Most account managers think growth comes from keeping every client equally happy. That mindset keeps you busy - but not necessarily effective.

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The truth? Not every client deserves the same energy.

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Harvard’s Frank Cespedes calls it the 90/10 world - ten percent of your clients drive nearly all your growth. The rest renew, stall, or quietly decline. Yet most AMs still spend their time maintaining balance across accounts instead of compounding value where it matters most.

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You Don’t Manage Clients. You Manage a Portfolio.

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Your book of business is a portfolio - not a list of names.
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Just like a portfolio manager balances risk and return, your job is to protect the base, contain losses, and double down where growth potential is real.

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When you start thinking this way, your language shifts:

• Old Way: “I manage ten customers.”
  
  
• New Way: “I manage a $1 million portfolio.”
  

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That small change rewires how you operate. You stop chasing tasks and start running revenue like an owner.

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Why Most AMs Plateau

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Here’s the trap: You hit renewals, keep clients satisfied, and call it a win.

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But “stable” portfolios quietly shrink. A 95% renewal rate sounds good — until you realize that a few big expansions are the only thing keeping you ahead of churn and stasis. Without those outliers, your numbers go backward.

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The goal isn’t perfection across accounts. The goal is performance across the portfolio.

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Top performers don’t treat every client the same - they allocate time, creativity, and executive access to the few accounts that can change the math.

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Think Like a Growth Department, Not Customer Support

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Our A10X Growth Program reframes what it means to “manage” clients:

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You’re not here to maintain renewals. You’re here to lead growth, run revenue, and drive change. That shift requires discipline and systemization. Random effort equals stress.
Repeatable systems equal calm - and predictable growth.

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When you adopt portfolio thinking, you see your accounts not as tasks to complete but as assets to grow. That’s how you start earning revenue instead of just retaining it.

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A10X Resource: The Portfolio Thinking Primer

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Inside the A10X course, you’ll find a dedicated resource - “Portfolio Thinking: A Primer for Account Managers.” It’s a short, sharp guide that shows you how to:

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• Map your book of business into growth, stable, and risk segments
  
  
• Allocate your time where it drives compounding results
  
  
• Measure your portfolio’s real performance, not just renewals
  

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It’s the mindset and math behind sustainable, exponential growth - the missing link for AMs stuck in maintenance mode.

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Join A10X and Start Managing Growth Like an Owner

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This week’s session - The Growth Mindset - goes deeper into how to apply the 90/10 rule and start operating like a portfolio manager.

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Join the A10X Course to access the full resource, the session recording, and the practical frameworks that turn your accounts into a growth engine.

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👉 Learn more and join at https://community.amplifyam.com/checkout/the-a10x-growth-system