Customer Portfolio Management
Creating Value with a Large Leaky Bucket of Customers
How to create value with all the customers in a portfolio, from the stronger relationships that increase profit margins to the weaker relationships that increase scale.
Which would you rather have: a smaller, watertight bucket of loyal customers or a larger leaky bucket of both loyal and not-so-loyal customers? In Customer Portfolio Management, Fred Selnes and Michael Johnson argue that for most companies and organizations the larger leaky bucket is more valuable. While loyal customers are generally more profitable, the weaker, or “leaky,” relationships in a portfolio provide scale economies and a source of future loyal customers. The basic principle behind customer portfolio management (CPM), they explain, is to view a company’s market strategies as long-term investments in the strength of…