e city. Ads, mailings, and other offers are all concentrated in that area. While Mary is considering whether or not to accept this offer, another business unit launches a Woman Executive Package. This package provides a free phone line and 1,000 free minutes of service per year. Mary receives another offer, different from the first, and she is now confused. More importantly, good marketing money has been wasted since Mary is not likely to accept both offers (they conflict with each other). The problem was created because the developers of the two campaigns used different segmentation schemes and did not provide for crosschecking the overlapping membership between the two activities. Chapter 11 Tracking the Overlap - Not Optional It is important that the organization eliminate the many situations where customers can be the recipients of conflicting and sometimes disturbing messages. The first step is to establish a policy that assures a cross-check capability for all schemes in use. It requires development of a recombinant segmentation discipline, which provides that all memberships in segments can be cross-checked and mapped to all other segmentation schemes in the organization. GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION We are now ready to review the major categories of segments by their characteristics. The easiest type of division to create is geographic segmentation. Under a geographic segmentation model, all customers and prospects are dividing into groups based on where they live or where their businesses are located. Most of these groups are hierarchical segmentation, organized by addresses, branches, regions, divisions, zones, etc. For most sales and customer service organizations, geographic division is the primary basis for structural segmentation. BEHAVIORAL SEGMENTATION By far, the single most important type of segmentation to consider when dealing with issues of customer relationship management is behavior. Although the other types of segmentation have their place, they are almost meaningless unless they are combined w