How do you assess customer profitability and margin quality when a target reports only blended gross margin?

Blended margin can mask a concentration of profit in a few customers or products and losses elsewhere. I'd push for a margin bridge by customer, product, and channel — allocating direct costs and, carefully, the relevant variable overheads — to see where the money is actually made. Key findings to chase: a 'whale' customer that's high-revenue but low- or negative-margin (concentration plus weak economics), products sold at a loss to win volume, channel mix shifting toward lower-margin business, and discounting trends eroding margin even as revenue grows. I'd also test pricing durability and whether margin is propped up by temporary input costs. The output reframes quality: two businesses with the same blended margin can have very different risk if one depends on a handful of profitable accounts.