Where you sit is a cost

Two customers paying the same price can cost very different amounts to serve, and the difference is usually structural rather than behavioral.

Geography is the clearest. Distance changes freight, service response, travel and sometimes regulation, and none of those appear on the invoice. A region that looks equally profitable at gross margin can be materially worse once cost to serve is counted.

Channel does the same thing. A customer acquired through a partner costs a share of revenue forever, which is a very different shape from a customer acquired through a one-off cost.

Account size does it in both directions. Large accounts consume disproportionate attention, custom work and executive time. Small accounts consume disproportionate support relative to what they pay.

The instrument is to allocate the costs that vary by position, honestly, even roughly. Rough allocation of a real cost beats precise allocation of nothing, which is what happens when everything difficult goes into overhead and gets spread evenly.

What you are looking for is the segment that is subsidising another one without either of them knowing, because that is the relationship that quietly sets your pricing and your strategy.