Companies can classify customers into 4 groups according to their potential profitability and manage their relationships with them accordingly: strangers, butterflies, barnacles and true friends. Each group requires a different relationship management strategy. "Strangers" show low potential profitability and little projected loyalty. There is little fit between the company's offerings and their needs. The relationship management for these customers is simple: Do not invest anything in them. Butterflies: Are potentially profitable but not loyal. There is a good fit between the company's offerings and their needs. However, like real butterflies, we can enjoy them for only a short while and then they are gone. An example is stock market investors who trade shares often and in large amounts but who enjoy hunting out the best deals without building a regular relationship with any single brokerage company. The strategy to deal with butterflies is to ...
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