I keep seeing discussions about the pros and cons of customer segmentation. On the part of the criticism, arguments such as: „This is unrealistic“ or „The data are not accurate enough!“
Unfortunately, the proponents of customer segmentation still often include at least the argument that it is state-of-the-art. It is a shame to only do something because “one” does it or because others do it – it is always the weakest argument. And at the same time there is already the “little” revelation that in reality you don’t want to change anything.
A customer segmentation is not a drawer for the customer, but an instrument of sales management!
A division of the “relevant market” into homogeneous segments or sub-markets is referred to as market segmentation. It represents the basis of a differentiated market cultivation. (Manfred Bruhn (2014), Marketing – Grundlagen für Studium und Praxis, 6. Auflage, SpringerGabler, Wiesbaden, S. 58)
So the goal of customer segmentation is to change something and not get confirmation that you did everything right. If you don’t want to change anything or if you don’t think you can change anything, you should save yourself the work of customer segmentation.
For the conceptual introduction to customer segmentation, a perspective must first be selected. Either I approach from the customer’s perspective and then start to form segments with similar customer needs, or I approach from the supplier’s perspective and try to tailor segments that seem particularly profitable to me and primarily use my resources there.
The entry via customer needs is probably easier or more obvious for private customer business. You may think in terms of the life phases of a typical customer and you may also come up with the idea that you can see phases of life as “and” rather than “or” in order to depict the blurring of reality a little more accurately than a pure drawer model could.
Such an approach doesn’t work in corporate banking. There are issues and needs that are derived from the individual industries, from the size of the company, from its legal form, from the life phase of the shareholders. There are also new trends or regulatory requirements, environmental influences from the market and competition; the ownership structure also has an impact and is at the same time an interface to the private customer business.
Fundamentally – also apart from any customer segmentation – financial planning is a useful tool to combine both perspectives – business as well as private. Financial planning is a good introduction to the current issues that need to be addressed in customer discussions.
Due to this very high heterogeneity of requirements from corporate customers, it probably makes more sense to use customer segmentation as a tool for optimized resource allocation. However, it is particularly important to consider the remaining potential as an essential element of this customer segmentation. Of course, it is extremely difficult to adequately determine potential. Much more difficult, even into the esoteric, is an objective and quantitative assessment of this potential.
But: A customer segmentation that is based exclusively on the past, on business, concluded volumes and realized income, is pointless. It would only be an attempt to confirm and reinforce what already exists.
Before a customer segmentation can be implemented or implemented, the objective being pursued must be clarified. Depending on how such a segmentation is set up, there are different fields (customers, products, use of resources, etc.) for which the areas “more”, “equal” or “less” should come out as a result. If no more time is to be spent on certain products or customers (= no human resources from sales are to be invested there), then it is a management decision that must be implemented in a binding manner. If certain customer clusters are rated as particularly promising or certain products are to be strengthened, then that is also a decision to be implemented.
The most important management task, however, is to make it clear to all those involved that the discussion about this customer segmentation and its results will come to an end with the adoption of it. The first exception made is the end of the consequence of this measure.
PS: Of course, this is not a plea for flying blindfolded. A properly prepared customer segmentation always includes a simulation of your results. The central point at issue is to endure the consequences or to go into implementation if you like the customer better than the result of the segmentation.
Vertriebsmanagement 