Customer Segment Approvals

this guide shows you how to configure approval workflows that vary based on customer characteristics such as segment, tier, industry, or strategic importance what are customer segment approvals? customer segment approvals route records to different approvers based on customer attributes customer tier (enterprise, mid market, smb) strategic account status industry vertical customer lifetime value risk rating or credit status new vs existing customers quote submitted │ ├─── strategic account ────► executive sponsor + deal desk │ ├─── enterprise ───────────► enterprise sales vp │ ├─── mid market ───────────► regional manager │ └─── smb ──────────────────► sales manager (auto if <$10k) business scenarios covered scenario description customer tier routing different approval chains for enterprise vs smb strategic account oversight extra scrutiny and executive involvement industry specific compliance regulated industries need legal/compliance new customer review first time customers require credit check at risk account handling accounts with payment issues need finance approval scenario 1 customer tier based routing requirement route approvals based on customer tier with different thresholds per tier prerequisites account has a customer tier c field with values strategic enterprise mid market smb configuration tiered paths path a strategic accounts setting value approval path name strategic account review entry criteria account customer tier c = 'strategic' step 1 executive sponsor review approver type user lookup lookup path account executive sponsor c step 2 deal desk review (for amounts >$50k) entry criteria amount > 50000 approver type group group deal desk team path b enterprise accounts setting value approval path name enterprise review entry criteria account customer tier c = 'enterprise' step 1 enterprise sales approval entry criteria amount > 25000 approver type role role enterprise sales vp path c mid market accounts setting value approval path name mid market review entry criteria account customer tier c = 'mid market' step 1 regional manager approval entry criteria amount > 15000 approver type user lookup lookup path owner managerid path d smb accounts setting value approval path name smb review entry criteria account customer tier c = 'smb' step 1 sales manager approval entry criteria amount > 10000 approver type user lookup lookup path owner managerid note smb deals under $10k auto approve (no step criteria met) scenario 2 strategic account special handling requirement strategic accounts require named account manager approval plus executive visibility, regardless of deal size configuration strategic account path setting value approval path name strategic account management entry criteria account is strategic c = true step 1 named account manager setting value approval step name account manager review approver type user lookup lookup path account named account manager c step 2 strategic account executive (for large deals) setting value approval step name executive oversight entry criteria amount > 100000 depends on account manager review approver type user lookup lookup path account executive sponsor c adding executive notifications even when executive approval isn't required, you may want visibility option a add executive as cc on approval emails option b create an "fyi" approval step with auto approve after 24 hours setting value approval step name executive fyi approver type user auto approve after 24 hours scenario 3 industry specific compliance requirement certain industries require additional compliance reviews healthcare hipaa compliance review financial services soc 2 compliance review government security clearance verification configuration create parallel compliance paths alongside sales approval healthcare compliance path setting value approval path name healthcare compliance entry criteria account industry = 'healthcare' step hipaa review approver type group group healthcare compliance team financial services path setting value approval path name financial compliance entry criteria account industry = 'financial services' step soc 2 review approver type group group security compliance team government path setting value approval path name government review entry criteria account industry = 'government' step security clearance verification approver type user user government sales security officer flow healthcare customer quote │ ┌─────────┴─────────┐ ▼ ▼ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ sales │ │ healthcare │ │ approval │ │ compliance │ │ (tier) │ │ (hipaa) │ └────┬─────┘ └──────┬───────┘ │ │ └───────┬───────────┘ ▼ both complete = approved scenario 4 new vs existing customer requirement new customers require credit check and contract review; existing customers have streamlined approval identifying new customers create a formula field on account is new customer c = total closed won opportunities c = 0 or use account first purchase date c = null configuration new customer path setting value approval path name new customer onboarding entry criteria account is new customer c = true step 1 credit check setting value approval step name credit review approver type group group credit review team step 2 contract review setting value approval step name legal contract review depends on credit review approver type group group legal team step 3 sales approval setting value approval step name sales manager approval depends on legal contract review approver type user lookup lookup path owner managerid existing customer path setting value approval path name existing customer entry criteria account is new customer c = false step 1 sales approval only simplified approval based on amount thresholds scenario 5 at risk account handling requirement accounts with payment issues or low health scores require finance approval before new deals identifying at risk accounts account fields to consider payment status c = 'delinquent' credit hold c = true health score c < 50 days past due c > 30 configuration at risk account path setting value approval path name at risk account review entry criteria account credit hold c = true or account health score c < 50 step 1 finance review setting value approval step name finance credit review approver type group group finance credit team approval reason account has payment issues or low health score step 2 vp finance (for large deals) setting value approval step name vp finance approval entry criteria amount > 50000 depends on finance credit review approver type role role vp finance blocking vs warning option a hard block finance approval is required deal cannot proceed without finance approval option b warning only finance receives notification sales approval proceeds in parallel finance can reject if needed scenario 6 customer lifetime value tiers requirement high value customers get white glove treatment with executive involvement using clv thresholds clv range handling >$1m lifetime c suite involvement on large deals $500k $1m vp level approval $100k $500k director level approval <$100k standard manager approval configuration using formula 1\ create clv tier formula field clv tier c (formula) case( true, account total lifetime value c >= 1000000, 'platinum', account total lifetime value c >= 500000, 'gold', account total lifetime value c >= 100000, 'silver', 'bronze' ) 2\ create tiered paths path entry criteria approver platinum account clv tier c = 'platinum' cro + account executive gold account clv tier c = 'gold' vp sales silver account clv tier c = 'silver' sales director bronze account clv tier c = 'bronze' sales manager scenario 7 segment + amount matrix requirement combine customer segment with deal size for approval routing using approval matrix create a matrix with customer tier as rows and amount as columns <$25k $25k 100k $100k 500k >$500k strategic account mgr account mgr exec sponsor cro enterprise manager director vp cro mid market auto manager director vp smb auto auto manager director see approval matrices docid\ pmcr5xpdwndph0zwj6pti for configuration details dynamic segment assignment using account team roles route to team members based on their role on the account team team role use case account manager primary commercial approvals technical lead custom configuration reviews executive sponsor strategic deal oversight customer success renewal approvals configuration setting value approver type account team role team role account manager using territory assignment route based on territory hierarchy setting value approver type user lookup lookup path account territory r owner r managerid best practices do's use account level fields for segment criteria more stable than opportunity data create clear tier definitions document what qualifies as strategic/enterprise/etc combine segment with value thresholds prevents over approval of small deals review and update tier assignments quarterly customers move between tiers don'ts don't over segment 3 5 tiers is usually sufficient don't duplicate logic use matrices instead of many similar paths don't forget tier transitions what happens when a customer is upgraded? troubleshooting issue cause solution new customer not detected field not populated add automation to set is new customer wrong tier path triggered tier field outdated update tier assignment automation strategic deals auto approving no step criteria met add always required step for strategic at risk not triggering health score calculation off verify health score formula related guides approval matrices docid\ pmcr5xpdwndph0zwj6pti segment × amount matrices regional approvals docid\ dxj0y84brrkynecl8i9cm geographic routing deal desk routing docid\ uwih3wye4e4ez7cbjvcy4 complex deal handling need help? check our troubleshooting guide docid\ sgpxdyp dpg9a9uanwlis or faq docid\ relcvm0ggisy7rghm2jml