Framework
The Three Ties test for carve-out customers
What holds each customer to a business being separated from its parent
The Three Ties test sorts the customers of a carve-out by what holds them to the business: the parent, named people, or the product itself. Each tie leads to a different action before Day 1, from a simple reassurance to a new commercial agreement. It is Koji's working method for carve-out customer interviews, built from standard switching-cost thinking, and Koji runs the interviews that feed it.
Where this appears
What's in this framework
- The parent tie: They buy because of the parent: a bundle, a master agreement, a procurement framework or one invoice. It breaks on Day 1.
- The people tie: They stay for named people, such as an account manager or support engineer. It breaks if those people stay with the parent.
- The product tie: The product does a job they can't easily replace. This tie survives a change of owner.
- Product-held accounts: Name the product tie unprompted. Tell them what stays the same.
- People-held accounts: Rely on named people. Confirm those people move with the business, or introduce the new owner before Day 1.
- Parent-held accounts: Rely on the parent tie. They need a new agreement or a transition offer before Day 1, not a letter.
Use this image
Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/carve-out-three-ties-customer-test"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/carve-out-three-ties-customer-test/carve-out-three-ties-customer-test.png" alt="Framework of the Three Ties test for carve-out customers: the parent tie, the people tie and the product tie, and the three account groups" width="1080" height="1080" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/carve-out-three-ties-customer-test">The Three Ties test for carve-out customers</a>, Koji</p>
