Pillar 1: Revenue Segments
WHAT ARE REVENUE SEGMENTS?
Revenue segments group customers into numerous sales-addressable buyer populations. For strategy and analytical purposes, a revenue segment always includes three elements: products, buyers and a preferred customer acquisition method. Revenue segments are more universal than market segments, sales segments or product segments. A revenue segment includes all three factors.
Each revenue segment offers some degree of revenue growth opportunity. However, not all segments are of equal value. In some cases, revenue management may not have the resources to support all revenue segments. Or the ROI for the segment is too modest to assign dedicated selling resources.
The revenue team and product divisions jointly make resource allocation decisions about the identified revenue segments. The outcome will result in revenue acquisition resources being allocated to the best revenue segments, while other segments will have limited, low-cost or unassigned revenue team resources.
WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?
Revenue leaders use revenue segments to deploy revenue team members to the most viable sales opportunities. A revenue segment is the intersection of three independent and often changing factors: a customer population, a product set and a customer acquisition function, such as a sales channel. Revenue segments describe who the customers are, what is sold, and who is doing the selling. Revenue segments sit at the headwaters of the Revenue Growth Model. Think of them as the revenue team’s “portfolio” of businesses. They’re the starting point to construct an effective revenue growth organization. The most successful revenue organizations develop, test, invest, and disinvest in evolving revenue segments.
REVENUE SEGMENTS TOOLS (see Chapter 4)
Tool #1: Segment Identification
Tool #2: Segment Valuations
Tool #3: Segment Weighted Assessment
Tool #4: Revenue Acquisition Strategy Matrix