Are You Watering Weeds Instead of Growing Fruit? Sometimes, strategic pruning isn’t just an option, it’s a necessity.

Are You Watering Weeds Instead of Growing Fruit? Sometimes, strategic pruning isn’t just an option, it’s a necessity.

I have discussed this with friends who are small business owners, and it was a frequent gut check I shared with sales teams during my leadership at a major-market TV station.

If you devote 80% of your time to watering the weeds, unproductive efforts, or misaligned clients, you cannot expect a harvest of high-quality fruit. 

To achieve real growth, you have to periodically pause, assess your resources, and prune.

Sometimes I take a contrarian approach to things, and I do with the 80/20 rule (Pareto’s Principle) 

80% of sales come from 20% of the team.

80% of the headaches come from 20% of the clients.

I choose to flip it. I intentionally invest 80% of my time with my best clients.

It isn't always easy, and frankly, it can be a bit scary to prune accounts that don't fit. This disciplined focus yields compounded results:

Deeper Understanding: You move from vendor to partner.

Smarter Innovation: You solve problems before they arise.

Unmatched Excellence: You provide a level of service that competitors, who are too busy watering weeds, simply cannot match.

Strategic pruning isn’t a retreat; it’s a requirement for a better harvest. It’s about making the difficult decision to let go of less productive accounts so they can be better served elsewhere, while you maximize growth for those who value your excellence most.

The key question: Are you pruning or watering?