Segment Your Customers
How much attention clients get often depends on their contract size or the number of tickets they submit. But the level of strategic support given shouldn’t be based on just monthly spend or left up to individual account managers. Segmenting based on other factors — like client maturity or goals — will help you give them what they need and use your team’s time more wisely (vs. a one-size-fits-all approach).
In this section, we’ll cover:
- Which factors matter the most for segmentation
- How to group clients together for success planning
- What support level each group needs to drive success
Categorize High-Value vs. Low Potential Clients
Customer segments don’t need to be complicated. A small number of specific tiers will make it easy to figure out how to categorize clients and serve them best.
If you only look at how much a client spends, you’ll miss important characteristics — like their openness to change and how they’re operating today against their goals. To balance these out, use two key factors to sort them into four quadrants:
How standardized and operationally stable their IT environment is. (Are they making ad-hoc, reactive improvements to their infrastructure? Or attempting to proactively optimize their systems?)
How engaged and forward-looking they are. (Are they showing up to meetings? Sharing feedback? Volunteering information about their business goals — or just focused on technical support?)
Here’s what each customer group means:
Segment A → “Transform”
Segment B → “Modernize”
Segment C → “Educate”
Segment D → “Sustain”
If you don’t have solid customer data, sort clients manually based on gut feel or company size.
As you gather more information, you can do more structured scoring.
Start Your Playbook for Each Segment
Once you know where a client sits, you can match your approach to their needs. Their quadrant should guide how you approach meetings, focus areas, and account ownership.
Generally, clients with more maturity or willingness should be given a more hands-on, strategy-focused approach. Less mature or active clients should get more tactical support and automated touchpoints. Mapping out these guidelines will not only end the guessing games for your customer-facing teams but also improve client outcomes.
| Segment | Review Timing | Key Initiatives | Relationship Owner(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transform (Segment A - High Maturity, High Appetite) | Frequently | Transform the business through innovation using OKRs. | vCIO or Strategic Advisor |
| Modernize (Segment B - Low Maturity, High Appetite) | Every few months | Modernize their systems and reset expectations for the future. | vCIO + TAM |
| Educate (Segment C - High Maturity, Low Appetite) | A few times a year | Keep things running smoothly and suggest low-risk improvements. | TAM or Account Manager |
| Sustain (Segment D - Low Maturity, Low Appetite) | As needed | Provide basic, reactive technical support without overwhelming them. | Helpdesk or Service Coordinator |
Also, clients can change quadrants over time and some tactics may become less effective — so check in regularly and adjust your playbooks as needed.
