Top-n share

Revenue from the largest n customers over total revenue, usually for n of 1, 5 and 10. The board's customer concentration figure; reported with the trend and split per segment and per rep.

DefinitionRevenue from the largest n customers over total revenue, usually for n of 1, 5 and 10. The board's customer concentration figure; reported with the trend and split per segment and per rep.

No universal threshold

The comparison is the company's own history and its segment. Rising with a static customer count is the signal.

Roll-up first

Duplicate customer records split a large customer in two and understate the share. Check the identity before reading.

How it is computed

Revenue of the largest n customers, after rolling up to parents, divided by total revenue, for n of 1, 5 and 10, with the prior year beside each.

Example

Largest customer 12 percent, top five 31, top ten 40. Last year 9, 27 and 38.

Where it goes wrong

Subsidiaries left separate. A group buying through six entities appears six times below the line.

Articles that use this term

Board and management reporting

Concentration by industry: where a large top-ten share is normal, and where it is risk

Concentration is measured the same way everywhere, top-n share, count to half, the index, and what a high figure means depends on the desk: normal in a category with a few large buyers, a dependency in one with many. This hub gives, for twelve industries, what is concentrated, on which axis, what a typical top-ten share looks like, when it is a strength and when it is a risk, and the guide for each.

16 Sept 20263 min read Board and management reporting

Customer concentration: how to measure it and what the number means

Three ways to measure customer concentration from a revenue ledger, top-n share, the Herfindahl index and the count to half, what each is good for, a worked example, why the measure is reported per segment and per rep as well as for the company, and how to tell healthy concentration from dependency.

16 Sept 20263 min read How-to guides

Sales analytics KPI definitions: thirty measures on one page, each with its formula

Thirty sales and commercial measures defined in one sentence each with the formula, grouped by what they describe: coverage and activity, wallet and depth, retention and churn, pipeline and forecast, concentration and reporting, and data quality. Each links to a full definition. Written so that a team can adopt the definitions as its own, version them, and stop arguing about what a number means.

16 Sept 20264 min read Board and management reporting

Ten questions a CFO asks about sales data, and the table that answers each

The ten questions a chief financial officer puts to the commercial team, does the sales number reconcile, how concentrated are we, what is the base worth, is the forecast believable, where is revenue leaking, what does it cost to serve the top accounts, are credits under control, is the pipeline real, what did the discounting cost, and what changed, each with the computed table that answers it, the identity that makes the answer trustworthy, and the answer a CFO should refuse.

16 Sept 20263 min read Coverage and territory · Sports

Ten questions a sports commercial director asks, and the table that answers each

The ten questions a club or league's commercial director puts to the partnerships, hospitality and ticketing teams, which partners were under-delivered against what they paid, which inventory sells out early and which never sells, which partners are late to renew against their own history, which hospitality seats sit empty and whose, which members look like hospitality buyers and were never asked, what is the delivery ratio against package discount, which fixtures leave the most unsold, which partners' primary contact changed, what is partner concentration by value, and what changed, each with the table from the contracts, the inventory master, the delivery log and the ticketing ledger, and the answer to send back.

16 Sept 20262 min read Board and management reporting

The product tail: revenue concentration by line, and what the long tail costs to keep

How to measure revenue concentration across product lines from the ledger, the same three measures used for customers, top-n share, the count to half and the index, applied to products, the tail of lines that together earn little, the customers who buy only tail lines, and the two decisions the tail forces: which lines to keep because a core customer needs them and which to retire because nobody does.

16 Sept 20263 min read