Maturity
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?
Phase 1
Segment your customers.
Give clients the right strategic support by looking beyond contract size.
Client effort should not be based only on monthly spend or whichever account manager happens to own the relationship. Segmenting by maturity and appetite gives your team a clearer plan.
Use maturity to understand how standardized and stable the client environment is.
Use appetite to measure how engaged and forward-looking the client is.
Map each segment to ownership, meeting depth, and success initiatives.
1
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:
Appetite
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?
Low Appetite
High Appetite
High Maturity
C
A
Low Maturity
D
B
High
Maturity
Low
Segment C
High Maturity + Low Appetite = Segment C -> "Educate"
Their systems work fine, so they don't see a reason to change. They aren't against you, just slow to act. Be patient, build trust, and look for small wins before trying to convince them to chase bigger business goals.
Segment A
High Maturity + High Appetite = Segment A -> "Transform"
These are your ideal clients. Their systems are solid, they're eager to grow, and they're ready for strategic work now. With shared goals and executive support, you can grow with them quickly.
Segment D
Low Maturity + Low Appetite = Segment D -> "Sustain"
These clients are in keep-the-lights-on mode. They want things to work, but not much more. Stay focused on stability, risk mitigation, and solving immediate problems since this group won't be ready for much else anytime soon.
Segment B
Low Maturity + High Appetite = Segment B -> "Modernize"
These clients have big dreams but shaky foundations. They may be vocal and eager to improve, but they often lack budget or strong systems. Focus on building them a solid tech foundation first, and eventually, they could move into Segment A.
Maturity: high to low. Appetite: low to high.
2
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
Key Initiatives
Relationship Owner(s)
Transform
Segment A - High Maturity, High Appetite
Transform the business through innovation using OKRs.
vCIO or Strategic Advisor
Modernize
Segment B - Low Maturity, High Appetite
Modernize their systems and reset expectations for the future.
vCIO + TAM
Educate
Segment C - High Maturity, Low Appetite
Keep things running smoothly and suggest low-risk improvements.
TAM or Account Manager
Sustain
Segment D - Low Maturity, Low Appetite
Provide basic, reactive technical support without overwhelming them.
Helpdesk or Service Coordinator
Lifecycle Manager
Smarter segmentation starts with unified client data.
Centralized client records make it easier to segment accounts and power scalable account management.