tyler-smith.com · Questions & Answers

Our top three enterprise accounts represent forty percent of our revenue and refuse to communicate with anyone other than our VP of Sales. How do buyers evaluate this vulnerability, and how do we decouple these relationships over a two-year runway?

When forty percent of company revenue is tied to your top three accounts, and those accounts deal exclusively with your VP of Sales, your business does not own those relationships. That VP of Sales owns them. Buyers consider this an existential risk. If that executive resigns post-transaction, demands extortionate equity to stay, or decides to start a competing firm, your core cash flow vanishes overnight.

To eliminate this vulnerability over a two-year runway, you must institutionalize customer account management. Start by unbundling the relationship. Redesign your Accountability Chart so that enterprise relationships are owned by cross-functional teams rather than an individual rainmaker. Transition day-to-day communication, technical service delivery, and operational reviews to dedicated account managers and project delivery leaders.

Implement a formal quarterly business review cadence with your top enterprise clients. Ensure your Integrator, director of operations, and technical leads participate actively in every strategic review. Document client histories, pricing structures, contract terms, and operational preferences systematically inside your CRM.

Introduce contract terms that formalize the company-to-company relationship, such as multi-tiered communication protocols and dedicated executive sponsorship programs. When prospective acquirers audit your revenue quality, show them that your top clients have touchpoints across three levels of your organization. Demonstrating that the relationship rests securely on company infrastructure rather than personal affinity protects your enterprise value.

Category: Exit Planning

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