Prioritize
If you’re familiar with the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 Rule) you understand that results are not evenly distributed. In business, that means certain customers are more valuable than others are. This uneven distribution is why prioritizing customers and prospects is critical in allocating sales time and resources.
There is no best way to prioritize customers and prospects. Whatever method you devise will normally work for both. In developing a prioritizing system think how big, how many, how much, how often, etc. You will develop your system quicker if you base it on your experience with your most profitable customers. If your sales reps concentrate their efforts on prospects that have the same characteristics as your most profitable customers’ they will generate greater revenue and you will be more profitable.
Here is a list of things you may want to consider in prioritizing your prospects and customers.
What products and services do your most profitable customers buy? What did you base your decision on, was it quantity or what they purchased?
Using that criteria, what would constitute an A Customer? What would constitute a B, a C or D customer?
What industry or industries are they in?
What factors drive their purchases? Is it the number of employees, the season, technological change, currency values, imports or exports? What drive their purchase decisions?
What job descriptions/titles are normally involved in the decision making process? While you are building that list, don’t forget to include the decision maker that has ultimate budget authority.
How does their buying process work?
When prioritizing prospects it is also helpful to know who they are purchasing from now and how willing they are to do business with your organization.
We suggest you consider creating a point system based on the importance of each of the criteria you selected. For instance, if prospects in a particular industry are more prone to buy than others, that industry should receive more points than other industries. The same thing would be true for other indicators in your list.