As the year continues and there's no end in sight for the credit crisis, more companies are looking to do business smarter. They are looking towards cutting costs while their sales go down to maintain a profit. One method is to use software to analyze your historical customer data to predict future outcomes. Here are 5 ways to cut your costs by segmenting your data.

Segment the prospects who will buy from you and leave them out.
Don't contact those who would likely purchase regardless of an offer. Having identified this segment, you can save money by removing them from your sales or marketing campaign.

Don't offer discounts on customers who will stay with you.
You can't afford to offer retention incentives to all of your customers, especially the ones who will renew with you anyway. If you predict those most likely to leave, you can target much more efficiently.

Don't waste your time on prospects who won't respond.
By modeling on your data, you can see who is likely to respond to an offer, and then target accordingly. You will be targeting fewer people without sacrificing a high response rate.

Don't bother the customers who will stay.
You don't want to remind them that they're paying you, or annoy them with unnecessary offers.

Don't contact prospects or customers who wont pay.
You don't want to sell to prospects or customers who don't have the intention to pay. There's nothing worse than having the deal fall through because of a non-paying customer.