What Losing My Biggest Customer Taught Me About Building a Bulletproof Business

And it didn’t just come from the customers’ requests. Sometimes I was the one that had to do the firing. I had to let go of a toxic client or one that consistently paid their invoices late to protect the business. 

But losing a big customer doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. In most of my cases, it led to growth.

How to get revenue back on track after losing your biggest customer

1. Go after mid-tier accounts. When you lose a lottery customer, your first inclination is to try to get another whale.  But large customer accounts typically take a long time to close unless they’ve been in your pipeline for a while.  Instead, target mid-tier accounts that are smack dab in the middle of your average revenue range. This will give you breathing room to make payroll while you go after the larger prospects. 
2. Upsell current customers. You probably ignored your smaller customers while you gave premium service to your largest client. Go back to your current “best fit” customers and give them some love. See where they have gaps and make sure they clearly understand all the products and services you have to offer. 
3. Audit your pipeline for ghosts. Losing your biggest customer presents an opportunity to dive deep into your sales database to keep the prospects that have a pulse and delete the ones that have truly ghosted you. 
4. Call your past customers. Former clients who left on good terms are some of the easiest revenue you will ever close. They already know your work, your team, and your pricing. Call and ask what’s changed for their company or find past raving fans that have moved on to new opportunities.  
5. Diversify so this situation doesn’t happen again. As you rebuild, set a hard internal rule about concentration risk and hold yourself to it, even when a big logo is tempting. Growth that recreates the same vulnerability is not real growth. Keeping your largest client revenue below 20 percent is especially important if you plan to sell in the next three years.
6. Tighten your coffers and get a line of credit. Losing a major account will be a cash problem in 60 days. Revisit payment terms with remaining clients, delay nonessential spending, and talk to your lender or line of credit before you need it, not after. Secure a line of credit if you don’t already have one. 
7. Don’t get caught off guard again. Put internal customer satisfaction processes in place so you don’t get blindsided in the future. Set alerts with your customers’ brand names to stay ahead of any mergers or sales. Your account managers and customer success employees should sense trouble before you get the call or email.  
8. Revisit your pricing. Losing your biggest customer is a chance to ask whether you were underpricing that account. Many leaders give discounts to their largest customer to get the impressive case study, then recoup margin off the other accounts. Rebuild your pricing around what the work is actually worth, not around what it took to retain that one large account.

Losing your biggest customer will always sting. When it happened to me, it pushed me to build something stronger, more diversified, and ultimately more sellable and valuable. 

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If it happens to you, do not just replace the revenue. Rebuild the business so no single customer can ever hold that much power over it again.