the team.
The way out isn't to push the big client away. It's to stop relying on luck and referrals and build a marketing engine you can switch on. The question to ask yourself is simple: if they disappeared tomorrow, what would you do on Monday morning?
Audit every client: total revenue, number of jobs, average spend, time spent and margin, worked down to margin per day. The top of that list tells you who to go and find more of, so your biggest client stays a choice rather than a dependency.
Which of these have you taken on or put in place recently?
What's the one thing you can commit to implementing this week? If you're not sure, start here.
Put the last twelve months of clients in a spreadsheet: revenue, number of jobs, days spent and margin. Work out margin per day and circle the top two. Those are the clients you go and find more of.
One thing executed every week creates 50 strategic moves a year.
Questions like these come up regularly on our weekly Elite Boardroom calls. If you'd like someone to hold you to account each week, and to learn from a group of peers who run video businesses too, the Boardroom is for you.