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Customer mix reveals how a company’s relationships actually power its revenue — not just who buys, but how they buy, how long they stay, and how they shape the business over time.
The MiM® system defines three customer types within that ecosystem: Generational Customers™, Continuity Customers™, and Transition Customers™.
Each plays a specific role in sustaining both stability and scale. Together, they create what we call a Portfolio of Relationships — the balance between depth, dependability, and discipline.
Customer Type Definitions
Generational Customers™
The cornerstone relationships of the business. These are high-trust, high-value customers who view your company as a long-term strategic partner. They share your values, think in decades, and grow with you. Generational Customers™ drive mutual success through shared vision, collaboration, and sustained performance. They are the customers you would build your business around again if you were starting from scratch.
- Portfolio Role: Anchor revenue and reputation. Drive strategic direction and long-term growth. Provide the clearest insight into where your true value lies.
- Mindset: Protect, deepen, and grow together.
Continuity Customers™
Reliable, aligned customers who provide consistent work and healthy margins. They value your expertise, operate with predictability, and make the business sustainable and scalable. While not as deeply embedded as Generational Customers™, they share your approach and could evolve into that tier over time. Continuity Customers™ represent operational strength and financial stability.
- Portfolio Role: Maintain steady utilization and profitability. Serve as the middle layer that sustains the business. Offer opportunities for deeper integration and long-term growth.
- Mindset: Maintain consistency. Strengthen alignment. Build for longevity.
Transition Customers™
Customers at a crossroads. They are either poised to be elevated into continuity relationships or redirected toward lower-overhead, less resource-intensive channels such as e-commerce, automation, or partner fulfillment. If neither path fits, they should be respectfully and strategically phased out to free up resources for higher-value relationships. Transition Customers™ test a company’s discipline. Managing them well is how MiM® companies maintain focus and protect their growth engine.
- Portfolio Role: Identify which can mature into continuity relationships. Move lower-fit accounts to more efficient channels. Prune misaligned or unprofitable relationships.
- Mindset: Decide, don’t drift. Every customer should have a direction.
Applying the MiM® Lens
Traditional businesses rank customers by revenue, assuming that more money equals more importance. The MiM Lens challenges that assumption.
Through this perspective, Coaches help leaders separate value from volume. A large customer who erodes margins or drains capacity weakens the business. A smaller, well-aligned customer who is loyal, profitable, and predictable strengthens it.
Customer mix becomes a design system — a way to intentionally shape the company’s relationship portfolio for balance, resilience, and focus. The goal is to understand not just what customers buy, but how each relationship contributes to the overall rhythm and reliability of growth.
Recommended Customer Mix
A balanced customer mix reflects how well a business manages both stability and growth. The Coach’s role is to help leaders interpret what their customer ratios reveal about revenue health and relationship maturity.
The goal is not a perfect percentage. It is proportion and purpose across all three customer types. Every relationship should either compound value or create clarity.
When coaching on customer balance:
- Define what healthy looks like for this business and industry. Ratios are directional. Behavior is decisive.
- Start with dependence on the top few accounts. Concentration can indicate loyalty or risk.
- Look for progression. Are Transition Customers™ moving into Continuity or Generational, or stalling at the low end.
- Examine margin and energy flow. Do the most profitable customers also create the most stability, or do they drain capacity.
| Customer Type | Relationship Horizon | Portfolio Role | Primary Purpose | Recommended Mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generational Customers™ | 5–10+ years | Strategic Core | Anchor revenue, reputation, and long-term partnerships. | 40–50% |
| Continuity Customers™ | 2–5 years | Operational Stability | Maintain steady utilization, profitability, and alignment. | 40–50% |
| Transition Customers™ | 0–2 years | Evaluation Zone | Identify, evolve, or redirect lower-fit accounts. | 10% or fewer |
What to Look For
As you review a client’s customer mix, focus less on numbers and more on patterns.
Healthy indicators:
- Predictable, profitable work across multiple accounts.
- Clear progression from Transition to Continuity to Generational relationships.
- Margin and morale aligned — busy and profitable.
Warning signs:
- One or two customers dominating revenue.
- Frequent firefighting or resource drain from low-fit accounts.
- No clear pipeline of relationships maturing upward.
Healthy portfolios are calm, not chaotic. Look for consistency, not volume.
When the Balance Is Off
Too Many Generational Customers™
- Risk: Over-dependence on a few large accounts.
- Impact: Revenue stability but limited agility; a single customer decision could ripple through the business.
- Coaching Direction: Encourage diversification through selective acquisition of new Continuity Customers™ who mirror existing strengths but reduce concentration risk. Reinforce that no single customer should exceed 20% of total revenue.
Too Few Generational Customers™
- Risk: A ceiling on growth and a lack of long-term stability.
- Impact: Constant pressure to find new business; growth feels effortful instead of compounding.
- Coaching Direction: Identify high-performing Continuity Customers™ with potential to grow into generational relationships. Focus on deepening those relationships through additional capabilities, consistency, and partnership.
Too Few Continuity Customers™
- Risk: Fragile middle — overexposure to either extreme (large accounts or low-value volume).
- Impact: Gaps between major projects; unpredictable revenue flow.
- Coaching Direction: Guide clients to target steady, mid-sized accounts that align with their delivery strengths. Continuity Customers™ are the rhythm section of growth — without them, momentum falters.
Too Many Transition Customers™
- Risk: Operational exhaustion and margin erosion.
- Impact: Busyness mistaken for growth; team burnout; profitability decline.
- Coaching Direction: Help clients streamline, automate, or offload low-margin work. Create self-service or distributor models that retain revenue without tying up people or creativity.
How This Philosophy Comes to Life
This philosophy is applied in the Growth Snapshot Workshop.
During this session, Coaches guide leadership teams in classifying their customer portfolio across these three types of customers, translating revenue data into relational insights.
This becomes the foundation for all subsequent MiM® strategy work, informing Priority Markets, Ideal Profiles, and long-term growth recommendations.