The Research: Grow Existing Accounts Faster
If your goal is to accelerate revenue, your best option is to start with the customers you already have. Strategic account management research from Bain shows that retaining existing customers is nearly seven times less costly than acquiring new ones and that repeat customers spend on average 67% more than new clients.
This of course assumes that you have enough potential at your existing client base to meet your revenue targets. This article should help you figure out how to:
- Maximize Current Accounts: A deliberate strategy to grow existing accounts faster.
- Quantify Current Account Potential: A clear way to calculate your total available market.
What Does It Take to Grow Existing Accounts Faster?
True customer loyalty — and the willingness to buy more — requires more than a strong salesperson relationship. It demands consistent, organization-wide effort. You must demonstrate that your team is aligned with your customers’ priorities and fully invested in their success, both personally and professionally. Growth comes not from transactions, but from proving that your organization is a trusted, indispensable partner.
6 Ways to Begin to Grow Existing Accounts Faster
What surprises most sales reps is that research from Gartner found that “keeping the customer happy” boosts renewal likelihood, but has essentially zero statistical relationship with incremental spend or net new product adoption in those accounts. What does? Consistently delivering a forward-looking vision of how the customer could improve.
If you are truly committed to building customer loyalty and selling more solutions to existing customers, you need to be sure that you help your customers to improve by:
- Focusing on Ideal Target Accounts that You Can Help
Sales rep assessment simulation data tells us that high performing sales reps ruthlessly focus on target customers where they know they should win the majority of the time based upon your unique value proposition. Ideal target accounts don’t just buy stuff; they passionately buy and promote what you have to offer.
Start by defining, identifying, and prioritizing your ideal target clients so that you are you are not chasing or serving the wrong accounts.
- Knowing Exactly How to Help Your Target Accounts to Improve
Once you’ve identified your ideal target accounts, it’s critical that your team continually understands your customers’ top priorities and clearly communicates how you can help them succeed — tailored to their unique situation. Your sales team likely had a strong grasp of what mattered most when you first won the business.
But have you kept pace with your customers’ evolving needs? In truly customer-centric organizations, staying ahead requires relentless focus: observing, listening, and adapting to ensure you are always solving the challenges that matter most. Obsession with understanding and enabling your customers’ success is what separates fleeting transactions from lasting, profitable relationships.
- Calculating Account Potential
Calculating potential revenue at current client accounts requires combining financial data, market intelligence, and relationship insights to estimate how much additional business your existing clients could generate if fully developed. Potential revenue represents the total addressable opportunity within an account — the maximum revenue possible if the client used all relevant products or services your company offers, based on their size, needs, and budget. We recommend this proven formula:
Account Potential = Current Annual Revenue + Total Addressable Spend × Your Realistic Share of Wallet
While current annual revenue is known, finalizing the other variables is as much art as science. The best account teams combine data-driven analysis with client insight to focus energy on target clients who are ready to buy more. Validate your assumptions by considering:
- Upcoming business initiatives or strategic shifts.
- Competitor presence.
- Internal champions and relationship depth.
- Contract renewals or procurement cycles.
- Client satisfaction and openness to cross-selling.
- Likelihood of conversion.
- Aligning Front-line Staff to Helping Your Target Accounts Improve
Your customer service and delivery teams are the face of your organization — they are responsible for bringing your brand promise to life. But are they fully equipped and trained to help your customers to operate more efficiently, save more, make more, or compete better?
Account growth requires a consistent and tangible demonstration of your organization’s commitment to customer improvement. You need your front-line staff to play their part in retaining existing customers, uncovering new opportunities, and driving customer performance. Their actions directly influence whether customers trust you, remain loyal, and continue to invest in your solutions.
When your front-line teams embody this mindset, they become powerful catalysts for growth and long-term client loyalty.
- Never Taking a Customer for Granted
Exceptional customer service is expected — but meeting basic expectations alone won’t grow your existing accounts. Retention requires consistent value creation, delivered through timely, thoughtful, and relevant interactions.
Remember: your competition is always ready to step in. Customers need more than occasional check-ins — they need meaningful, value-added conversations that demonstrate your commitment to their success. Regularly engaging in this way ensures your organization stays top of mind, deepens loyalty, and uncovers meaningful opportunities for growth.
- Relentlessly Seeking Out Growth Opportunities
Growth in existing accounts rarely happens by chance. Proactively define and execute sales strategies that identify opportunities for cross-selling, upselling, and expanding your footprint — always keeping the focus on what matters most to each customer, typically improving performance or mitigating risk.
Whenever possible, bring fresh insights and actionable ideas to the table. Demonstrating thought leadership and a deep understanding of your customer’s priorities not only strengthens trust but also creates new avenues for meaningful growth.
The Bottom Line
The fastest path to growing existing accounts is consistently delivering world-class solutions and support to your most important customers. Don’t rest on past successes — stay attuned to evolving customer needs, follow through on every commitment, and continually invest in creating meaningful value. Growth comes to those who are proactive, attentive, and relentlessly focused on helping their customers succeed.
To learn more about how to grow existing accounts faster, download 4 Steps to Clearly Define Your Ideal Target Client Profile
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