Your Biggest Customer Is Probably Not Your Best Customer
Your biggest customer is probably not your best customer.
In software, revenue and value track closely. In engineered products they come apart, because you have real COGS. The account generating the most revenue is often the one that negotiated hardest and demanded the most customization.
And it's rarely just the discount. It's the application engineering hours, the custom tooling, the expedites, the freight, the rework, the warranty claims, the extended terms, the one-off documentation nobody billed for.
Rank your accounts by revenue. Then rank them by gross margin contribution.
If those two lists match, stop reading. You're in better shape than most.
They usually don't match. The second list is the one that should be driving your ICP, your positioning, and where your sales team spends its week.
Most companies never look, because the answer doesn't live in the CRM. The CRM tracks what you booked, not what it cost you to deliver. The answer is sitting in your ERP and your accounting system, and nobody has ever joined the two.
Segment on margin, not revenue. It's the highest-return afternoon of analysis available to most industrial companies, and it routinely changes who the sales team is told to call.
Originally posted on LinkedIn, 26 August 2026. Read the discussion on LinkedIn
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