“If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader. Sell ice cream.” This quote, often attributed to Steve Jobs, founder and longtime CEO of Apple, makes a simple point: customers are not the same, and therefore you cannot treat everyone in the same way.

When an agribusiness sells products through distribution (I will refer to distributors as customers in this article), you cannot keep everyone equally happy. Some customers are bigger and more important than others. Some have the ability to grow the business, while others do not. You simply cannot keep everyone happy, and you shouldn’t.

As a pricing consultant focusing on agribusiness, I often see one commercial policy applied across a large customer base, with little or no differentiation or segmentation. While the logic is understandable, it is simple to communicate and administer, companies often leave a lot of money on the table.

A large distributor that actively develops your products is different from a customer that only buys when your price is the lowest. If you treat both customers the same and provide the same discount, you may be leaving potential profit on the table.

This is where customer segmentation becomes a powerful commercial and pricing tool.

Step 1: Identify What Makes a Distributor Important

Start by looking beyond sales volume and consider both qualitative and quantitative measures.

Consider factors such as:

• Financial strength.
• Size
• Growth potential
• Past growth
• Payment behavior
• Market coverage

Step 2: Assess Your Customers’ Willingness and Ability to Grow

Set both qualitative and quantitative measures to assess the following:

• Is the distributor willing to grow with you? Sometimes the answer is simply no. The distributor may be tied to your competitors through an exclusivity agreement or simply may not see the same priorities you do.

• Is the distributor able to grow with you? For example, how many branches and salespeople does it have? What are the skills of its agronomists?

Step 3: Create Segmentation

Combine Steps 1 and 2 into a cohesive customer segmentation map with 3–4 categories. You do not need 20 customer categories; three or four segments are often enough.

For example:

• Low-priority customers – limited value or potential. A more transactional relationship.
• Gold customers – high value, high potential, and a strong partnership. A key focus area for you to maintain and grow the business.
• Growth customers – attractive potential and requiring proactive development.

Step 4: Match the Commercial Offer to the Segment

Once customers are segmented, discounts and incentives can become more logical and targeted.

Strategic customers might receive incentives linked to product mix, market development, or joint business plans.

Growth customers might receive rewards for incremental purchases or new-product adoption.

Transactional customers may receive simpler, less generous incentives.

This allows you to spend more where commercial investment can create more value.g as hard as it could

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Key Notes to Consider