Customer relationship-customer service

Define Relationship marketing- links an organization to its individual customers,

employees, suppliers and other partners for thier mutual long -term benefits
Marketing involves
serving a market of final consumers in the face of competitors. The company and
competitors research the market and interact with consumers to understand their needs.
Then they create and send their market offerings and messages to consumers, either
directly or through marketing intermediaries. Each party in the system is affected by
major environmental forces (demographic, economic, natural, technological, political,
and social/cultural). customers reach each other?”

Figure 1.2
shows the main elements in a marketing system. Marketing involves serving a market of
final consumers in the face of competitors. The company and competitors research the
market and interact with consumers to understand their needs. Then they create and
send their market offerings and messages to consumers, either directly
or through marketing intermediaries. Each party in the system is affected by major
environmental forces (demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, and
social/cultural). Each party in the system adds value for the next level. The arrows
represent relationships that must be developed and managed. Thus, a company’s
success at building profitable relationships depends not only on its own actions but also
on how well the entire system serves the needs of final consumers. Walmart cannot
fulfill its promise of low prices unless its suppliers provide merchandise at low costs.
And Ford cannot deliver a high quality car-ownership experience unless its dealers
provide outstanding sales and service.

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy (pp 8–12) represent relationships

that must be developed and managed to create customer value and profitable customer
relationships. Each party in the system adds value. Walmart cannot fulfill its promise of
low prices unless its suppliers provide low costs. Ford cannot deliver a high quality car-
ownership experience unless its dealers provide outstanding service.

Once it fully understands consumers and the marketplace, marketing management can
design a customer-driven marketing strategy.
We define marketing management as the art and science of choosing target markets
and building profitable relationships with them. The marketing manager’s aim is to find,
attract, keep, and grow target customers by creating, delivering, and communicating
superior customer value.

To design a winning marketing strategy, the marketing manager must answer two
important questions:
1. What customers will we serve (what’s our target market)? and
2. How can we serve these customers best (what’s our value proposition)?
It does this by dividing the market into segments of customers (market segmentation)
and selecting which segments it will go after (target marketing).
Some people think of marketing management as finding as many customers
as possible and increasing demand. But marketing managers know that they cannot
serve all customers in every way. By trying to serve all customers, they may not serve
any
customers well. Instead, the company wants to select only customers that it can serve
well
Marketing management
The art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with
them.

Major environmental forces

Marketing intermediaries
Competitors
Company
Suppliers

Choosing a Value Proposition

The company must also decide how it will serve targeted customers—how it will
differentiate and position itself in the marketplace. Abrand’s value proposition is the set
of benefits or values it promises to deliver to consumers to satisfy their needs. At AT&T,
it’s “Your World. Delivered.” whereas with T-Mobile, family and friends can “Stick
together.” The diminutive Smart car suggests that you “Open your mind to the car that
challenges the status quo,” whereas Infiniti “Makes luxury affordable,” and BMW
promises “the ultimate driving machine. ”Such value propositions differentiate one brand
from another. They answer the customer’s question, “Why should I
buy your brand rather than a competitor’s?” Companies must design strong value
propositions that give them the greatest advantage in their target markets. For example,
the Smart car is positioned as compact, yet comfortable; agile, yet economical; and
safe, yet ecological. It’s “sheer automotive genius in a totally fun, efficient package.
Smart thinking, indeed.”

Customer value- is the unique combination of benefits received by the targeted buyers
that includes quality, price, convenience, on-time delivery, and both before-sales and
after sales.
( firms can not succeed they only focus on customer only, instead firms must find ways
to build long term customer relationships to provide unique value that they alone can
deliver to targeted customers.Many companies now chosen to deliver outstanding
customer value in one of the 3 value strategies, best price, best product or best service

____________________
DAY 2
Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management is perhaps the most important concept of
modern marketing. Some marketers define it narrowly as a customer data management
activity (a practice called CRM). By this definition, it involves managing detailed
information about individual customers and carefully managing customer “touchpoints”
to maximize customer loyalty. We will discuss this narrower CRM activity in Chapter 4
when dealing with marketing
information. Most marketers, however, give the concept of customer relationship
management a
broader meaning. In this broader sense, customer relationship management is the
overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships by
delivering superior customer value and satisfaction. It deals with all aspects of
acquiring, keeping, and growing customers.

Relationship Building Blocks: Customer Value and Satisfaction

The key to building lasting customer relationships is to create superior customer value
and satisfaction. Satisfied customers are more likely to be loyal customers and give the
company a larger share of their business.

Customer Value. Attracting and retaining customers can be a difficult task. Customers
often face a bewildering array of products and services from which to choose.
A customer buys from the firm that offers the highest customer-perceived value—the
customer’s evaluation of the difference between all the benefits and all the costs of a
market offering relative to those of competing offers. Importantly, customers often do
not judge values and costs “accurately” or “objectively.” They act on perceived value.

To some consumers, value might mean sensible products at affordable prices,

especially in the aftermath of recent recession.
To other consumers, however, value might mean paying more to get more.
For example, despite the challenging economic environment, GE recently introduced its
new Profile washer-and-dryer set, which retails for more than $2,500 (more than double
the cost of a standard washer-and-dryer set). Profile ads feature stylish machines in
eye-catching colors, such as cherry red.
But the ads also focus on down-to-earth practicality. They position the Profile line as a
revolutionary new “clothes care system,” with technology that allocates the optimal
amount of soap and water per load and saves money by being gentle on clothes,
extending garment life. Are Profile washers and dryers worth the much higher price
compared to less expensive appliances? It’s all a matter of personal value perceptions.
To many consumers, the answer is no. But to the target segment of style conscious,
affluent buyers, the answer is yes.

Customer satisfaction depends on the product’s perceived performance relative to a

buyer’s expectations. If the product’s performance falls short of expectations, the
customer is dissatisfied.
If performance matches expectations, the customer is satisfied. If performance exceeds
expectations, the customer is highly satisfied or delighted.

Outstanding marketing companies go out of their way to keep important customers

satisfied.
Most studies show that higher levels of customer satisfaction led to greater customer
loyalty, which in turn results in better company performance.
Smart companies aim to delight customers by promising only what they can deliver and
then delivering more than they promise. Delighted customers not only make repeat
purchases but also become willing marketing partners and “customer evangelists” who
spread the word about their good experiences to others (see Real Marketing 1.1).11
Each day, hotel staffers—from those at the front desk to those in
maintenance and housekeeping—discreetly observe and record even the
smallest guest preferences. Then, every morning, each hotel reviews the
files of all new arrivals who have previously stayed at a Ritz-Carlton and
prepares a list of suggested extra touches that might delight each guest.
Once they identify a special customer need, Ritz-Carlton employees go
to legendary extremes to meet it. For example, to serve the needs of a guest
with food allergies, a Ritz-Carlton chef in Bali located special eggs and milk
in a small grocery store in another country and had them delivered to the
hotel. In another case, when the hotel’s laundry service failed to remove a
stain on a guest’s suit before the guest departed, the hotel manager traveled
to the guest’s house and personally delivered a reimbursement check for the
cost of the suit. According to one Ritz-Carlton manager, if the chain gets hold
of a picture of a guest’s pet, it will make a copy, have it framed, and display
it in the guest’s room in whatever Ritz-Carlton the guest visits. As a result
of such customer service heroics, an amazing 95 percent of departing guests
report that their stay has been a truly memorable experience. More than
90 percent of Ritz-Carlton’s delighted customers return

Day 4
Two-Way Customer Relationships. New technologies have profoundly changed the
ways in which people relate to one another. New tools for relating include everything
from e-mail, Web sites, blogs, cell phones, and video sharing to online communities and
social networks, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
This changing communications environment also affects how companies and brands
relate to customers. The new communications approaches let marketers create deeper
customer involvement and a sense of community surrounding a brand—to make the
brand a meaningful part of consumers’ conversations and lives. “Becoming part of the
conversation
between consumers is infinitely more powerful than handing down information via
traditional
advertising,” says one marketing expert. Says another, “People today want a voice
and a role in their brand experiences. They want co-creation.
However, at the same time that the new technologies create relationship-building
opportunities
for marketers, they also create challenges. They give consumers greater power
and control. Today’s consumers have more information about brands than ever before,
and they have a wealth of platforms for airing and sharing their brand views with other
consumers.
Customer-managed relationships Marketing relationships in which customers,
empowered by today’s new digital technologies, interact with companies and with each
other to shape their relationships with brands.

Thus, the marketing world is now embracing not only customer relationship
management, but also customer-managed relationships. Greater consumer control
means that, in building customer relationships, companies can no longer rely on
marketing by intrusion.( action)
Instead, marketers must practice marketing by attraction—creating market offerings
and messages that involve consumers rather than interrupt them. Hence, most
marketers now augment their mass-media marketing efforts with a rich mix of direct
marketing approaches that promote brand-consumer interaction.

For example, many brands are creating dialogues with consumers via their own or
existing online social networks.
To supplement their marketing campaigns, companies
now routinely post their latest ads and made-for-the-Web videos on video-sharing
sites. They join social networks. Or they launch their own blogs, online communities,
or consumer-generated review systems, all with the aim of engaging customers on a
more personal, interactive level.