Bill CanadyCEO & Founder, The 80/20 Institute · Be a Great CEO: Learn how to Fix it, Grow it, & Sell it.

Find HUGE Growth in Your Biggest Customer!

30 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Bill Canady reveals a striking case study of a billion‑dollar company whose sales were heavily concentrated: 200 customers generated over 90% of revenue and just 20 customers accounted for 65% of total revenue. He convenes the sales leadership to examine the top ten accounts, discovering that the #1 customer was generating $40 million annually but had stalled growth. By asking the team to estimate the total addressable spend for that customer within the company’s existing geography and product portfolio—without adding new markets or lines—they uncovered a $250 million upside. This single opportunity exceeded the $200 million growth target for the entire firm, illustrating that massive growth can often be found by digging into the existing biggest customers rather than seeking new ones.

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We had 16,000 suppliers, 12,000 customers, and when we peeled it back, 200 customers were over 90% of our sales, and 20 of them were 65% of the revenue of the entire company. A billion-dollar business running on 20 customers. Nobody in that business realized that. I got the sales leaders in a room and I said, tell me about our top 10 accounts. Number 1 was doing $40 million a year with us. It was a big deal, and it hadn't been growing, which was an even bigger deal. So I asked, in just the geography that we're already serving, with just the products we already sell, no new countries, no new lines, how much is available to that one customer if we get all of it? They went and did the work, came back, $250 million. Wow. And that's the number that gets your attention. We needed $200 million of growth for the whole company, and we had more opportunity than we needed sitting inside of our single biggest customer. So start in your own backyard. You'll be amazed at how much is already there.