Combining Value Perspectives: Value-to-Value Segmentation in Practice

Summary Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of the most frequently used—and now reviled—buzzwords in the management and consulting sector, although the original idea has a very high degree of overlap with marketing and its implementation can have a value-enhancing effect. The problem is that CRM approaches often lack an overall strategic concept focused on the key success factors of customer benefit (“value-to-the-customer”) and customer value (“value-of-the-customer”). These are two sides of the same coin. As a rule, the dimensions are viewed as two different strands of value and argumentation. However, it is crucial that these two dimensions are interlinked to generate benefits for the customer (“value-to-the-customer”) and increase value for the company in the sense of “value-of-the-customer”. An approach is presented that integrates both dimensions. Building on this, the practicability of value-to-value segmentation is discussed based on examples from the B2B and B2C sectors.