Customer Equity Management and Strategic Choices for Sales Managers

Sales managers are increasingly being called on to manage the complete buyer-seller interface and difficulties they face in managing customer relations maybe attributable to balancing firm goals/practices with those of customers. By understanding that customer relationships are characterized by customer resource investments, sales managers can effectively manage investments that firms desire together with those customers are providing. In this paper, customer equity is proposed as a framework for managing customer relationships. From this perspective, sales managers can understand the resource investments and socialization forms that are useful for managing customers' investments and the buyer-seller relationships that exemplify these investments.