Winning in the Aftermarket: The Customer Segmentation

An interesting approach adopted by Lindqvist, 2015, based on Tetra Pak TS&S (Technical Sales & Service Processing Systems), categorize their customers in order to better focus the Services efforts.

The aim is to simplify their work with their customers. The tool is a matrix divided into four fields; built up of a vertical and horizontal axis.

The vertical axis gives an indication on “Operational maturity” and the horizontal on “Willingness to outsource”.

Operational maturity is defined as how well the company has developed their machines and adapted to new technology.

Willingness to outsource, on other hand, is about how prone the company is to outsource their activities to some other part.

This view allow the TS&S to categorize into 4 groups: Fire fighters & Independence seekers (Operational maturity), and Help seekers and Partnership builders (Willingness to outsource).

Fire fighters

Usually focused on cost with limited competence in-house. Round-to-failure approach. Spare Parts are ordered upon need. Utilization is not critical and often low.

Independence seekers

Focused on internal process and cost optimization. Might have their own maintenance system and team. Potentially interested in continuous improvement methodologies.

Help seekers

Aware of their operational weaknesses and open to seek help. Lack qualified resources, appreciate and acknowledge the value of external support.

Partnership builders

Long term view with focus on core business. Interested in guarantees and looking for convenience, predictability and productivity.

The acknowledgement of where each company is positioned allows the development of a suitable solution inside the Aftermarket area. Fire fighters may have a need of immediate Spare Parts, at a time they will not be so sensitive to price (the "Machine is Down" dilemma). Independence seekers will show interest in advanced tools and methodologies to run the plant. Help seekers can also work under a stress situation at many cases, but with a good potential to be raised to a Partnership builders level.

References

• Unveiling the power of selling spare-parts as a happy-meal: https://bit.ly/2CaeeYJ