Typically, 80 percent of your profitability comes from 20 percent of your accounts. Yet, if you are like most businesses, you spread your attention across 100 percent of your accounts while you scramble to acquire even more. Salespeople often hunt for business, which provides some reward in the short term, but ultimately, is bad for your business.

How many customers do you have that purchase little from you, and yet are demanding in terms of the support and attention they require? At the other extreme are those customers that do purchase a lot from you, but they exploit you. You are told that you are a preferred supplier, but what this really means is you must do more, faster and for less money.

And then there's the right-fit customer. The right-fit customer is good for your business. They understand and appreciate your value, and they do not squabble over your price. They want you to be profitable, because you enable them to be profitable.

More often than not, the right-fit customer has been with you for some time. This is the danger. Somehow, pursuing what we don't have is more exciting than cultivating what we have. Like almost all relationships, if we are not careful, we begin to take those people closest to us for granted.

While you neglect these customers because they've been with you for so long, they are on the must-win list for your competition. Your competitors are wooing them with well-thought-out and innovative value propositions. New decision-makers are probably emerging who don't have a sense of loyalty to your firm.

The writing is on the wall. It won't be long before you get that shocking and surprising email that says your services are no longer required.

As business becomes increasingly competitive, every business leader must have clarity with respect to those businesses it is ideally suited to serve. These may include characteristics such as: industry, size, organizational structure, culture and strategy. In addition to these, one of the most important attributes that every leader should pay attention to is willingness to partner.

Most business leaders today recognize that they can't be great at everything. They need to focus on their core competencies and rely on business partners to complement their abilities. This spells opportunity for strategic partnerships.

These partnerships, however, do not happen automatically. They require a high degree of trust and confidence that the partnering organization really understands what they are trying to accomplish and their go-to-market strategies. This is the job of the account manager.

A successful partnership, however, cannot be accomplished solely by the account manager. It's the account manager's job to gain insight around the emerging needs of the client. Addressing these emerging needs will most likely require innovation. This innovation may mean investment in R&D, reassignment of resources, and possibly, the restructuring of your company.

It's not business as usual. It's a race for relevance and to win it, you must be clear about who you want to be relevant to. This is a big shift, and it is the difference between being product-centric and becoming client-centric.

Take the time to figure out who your most profitable and high potential clients are. Invest in looking after them and finding more clients like them.

The 80/20 principle is nothing new. What's new is the uncertainty of our hyper-competitive economy. We can significantly increase our success by rigorously applying this 80/20 principle.