All Gravy Trains Come To An End — by Dan Lynn
By Dan Lynn
Every so often you land a client who pays you a lot for not much — high revenue, low effort, almost no expense. It feels fantastic. Pure gravy.
Enjoy it, but don't build on it. Business runs on a fair exchange of value, and any deal where you're getting far more than you're giving is out of balance. Sooner or later that balance corrects itself — the client wises up, a competitor shows up, budgets tighten — and the gravy train stops.
Realize it will end. All gravy trains do. So, before it does, focus on delivering value that's genuinely worth what you're paid. That's the relationship that survives.
Questions this Key Learning answers
What do I do with an unusually profitable client account?
Dan Lynn’s lesson is to enjoy the unusually easy margin without building the business around it. The author treats that profit as temporary because competitors, tighter budgets, or a more informed client can end it. Our analysis suggests using the profitable period to create clear outcomes and capabilities the client considers worth the price.
Should I hire based on one high-margin client?
The author warns that a high-revenue, low-effort account is not a dependable foundation. Our analysis specifically cautions against treating the windfall as recurring income for forecasts, hiring, or fixed costs. The imbalance will eventually be corrected, so the durable foundation is a fair exchange in which the client receives genuine, defensible value.
How do I keep an easy client account from disappearing?
The author says to focus, before scrutiny arrives, on delivering value genuinely worth the fee. Our analysis adds that the outcomes should be visible and defensible: money earned or saved, risk reduced, time recovered, or capability created. That gives the client reasons to renew, expand the relationship, and advocate for it internally.