Customer Segments – Who Deserves Your Best?
Many leadership teams still don’t know who their best customers really are.
They know who shouts the loudest.
They know who spends the most time with them.
They know who complains.
They know who buys occasionally but demands constantly.
What they often don’t know is:
Which customers truly deserve their best attention, resource, and leadership focus.
That realisation usually arrives in a single uncomfortable moment.
The Portfolio Realisation
It happens the first time a leadership team sees their entire customer base mapped visually – Customer Segments.
- Logos laid out.
- Metrics surfaced.
- Relationships assessed.
- Cost-to-serve exposed.
- Opportunities highlighted.
There’s a moment of silence. Someone leans back in their chair and says:
“Why are we spending the most time on the accounts that value us least?”
Because for the first time, the organisation can see the imbalance:
- high-effort, low-return accounts consuming energy
- quiet but profitable accounts being ignored
- promising relationships under-invested in
- strained accounts draining morale
It isn’t intentional. It’s the consequence of operating without customer segments.
Without a clear portfolio view, energy spreads reactively. Who:
- emailed last
- complained loudest
- demanded an urgent meeting
- finance is chasing
- sales “feels” important
This is how organisations exhaust themselves.
The Purpose of Customer Segments in SUCCESS
The purpose of “C — Customer Segments” is not classification.
It’s focus. Segmentation in the SUCCESS framework asks a leadership-level question:
“Where should we invest our best to generate the greatest mutual growth?”
Customers are not all created equal. Not every account is ready for Account-Based Growth.
Not every relationship can or should become strategic.
The Customer Segments stage is where:
- analysis becomes prioritisation
- understanding becomes choice
- insight becomes direction
It translates clean data and shared truth from Understanding & Unification into:
- who to co-create with
- who to nurture
- who to serve efficiently
- who to let go gracefully
This is where growth accelerates — not by doing more, but by focusing better.
The Oak Consult Fit × Value Matrix (light)
At the centre of Oak’s approach is a simple but powerful idea:
Growth happens where commercial logic and human trust meet.
Oak Consult’s Fit × Value Matrix helps leadership see this clearly.
Each account is evaluated on two dimensions:
Fit
How well the account aligns to where the business should win.
This considers:
- problem–solution match
- delivery capability
- sector adjacency
- partnership potential
Value
How much mutual benefit exists or can be realised.
This considers:
- current contribution
- margin quality
- expansion potential
- pricing power
- cost-to-serve
Plotting customers against Fit and Value reveals something leaders rarely see:
A portfolio that tells the truth.
Insight Becomes Strategy
The Matrix is not about labelling customers.
It is about enabling leadership to make confident decisions around:
- investment
- governance
- executive sponsorship
- resource allocation
- account focus
Supported by data, but interpreted through:
- judgement
- experience
- conversation
Because segmentation is not a spreadsheet exercise.
It is a strategic dialogue.
Adding the Human Lens
Numbers tell only half the story.
Many accounts look attractive commercially but fail because the relationship lacks:
- trust
- access
- openness
- shared ambition
So Oak adds a human dimension — the “third leg of the stool”:
The People & Trust Overlay, using three relationship states:
🟢 Trusted
Multi-threaded, open dialogue, named executive sponsors on both sides.
🟠 Transactional
Functional relationships exist but lack depth or shared ambition.
🔴 Fragile
Single point of contact, reactive behaviour, or recent tension.
This overlay transforms segmentation from static reporting into a live relationship conversation. Accounts marked amber or red are not necessarily bad. They’re opportunities for human repair.
Why Leaders React So Strongly
When leaders see Fit, Value, and Trust mapped together:
they immediately notice:
- where energy is being wasted
- where hidden growth sits
- where relationships need attention
- where difficult decisions must be made
It creates clarity.
And clarity creates momentum.
The C.O.R.E. Portfolio Model
To turn insight into action, Oak uses a portfolio structure that reframes how leaders think about their customer base — not by size or noise, but by strategic purpose.
The model is simple:
C.O.R.E.
Co-Creators (C)
Deep, strategic partnerships that shape mutual growth.
These are the accounts where:
- executive alignment exists on both sides
- co-innovation is possible
- joint planning adds value
- shared ambition drives momentum
Strategic intent:
Invest. Build. Grow together.
Opportunities (O)
High-fit accounts with headroom to grow.
These often sit quietly in the portfolio because they:
- don’t demand attention
- don’t escalate issues
- don’t require firefighting
…but they have:
- strong fit
- clear potential
- expanding needs
- appetite for deeper partnership
Strategic intent:
Develop the relationship. Expand value.
Reliables (R)
Stable, profitable accounts that deliver steady value.
They:
- buy regularly
- pay on time
- require minimal support
- value the partnership
They’re the backbone of margin health.
Strategic intent:
Serve efficiently. Maintain satisfaction.
Edge (E)
Low-fit or low-value accounts on the edge of the portfolio.
These often consume disproportionate energy through:
- complex delivery
- pricing pressure
- unpredictable behaviour
- low trust
Strategic intent:
Serve efficiently or exit with integrity.
The acronym C.O.R.E. reminds leaders:
Keep the core strong, and growth follows.
Promotion and Demotion Cadence
The most powerful insight of the C.O.R.E. model is this:
Segmentation isn’t permanent.
Accounts move.
Every six to twelve months, Oak recommends re-tiering using three triggers:
- Fit or Value movement
- Trust shift
- Data Confidence changes
This turns segmentation into a living system where:
- investment follows evidence
- relationships evolve
- strategy adapts
- teams stay aligned
Instead of treating accounts as static, leaders track genuine change.
Linkages to the Wider Blueprint
This stage does not sit in isolation.
C links directly:
From U — Understanding & Unification
The Radar and insight work feed into the Fit × Value assessment.
Into Customer Spectacles (next C)
Where each tier’s experience is explored through the customer’s eyes.
Back to Strategy & Governance
Tier movement and relationship trends feed into the GROWTH Heatmap for leadership review.
Segmentation stays:
- visible
- governed
- actively discussed
Not buried in CRM filters.
The Leadership Shift
This is where segmentation becomes transformational. Leaders stop asking “How do we serve everyone?” and start asking “Who deserves our best — and why?”
That question changes:
- resource allocation
- executive attention
- pricing discipline
- customer experience
- retention strategy
- growth prioritisation
It turns the organisation from reactive service delivery into intentional commercial leadership.
Want the Full C.O.R.E. Toolkit?
The full model includes:
- scoring criteria
- weighting options
- visual templates
- workshop formats
- governance integration
- movement rules
- leadership playbooks
These are detailed in one of our latest whitepapers:
Account-Based Growth and the SUCCESS Framework
Key Takeaway
Segmentation isn’t about who you can serve.
It’s about who you can serve best — and who believes in you enough to grow together.
When leaders see Fit, Value and Trust clearly, energy stops being spread reactively and starts being invested intentionally.
Next in the SUCCESS Series: Customer Spectacles
In Part 4 of the SUCCESS Series — C: Customer Spectacles — we stay with your most important customers and change the lens. Instead of asking who deserves your best, we ask: “How do those customers actually experience us?” We’ll introduce the SCALE blueprint for seeing your organisation through your customers’ eyes.