Growth-Intent Account Prioritization
Concentrate scarce support on clients who demonstrate an appetite to grow
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
Growth-Intent Account Prioritization is a resource-allocation rule for thin territories and overloaded account managers. Instead of treating every account as equally likely to expand, evaluate each client and identify the people who genuinely want to build more business. Distinguish them from clients who are satisfied maintaining their current volume. Concentrate coaching, attention, and energy on the growth-seeking group, then help those clients improve their own businesses. The mechanism creates leverage: stronger client companies generate more territory volume, turning a supposedly poor market into a productive one. The decision rule is behavioral and aspirational rather than based only on current production. Reassess results over time so focused investment remains tied to actual progress.
Origin
Assigned East Tennessee, then considered the company's worst territory, Bryan Miller evaluated every broker and invested in those who wanted to grow until the territory produced hundreds of monthly loans.
Core principles
- 01Scarce time should follow demonstrated growth intent
- 02A weak territory can contain strong individual opportunities
- 03Client ambition matters more than broad market reputation
- 04Focused support can create business rather than merely capture it
How to run it
- 1
Map the territory
Review every client rather than accepting the market's overall reputation as destiny.
Pro tip Assess individual opportunity even when aggregate territory volume is weak.
- 2
Test growth intent
Learn which clients want to expand and which are genuinely content with their current level.
Pro tip Listen for willingness to change and work, not only verbal enthusiasm.
Watch out Do not confuse current size with future appetite.
- 3
Choose the growth group
Prioritize clients whose goals and behavior indicate that deeper support can produce expansion.
Watch out Spreading attention evenly can leave every growth opportunity under-supported.
- 4
Invest deeply
Direct time, energy, and business-building help toward the selected clients.
Pro tip Focus on improving the client's business, not merely asking for more volume.
- 5
Measure created growth
Track whether supported clients and the territory produce more business, then adjust the priority list.
Watch out Do not continue concentrated support indefinitely when growth intent never becomes action.
In the wild
Miller received half of a state that previously did not generate enough loans to keep one account executive employed. He evaluated the brokers, invested in those who wanted more, and helped several build from scratch.
→ The territory grew from insufficient volume to a couple hundred loans a month, and Miller became the company's top account executive.
Common mistakes
Writing off the whole market
A weak territory label can hide individual clients with meaningful ambition and potential.
Allocating support evenly
Equal time ignores differences in clients' appetite and ability to act on help.
Selecting only by current volume
Current production may miss smaller operators who are ready to build.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for account managers responsible for an underdeveloped territory with more accounts than they can deeply support.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal where service obligations require equal high-touch support regardless of a client's goals.
From the transcript
“what I had to do is identify every single person that wanted to grow their business”
“the people that wanted to grow that wanted to do more those are the ones that I invested in my time and energy into”
From the episode
Rising to the Top in Mortgage ft. Bryan Miller
Bryan Miller