Abstract
This case differs from the other example discussed in the previous chapter in that the direct customer is a small or medium-sized business rather than an individual. Once again, the company in question, a courier company, wanted to refocus its marketing efforts and essentially initiate a CRM program. As discussed previously in this book, management wanted to identify the company’s best customers and profile them to better understand them. Yet, in creating or establishing metrics to identify the best customers, only purchase behavior was considered to keep things simple. However, this seemingly simple metric was not so easy to determine. Purchase behavior was often very sporadic and infrequent. The first challenge, then, was to determine the appropriate time frame for a small to medium-sized company in purchasing this company’s courier services. In other words, do active customers make regular purchases in intervals of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, etc.? Once this timeframe was determined, the company could then use the purchase metric as a proxy for value, albeit a simplistic measure
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Copyright information
© 2014 Richard Boire
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Boire, R. (2014). Business-to-Business Example. In: Data Mining for Managers. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137406194_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137406194_25
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48786-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-40619-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)