Do you sell to many or to few?

For months I've been writing about advertising and how to tell whether it works. But most of my week goes to something else: helping companies that sell to 40 customers, not 4,000.

And there the question changes. Almost everything written about marketing assumes you have a lot of people to reach. If that's not you, that advice only half applies, or it leads you to measure the wrong thing.

This guide is for deciding which of the two worlds you're in, and what to look at in each.

The test: do your potential customers fit on a list?

Think of the people or companies that could buy from you this year. Not the ones you'd like to have: the ones that really could.

If there are thousands and you couldn't name them, you sell to many.
If there are a few dozen and you could write them in a spreadsheet without much digging, you sell to few.

There's no exact cutoff. With 300 you're in the middle, and both halves of this guide may help. The practical question is a different one: does losing one of them hurt? If one customer more or less goes unnoticed, you sell to many. If each one weighs, you sell to few.

If you sell to many: measure your advertising

With thousands of potential customers, the average rules. A bad month is offset by a good one, and you can learn by watching what happens across hundreds of visits.

Your question is how much comes back for every peso you put in, and to answer it your site has to record what each visit does properly. That's most of what I've written so far:

Which are the four numbers a small business should track.
How to tell whether your advertising works, which starts by checking that the measurement is real.
What a good return looks like in your sector, told from your margin.

If you're in this group, the next step may be all you need: scan your site and see what it's measuring.

If you sell to few: the average stops helping

Say you sell to 40 companies. Each one is 2.5% of your market. Letting one slip because you didn't call in time shows up over the year.

At that size, measuring advertising does less than you'd think. An ad puts you in front of people who look like your customer. It doesn't know which of those 40 companies has a reason to listen to you today, and that's the only thing you care about.

So what you need to know is different: which of those few is ready now. A company that just changed its manager and one that's had the same team for four years are, for you, two different markets even though they're on the same list.

That changes three things:

Who you look for. It's no longer "people who look like my customer," it's companies with a name and a surname.
What you watch. It's no longer what each visit did on your site. It's what happens inside each company on your list.
How you know you're doing well. It's no longer how much comes back per peso. It's how many of those companies move toward a conversation.

Often, someone who sells this way grows through referrals. It works until you run out of acquaintances, and then it shows there's no process behind it, just an address book.

The mistake of measuring with the wrong yardstick

It's an easy one: someone who sells to few, with a campaign running and a nice number on the dashboard. How much a click costs, how many forms came in.

The number can be perfect and the campaign may not have touched any of the 40 companies that matter. The platform counts everyone who clicked. It doesn't tell a potential customer from a student looking for something else.

The reverse happens too. Someone who sells to thousands and obsesses over an account list wastes time: at that volume you can't follow each one.

What to do this week

Three steps, nothing to install.

One. Write down how many potential customers you have. One number, even if approximate.

Two. If they fit on a list, write the list. Next to each name, note when someone on your team last spoke with someone at that company. You'll quickly see which ones have gone cold.

Three. If you sell to many, start with the four numbers. If you sell to few, the question is what changes inside each company on your list that tells you it's the moment.

Frequently asked questions

How many customers counts as "selling to few"?
There's no cutoff. A practical way to tell: if you can write your potential customers in a spreadsheet, and losing one shows up over the year, you sell to few. If you couldn't even list them, you sell to many.

Does advertising work if I sell to few customers?
It helps people get to know you, but it measures poorly. An ad puts you in front of people similar to your customer; it doesn't tell you which of your few potential customers has a reason to buy today.

What do I measure if I sell to few?
How many companies on your list move toward a conversation, not how much each click costs. It's a smaller number, but it answers what you decide.

What if I'm in the middle, with a few hundred potential customers?
Combine both. Measure your advertising for the bulk, and treat the 20 or 30 accounts that weigh the most as if you sold to few.

Why do many B2B small businesses grow through referrals?
Because when you sell to few, trust weighs more than reach. It works as long as you have acquaintances left, which is why it pays to also have a process for reaching those who don't know you yet.

If you sell to many and want to know what your site measures today, scan it for free. Nothing to install, no agency. If you sell to few, see how we build a sales process around you.