The Whale. The ideal-profile share of new-client revenue dropped from 89% to 82% from August, and if nothing changes it slides toward 80%. The Whale now pulls this lever: new clients from referrals and partners take it to about 90% by February.
Illustrative. Juniper Ridge Advisory is a fictional firm with a full year of modeled data, analyzed the way we analyze yours.
How to calculate it
Define your ideal client profile from your best-margin clients: their industry, size, how they found you, what they bought first. Then measure the share of new revenue that comes from clients who match, and the gap in margin, retention and referrals between matching and non-matching clients.
If 80% of new revenue comes from ideal-profile clients, and they retain 15 points better, the profile is real. If there's no gap, redraw it.
Sales celebrates every win the same way, whatever the fit.
Sharper targeting, a qualifying step early in the process, and the discipline to decline poor fits.
Revenue you choose not to take, in the short term.
A profile written once and never checked against actual margin.