Grab a pen and paper. Write down, from the top of your head, your three best customers.
Having done so, what criteria did you use to define the word 'best'?
Direct monetary value to your business?
How much you like them?
The length of time you have worked together?
How good a payer they are?
All of the above are valid and many business owners will choose one, some or all of these criteria to decide on their best clients. (More often than not the 'direct monetary value to your business' is the number one criterion used.)
However, it is also important to take into account 'the amount of business your clients refer to you' in deciding on your 'best' customers.
With this in mind, how many of your three best customers chosen have referred business to you?
This simple exercise is to highlight the fact that although a client may not make your 'best' list because you do not earn high levels of direct income from them, they may jump to the top of your list because of the combined revenue from referrals they have passed to you.
Action
Assess your client list based on the level of business they have referred to you. It will highlight the clients that are your sales people in disguise and those that you could target for more referrals.
If you liked this, you may find the blog post - 'Asking for Referrals' of interest.
Why not complete the LinkedIn Poll - 'How Do You Define Your 'Best' Customers?'