Title: The life event cycle as an instrument of relationship management in SMEs: theory, results of an empirical investigation at a health club and management implications

Authors: Florian U. Siems; Olga Bystrova; Thomas Niemand

Addresses: TU Dresden, Chair of Marketing, Helmholtzstrasse 10, D-01069 Dresden, Germany ' RWTH Aachen University, Research Group for Technology and Service Marketing, Kackertstraße 7, D-52072 Aachen, Germany ' TU Dresden, Chair of Marketing, Helmholtzstrasse 10, D-01069 Dresden, Germany

Abstract: The life event cycle is a modern relationship marketing tool. The following exploratory study will demonstrate how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can efficiently apply it to investigate and guide customer development actively in their companies. This paper will provide explorative data from an SME for the first time, generating a detailed analysis and corresponding management implications that can be applied to the investigated health club SME as well as SMEs with comparable issues.

Keywords: relationship marketing; customer relationship management; CRM; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; life event cycle; customer-relationship intervals; lost customers; health club management; health clubs; customer development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2015.071483

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2015 Vol.7 No.3, pp.251 - 265

Accepted: 15 Jul 2014
Published online: 30 Aug 2015 *

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