CUSTOMER CARE SERVICE AND MARKETING;

EFFECTIVE TOOLS FOR ORGANISATIONAL

GROWTH
AND SUSTAINANCE IN A RECESSED ECONOMY
YOU CANNOT APPREHEND GREAT HEIGHT,
UNTIL YOU COMPREHEND DEEP KNOWLEDGE
Let me start by way of introducing the topic, it
is

your

apprehension

that

determines

your

comprehension, what you know determines how

far you go and until you see what others cannot
see you cannot excel beyond their level, it is
therefore your understanding that makes you
outstanding.
In the business world today the depth of your
understanding determines the strength of your
language; your language must be customer
friendly, motivating and assuring enough to make
a potential customer feel secured and full of
assurance for the package(s) rollout by your
organization.

Customers Dont just buy quality but also

assurance, if the customers are well assured then
quality is secondary when your product are in
display among others, their first choice is the one
they have full assurance of, no matter what the
quality the guarantee and warranty of your
product is the assurance not just the quality.
Let us consider some few mission statements
or what the layman will call slogan.
COMPANY MISSION STATEMENT
Companies spend a great percentage of their
income

and

employee

hours

carrying-out

activities that stem from decisions in various

parts

of

the

company.

As

these

activities

continue, they help to shape the destiny of the

entire company. The accomplishments of a
company can be astounding if all its parts work
together toward the same carefully established,
appropriate goals.

Top managers are responsible for making the

total decisions that set the companys overall
goals and keep all parts of the company pulling
together toward these goals. Decisions that have
a long-range impact on the general direction and
basic character of a company are called strategic
decisions.
Through

strategic

planning,

managers

evaluate the companys relationship with its

external environment and establish the basic
directions for the company.
The broadest expression of the direction in
which a company will apply its efforts is a
statement of its mission, which explains the
fundamental purpose of the enterprise. The
companys

mission

statement

describes

in

general terms what key decision-makers want the

company

to

accomplish

and

what

kind

of

company they want it to become. A companys

mission is its very long-range purpose and
consequently is changed infrequently. Developing
3

a statement of mission helps to identify the

companys Strategic Business Units (SBUS), part
of the business that focus on distinct markets.
A specific mission focuses the scope of the
companys search for opportunities in the market
place, further defines the types of organization
with which it must complete, and helps the
company identify its competition and other
threats it must guard against. That is, the
companys intended mission will identify the parts
of the total environment that are most relevant to
the companys decisions.
Your company mission statement must be
consistent with service delivery, the assurance
must be time tested and customer friendly.
YOUR ENVIRONMENT CANNOT BE BETTER
THAN YOURSELF

The customer friendly organization has a

better, conducive and secured environment, the
location of your organization, how strategic and
accessible

also

determines

how

customers

friendly the organization is.

The habitation of a man determines his habit,
so an organization whose physical infrastructure
does not meet modern trends and architectural
aesthetics is likely to be looked at as old
generation.
The organizations innovative services is part
of the environmental impact felt by customers,
customers applauds innovation, incentives and
time conscious organizations, particularly in this
competitive Age every organization that wants to
be in the lead must be Highly innovative,
customer friendly in its packages, time conscious
in dispensing its services. Your organization
corporate look attracts customers.

YOUR INTENTION DETERMINES YOUR

EXTENSION
The size of an organization is a product of its
intention if the organizations intention is to meet
the need of a large audience or customer then
their must be plan for extension.
An organization that has no extension will
soon give way to others with branches all over,
because the more your extension the greater
patronage

you

experience,

it

is

normal

psychology that people reckon with things they

see all around, people patronize or buy cars or
items readily available all round than scarce
items. It is easier for a person to decide on
utilizing the services of an available service outfit
at

reach

than

one

that

cannot

be

easily

accessible.
The subject of organizations spreading all
over and establishing branches is a necessity for
the assurance of customers, and for accessibility
6

the more accessible an organization the more

customers they get.
The

conviction

of

customers

in

an

organization that has wider spread of branches or

extension is the belief in credibility of such an
organization,

the

viability

and

vibrancy

of

services, it is also a measure of stability and

functionality.
COMPETITIVENESS
Any

organisation

that

does

not

have

competitive spirit will soon fizzle out or be

outshined by others. Learning new strategies and
concepts is a necessary tool for the survival of
organisations in the 21st century. And particularly
in a recessed economy the backup of any
organisation is tied to the level of competitiveness
in a class of other organisation that dispel the
same product.

Competitiveness

stirs

up

zeal

in

the

organisational staff, it encourages innovations

and

best

services,

highly

competitive

organisation is at its peak in leading others, no

organisation competes against itself but with
orders in an effort to deliver their best, your
product and its quality can only be delivered
effectively

and

rightly

backed

up

by

competitiveness with others with the same kind of

service.
The catalyst for an organisational survival is
in its high competitive spirit, highly competitive
management staff, marketing staff, operational
staff, customer service and even the front office
reception and security service.
THE BATTLE OF SLOGANS
We appear to be headed into an interesting
period in business over the next several years,
especially regarding service as a competitive
factor. I characterize this phase as the battle of
8

slogans. It seems that every service company

has to have a slogan or a nifty buzz-phrase to put
on the lapel buttons it sticks on its employees.
More

and

more

advertisements

for

service

businesses of all kinds brag about how much they

can about the customer, how they go all out to
please the customers, and how eager their people
are to give grate service.
As has been the case in advertising for many
years, any connection between the claim and the
reality tends to be a statistical coincidence. When
a firm show its customers a jarring contradiction
between the claim of being service oriented and
the reality the customer experiences, chances are
the executives have taken a simpleminded, so will
be the organizations approaches to customer
satisfaction.
An amusing story circulated widely in K Mart
Corporation, one of the largest department store
chains in the United States. According to the
story, L mart executives wanted all cashiers to say
9

to the customers as they left, Thank You for

Shopping at K Mart. They hammered and
hammered on this slogan and the need for
everybody to say it. They even reduce it to a kind
of code-TYFSAK. TYFSAK became shorthand for
saying the slogan. In one instance, a supervisor
was training a new cashier. He was standing
behind her in the checkout booth, advising her on
the various steps in the process. As she was
about to hand the change and receipt to the
customer, the supervisor whispered to her, Dont
forget to say TYFSAK. A bit confused, she looked
at the customers and said, TYFSAK. The
customer, of course, was completely baffled.
Probably at least 59 percent of top executives
and senior managers mistake the concept of
service

leadership

for

slogan

approach.

Somehow they seem to believe (they really do)

that all it takes is to round up everybody and give
them a dose of customer service. Or better yet,
it the marketing department can come up with a
10

nifty slogan or an ad campaign, it wont even be

necessary to put the lapel buttons on the
employees or to send them through the smile
training courses.
Abraham Lincoln had a favorite riddle he liked
to spring on people. He used to ask, How many
legs does a dog have, if you call the tail a leg?
when the unsuspecting respondent would answer,
Five, Lincoln would chastise, No-he has four.
Calling his tail a leg doesnt make it a leg. And
calling mediocre service excellent doesnt make it
excellent.
We will probably go through a phase in which
just about every company will have a customer
service promise in its advertising, whether its
operation delivers on that promise or not. When
we reach that point, customers will be right back
where they started making their judgments on
the actual quality of service as they perceive it.
Sloganism will only beget an even greater level of
customer cynicism and probably not much else.
11

The advice I usually give to executives who

are just getting excited about service excellence
and trying to launch service-quality initiatives in
their organization is:

12

IF YOU CANT DELIVER QUALITY, DONT

ADVERTISE QUALITY.
Years ago I heard a wonderful little poem that
illustrates the dangers of advertising something
you cant deliver. Ive attempted unsuccessfully to
fine the name of the author. Apparently it has
passed along from person to person for many
years, and the name has been lost. I pass it along
again, with recognition and gratitude to the
anonymous poet:
It Pays to Advertise
A tiger met a lion as they drank beside the
pool.
Tell me, said the tiger, Why youre always
roaring like a fool.
Its not so foolish, said the lion with a
twinkle in his eyes.
They call me King of Beasts; it pays to
advertise.
A Little rabbit overheard, and ran home like a
streak.
He thought hed try the lions plan but his roar
was just a squeak.
13

And a hungry fox that morning had his

breakfast in the woods;
The moral: it does not pay to advertise unless
you have the goods.
-Anonymous

CAPITAL BASE AND FINANCIAL STANDING

There is no one single organisation that can
survive for too long without a solid base
financially, the capital base of any organisation is
customer based the larger the size of your
customer the more secured the capital base.
Every one single customer that visits should
be treated as a means of getting more customers,
the kind of service your render, the treatment you
give to the customer, the speed or effectiveness
of

service

in

line

with

company

slogan

establishes great assurance in the mind of the

customer, people patronizes an organisation for
want of service, not for its beautiful building or
14

well dressed staff even though the two mentioned

are also part of capital base, a mushroom
organisation can be assessed by its physical
structures

and

its

kind

of

staff,

so

while

organisations are considering its customers size

in generating its capital base, the infrastructures
on the ground should be customer friendly, the
front office that is those in the customer service,
the security network put together, your customer
that forms the source of your organisations
capital base may be disappointed by the physical
structure from outside, viewing the organisations
location possibly in an unsafe environment slums
or hide outs for criminals, most customers prefers
a

readily

accessible

environment

mostly

motorable path, Highways and eyebrow part of the

city, conducive parking space for cars, dignified
security arrangements both at the parking lot and
entrance of the organisation.
On entering or accessing the organisation the
next

impression

is

your
15

organisational

arrangement

talking

infrastructures,

staff

of

the

positioning,

physical
the

sitting

arrangements for customers and their safety

within, which has to do with assurance and safety
in business. The quality of service rendered by
staff, their attitude towards customers must be
friendly, possibly knowing them by face and at
times by name, it establishes friendliness and no
one customer will want to lose that kind of a torch
in business.

TIME CONSCIOUSNESS
Every business has an opening or daily
resumption of duty and closing time, every
organisation has to be critical of time, minding the
time advantage taking by similar organisations, if
an organization discovers that its customers
strength is on the increase, it is fair to extend for
the convenience of its customers, taking into
16

consideration the security of its customers and its

organisations. That is not to say you open too
early and close too late taking into cognizance the
time of your staff as well to avoid boredom and
exhaustion at work.
In the area of time, organisations that are time
conscious also takes advantage of timing as
observed by other organisation offering similar
services, if others open 0800am your organisation
must for necessity also open 0800am not 0830am,
because many customers take advantage of time
in transacting their businesses and when others
closes by 0400pm the same applies, and in this
instance organisations

that extend a little are

considered by customers to be friendly and their

sacrifice in extending time a little beyond that of
others considering the elements of security,
boredom and exhaustion of staff which can also
be taken care of by

rewarding the staff with

allowances to cater for the additional time spent

and

in

the

area

of

security
17

of

both

the

organisation, its staff at work and even the

customers. The organisation must be thorough,
swift and avoiding delay at the close of hour
possibly

giving

organisations

room

to

complex

to

those

within

the

be

attended

to

considering the number at hand and estimating

the time each can be attended to before closing.
MARKETING YOUR PRODUCT
Marketing touches all people every day of our
lives. We wake up to a Viking radio alarm clock
produced in Hong Kong, we brush our teeth with
crest close-up, MacLean etc we put on suits
designed by reputable designer world class with
Pierre Cardin shirts and tie to match, designer
shoes. We sweeten a cup of tea with powdered
milk or any other stuff of milk mix with spoons of
sugar. We drive to work in a Toyota, Mazda, Honda
Cars (made in Japan). etc
During work, we phone people both for
private and official transactions via GSM or
18

Landline

telecom

system

developed

by

Motorola, Nokia, Samsung etc. A fax message

using a fax machine produced by Panasonic,
siemens, Philips etc.
Arriving home we get our mail or letter sent
by our bank offering various financial services
and advise, later in the night we watch Sonny
Irabor live, or Bisi Olatilo Show on Daar Sat Cable
television, National News on NTA and AIT News
etc.
The marketing system has made all the
products available to us with little effort on our
part for the benefit from all the products
mentioned from all over the world and around us.
Two business researchers, Tom Peters and
Robert

Waterman,

Studied

many

successful

company to find out what made tick. The result is

what was published in the best selling business
book of our time In Search of Excellence they
found out that these organisations shared a set of
common marketing principles.
19

A KEEN UNDERSTANDING OF ITS CUSTOMERS

STRONGLY DEFINED MARKETS
ABILITY TO MOTIVATE ITS EMPLOYEES TO
DELIVER QUALITY SERVICE AND VALUE FOR ITS
CUSTOMER
In a second book, Tom Peters and Nancy
Austin offered more insights about organizations
TAKING INTELLIGENT AND EFFECTIVE
MEASURES TO IMPROVE CUSTOMERS
SATISFACTION
Examples. How IBM collects customer ratings of
its sales and service people and give awards to
employees who best satisfy customers in diverse
ways, organizations can reward their employees
best services even in giving bonuses. Marketing
20

is a key factor in business success, the term

marketing must be understood not in the sense of
making a sale selling but rather in the New
sense of satisfying customers needs. Todays
companies face increasingly stiff competition,
and the rewards go to those who can best read
customer wants and deliver the greatest value to
their target consumers or customers. In the
market, marketing skills separate the amateurs
from the professionals.
In

this

seminar/workshop

we

shall

be

exploring of the concepts of marketing, major

marketing philosophies thinking and practice,
goals, of marketing system and marketing to
different organizations.

21

WHAT IS MARKETING?
What does the term marketing mean? To
many

marketing

is

all

about

selling

and

promotion. No wonder, every day on radio and

Television commercials, Newspaper ads, direct
mail, and sales calls. Someone is always trying to
sell something.
It will surprise my listeners to know that
selling is only the tip of marketing iceberg. It is
but one of several marketing functions, and often
not the most important. If the marketers does a
good job of;

IDENTIFYING CONSUMER NEEDS

DEVELOPING A GOOD PRODUCT
PROMOTING THE PRODUCT EFFECTIVELY

22

These goods will sell very easily. Everyone

knows

about

hot

products

that

attract

consumers in droves. When compact disc players

were first introduced to the market, when portable
computers were developed, when Frozen Pizza
were introduced, and other forms of consumer
services and consumable and products they
attract rush some goes with products and
services from companies and organizations.
The services or products that droves in
consumers are designed as the right product for
the right time and the right people not a me too
product(s) that simply followed a trend but ones
offering new benefits.
According

to

Peter

Drucker,

leading

management thinker, put it this way The aim of

marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim
is to know and understand customers so well that
the product or services fits them and sells itself
MARKETING
23

We define marketing therefore as a social and

managerial process by which individuals and
groups obtain what they need and want through
creating and exchanging products and services
and values with others.
NEEDS
The most basic concept underlying marketing
is that of human needs. A human need is a state
of felt deprivation. Humans have many needs
which include basic physical needs for food,
clothing, warmth and safety and that is why we
need food products and services, marketing or
production of clothings,
architects

that

design

building engineers,
and

build

building

structures for shelter and warmth, and security

products and services for safety.
Social needs for belonging and need for
affection, also individual needs for knowledge
which is the basis for acquiring certain level of
literacy or education and self-expression. These
24

needs are not created by marketing, but are basic

part of human make-up.
When a need is not met or satisfied, a person
will do one or two things, look for an object that
will satisfy the need or try to reduce the need.
People in industrial society may try to invent or
develop objects that will satisfy the desires.
WANT
A second basic concept in marketing is that
of human wants, this is the form taken by human
needs as they are shaped by culture and
individual personality. A hungry person in Bali
may want mangoes and beans. A hungry person
in Canada may want a hamburger, while in Nigeria
context A hausa man may want Tuwon-shinkafa,
Igbo man eba and Egusi Soup, while Yoruba
man Amala and Ewedu this are all human wants
that turns to need by culture and individual
personality may necessitates the person trying
Mr. Biggs for fried rice chicken, snacks etc in all
25

these somebody is require to meet this desire by

providing services and products to meet the need.
Wants are described in terms of objects that
will satisfy needs,

As the society evolves, the

wants of its members expand. As people are

exposed to more objects that arouse interest and
desire, producers try to provide more want
satisfying products and services.
ANALYSIS OF WANTS AND NEEDS
Sellers often confuse wants and needs. A
manufacturer of drill bits may think that the
customer needs a drill bit, but what the consumer
really needs is a hole. These sellers suffer from
market

myopia,

producers

and

service

providers should not be taken with their product

or services to the extent of losing focus only on
existing wants and lose sight of their customers
needs. They tend to forget that a physical product
is only a tool to solve a consumer problem. That
is why these sellers have trouble if a new product
26

comes along that serves the need better, the

customer with the same need will want the new
product, the more reason why needs are always
been met daily and organization keeps bringing
up new innovations and products in order to
escape market stagnation and sudden drop in
marketing of their products and services.
DEMANDS FOR PRODUCT AND SERVICES
People have unlimited wants but have limited
resources. Thus they choose products and
services that provide the most satisfaction for
their needs. Consumers view products as bundles
of benefits and choose products that fire them the
best for their money. Thus a mazda 323 means
basic transportation, a low price, and fuel
economy. A Mercedes means comfort, luxury and
status. Given their wants and resources, people
choose the product and services whose benefits
add up to the most satisfaction.

27

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Human needs, wants and demands suggest
that there are products available to satisfy them. A
product or services is anything that can be
offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use,
or consumption, that might satisfy a want or need.
Suppose a person feels the need to be more
attractive, we will call all the products that can
satisfy this need the product choice set. The set
may include such products as new clothes,
hairstyling services, exercise classes etc. The
more closer the products are to matching or
meeting

the

consumers

wants,

the

more

successful the producer will be. Thus producers

must know what consumers want and must
provide products and services that satisfies those
wants.
The concept of product is not limited to
physical objects. Anything capable of satisfying a
need can be called a product or services. In
addition to goods and services, products include
28

persons,

places,

organization,

activities

and

ideas. A consumer decides which entertainer to

watch on television, places to go on vacation,
organizations to patronize, ideas to support etc.
To the consumer, these are all products, at times
we substitute the term product with terms such as
satisfier, resources, offer and service, all describe
something of value to someone.
EXCHANGE
Marketing occurs when people decide to
satisfy needs and wants through exchange.
Exchange is the act of obtaining a desired object
or service from someone by offering something in
return. Exchange allows people to concentrate on
making things they are good at. Making and
trading them for needed items made by others.
Exchange is the core concept of marketing.
For an exchange to take place, several conditions
must be satisfied of course there must be two
parties, each must have something of value to the
29

other i.e. The producer of service and the

consumer of services. Each party must want to
deal with the other party and each must be free to
accept or reject the others offer. Finally the
parties must be able to communicate their
decisions and to deliver and accept the product or
service.
These conditions make exchange possible.
Whether exchange actually takes place depends
on whether the parties come to an agreement, if
they agree, we conclude that the act of exchange
leaves each party better off (or at least not worse
off) because each was free to accept, reject the
service offer.
TRANSACTIONS
An

exchange

marketing,

is

the

transaction

core
is

concept
its

unit

of
of

measurement. A transaction consists of a trade of

values between two parties. In a transaction we
must be able to say that A gives X to B and gets Y
30

in return, e.g. you pay Karama Electronics

N20,000 to get a television set. This is a classic
monetary transaction, you might as well trade
your old car in return for money to buy a plot of
land. A transaction involves at least two things of
value conditions that are agreed to, - a time of
agreement, and a place of agreement.
In the broadest sense, the marketer tries to
bring about a response to some offer. The
response may be more than buying or trading
goods and services in the narrow sense. A
political candidate wants a response called
votes, a church want membership, a social
action group wants idea acceptance. Marketing
consists of actions taken to obtain a desired
response from a target audience toward some
product, service, idea or other object.

MARKET

31

The concept of transactions lead to the

concept of market. A market is the set of actual
and potential buyers of a product or service or
idea.
As the number of people and transactions
increases in a society, the number of merchants
and marketplaces also increases. In advanced
societies, markets need not be physical places
where buyers and sellers interract. With modern
communications and transportation, a merchant
can advertise a product on late evening television,
take orders from hundreds of customers or
consumers over the phone and mail the goods to
the buyers of service or product on the following
day without having physical contact with the
buyer, many transaction are done on line with
the advent of communications.
A market can grow up around a product, a
service, or anything else of value. For example a
labor marking consists of people who are willing

32

to offer their work in return for wages and

products.
The money market is another where we
dwell, the market emerges to meet the needs of
people so that they can borrow, lend, save, and
protect money.
MARKETING
The concept of market finally brings us full
circle to the marketing concept. Marketing means
working with markets to bring about exchanges
for the purpose of satisfying human needs and
wants. Thus we return to our definition of
marketing as a process by which individuals and
groups obtain what they need and want by
creating and exchanging products and value with
others.
Exchange processes involve work. Sellers
must reach for buyers, identify their needs,
design good products, promote them, store and

33

deliver them, and set prices or value for such

product or service.
Such activities

as product development,

research, communication, distribution, pricing,

and service are core marketing activities.
Although we normally think of marketing as
being carried on by sellers, buyers also carry on
marketing activities. Consumers are ,marketing
when they search for goods they need at prices
they can afford or services needed by them.
Company purchasing agents are marketing
when they track down sellers and bargain. A
sellers market is one in which sellers have more
power and buyers have to be more active
marketers
In buyers market, buyers have more power
and sellers have to be more active marketers.

34

MARKETING MANAGEMENT
We define marketing management as the
analysis, planning, implementation, and control of
programs designed to create, build, and maintain
beneficial exchanges with target buyers of the
product or service for the purpose of achieving
organizational objectives.
Most people think of a marketing manager as
someone who finds enough customers for the
organizations current product or service output.
However this view is too limited. Marketing
managers are concerned not only with finding and
increasing demand, but also with changing or
even reducing it. Marketing management seeks to
affect the level timing, and nature of demand in a
way that will help the organization achieve its
objectives,

simply

put

MARKETING

MANAGEMENT IS DEMAND MANAGEMENT.

Marketing managers are people who are
involved

in

marketing
35

analysis,

planning,

implementation,

and

control

activities.

They

include sales managers, sales people, advertising

executives, sales promotion people, marketing
researchers,

product

managers,

and

pricing

specialists.
ALTERNATIVE MARKETING CONCEPTS
We have four alternative concepts under
which organizations conduct their marketing
activities, the production, selling, marketing and
societal marketing concepts.
PRODUCTION CONCEPT
The

production

concept

holds

that

consumers will favour products that are available

and highly affordable, and therefore management
should focus on improving production and
distribution efficiency.
When the demand for a product exceeds
supply, production must be increased and where
the products cost is high improved productivity is
36

needed to bring it down. So therefore the

philosophy of increased production and lower
costs in order to bring down prices.
However, lower prices and greater availability
is not a guarantee for success. A typical example
when

Texas

Instruments

(TI)

followed

the

philosophy of increased production and lower

costs in order to bring down prices. It won a major
share of the hand calculator market, however
when they used the same strategy in digital watch
market, it failed, although they were priced low
but customers did not find ITs watches very
attractive Packages must be attractive. They also
tried the same strategy in home computer
marketing and lost million of dollars before it
abandoned the field, so rigidity of strategy is
likely to result in lost, so every strategy applied in
marketing must be flexible and custom friendly.
SELLING CONCEPT

37

Many organizations follow the selling concept

which holds that consumers will not buy enough
of

the

organizations

products

unless

the

organization undertakes a large selling and

promotion effort. This concept is typical practice
with

unsought

goods

those

that

normally do not think of buying

buyers

such as

insurance, Alcohol, cigarette etc

MARKETING CONCEPT
The marketing concept holds that achieving
organizational goals depends on determining the
needs and wants of target market and delivering
the desired satisfaction more effectively and
efficiently than your competitors.
The marketing concepts has been stated in
colorful ways such as find a need and fill it;
make what you can sell instead of trying to sell
what you can make we are not satisfied unless
you are etc.

38

SELLING

AND

MARKETING

CONCEPT

CONTRACTED
Focus

Means

Ends

Products

Selling &
Promoting

Profit
Through
Sales
Volume

SELLING CONCEPT
Focus
Customer
Needs
Wands

Ends
Integrated
Market

Profits
Through
Customer
Satisfaction

MARKETING CONCEPTS
Within the past decade consumer service
organizations especially airlines and banks have
adopted modern marketing practices, marketing

39

has also attracted the interests of insurance and

financial service companies professionals have
also take interest in marketing by engaging in
price

competition,

client

solicitation

and

advertising

SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT

The societal marketing concept holds that the
organization should determine the needs, wants
and interests of target markets. It should then
deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively
and efficiently than competitors in a way that
maintains or improves the consumers and the
societys wellbeing. e.g. Consider Coca Cola
Company, people see it as being a highly
responsible corporation producing soft drinks
that satisfy consumers taste. Yet consumer and
environmental groups voiced concerns that coke
has little nutritional value, can harm teeth,
contains caffeine, and adds to the litter problem.
40

Such concerns led to the societal marketing of

concept

thereby

maintaining

or

improving

consumers and societys wellbeing.

SUMMARY
Marketing touches everyones life. It is the
means by which a standard of living is developed
and made available to people. Marketing activities
are designed to sense, service, and satisfy
consumer needs while meeting the organizations
goal. Marketing is directed at satisfying needs and
wants through exchange processes, the key
concepts

of

marketing

are

needs,

wants,

demands, products, exchange, transactions and

markets.
Marketing management on the other hand is
the

analysis,

planning,

implementation,

and

control of programs designed to create, build, and

maintain beneficial exchanges with target markets
for the purpose of achieving organizational
objectives.
41

KEY TERMS
DEMANDS -

Human wants that are backed by

buying power
EXCHANGE -

The act of obtaining a desired

object from someone by offering

something in return.
HUMAN NEED - A state of felt deprivation in a
person.
HUMAN WANT - The form taken by a human need
as it is shaped by culture and
individual personality
MARKET -

The set of actual and potential buyers

of a product

42

MARKETIMG -

A social managerial process by

which individuals and groups obtain

what they need and want through
creating and exchanging products
and value with others.
MARKETING CONCEPT - The
achieving

philosophy

organizational

that
goals

depend on determining the needs

and wants of target markets and
delivering the desired satisfactions
more effectively and efficiently than
competitors.
MARKETING MANAGEMENT -

The

planning,
and

control

analysis,

implementation,
of

programs

designed to create, build,

and

maintain

beneficial

exchange with target buyers

43

for the purpose of achieving

organizational objectives.
PRODUCT -

Anything that can be offered

to a market for attention,
acquisition,

use,

consumption,

that

or
might

satisfy a need or want.

TRANSACTION -

A trade between two parties

that involves at least two
things of value agreed
upon conditions a time of
agreement, and a place of
agreement.

CUSTOMER CARE SERVICE Renders to the

target market in the form of
attention to meet needs and
wants for the purpose of

44

achieving
objective.

45

organizations

SERVICE EXCHANGE: defined as a level of

service quality, compared to your competitors that
is high enough in the eyes of your customers that
it enables you charge a higher price for your
service product, gain an unnaturally large market
share, and/or enjoy a higher profit margin than
your competitors.

TEN (10) LESSONS WE HAD TO LEARN

ABOUT

SERVICE

AND

SERVICE

MANAGEMENT.
1. Service has more economic impact than we
thought and is worse than we imagined.
Continuing customer research shows that
many service firms are paying a terribly high
price in the opportunity cost of lost
business due to mediocre service. In many
industries, both market share and market
46

volume are there for the taking by the firms

that can gain a truly differentiated position
around services excellence.
2. Most

service

organizations

are

in

the

defensive mode with respect to quality. The

customer service department remains, for the
majority of service businesses, the only token
of commitment to satisfying customer needs.
In most companies, the CS department is the
group of people whose job it is to get
trounced by the customers when the rest of
the organization fouls things up. Few firms
are truly proactive with respect to customer
satisfaction

and

making

amends

for

disservice events. The simple apology is still,

by and large, a lost art in the world of
business.
3. Management must see the profit impact of
service

in

order

to
47

take

it

seriously.

Organizations typically start to turn on only

when their senior management groups grok
(in the words of science fiction writer Robert
Heinlein) the idea that there is money to be
made in doing right by the customer.
4. The longer youre in a service business, the
greater the odds you dont understand your
customer. In case after case, research into
customer

perceptions

reveals

hidden

concerns, priorities, and feelings that point

toward a reconceptualisation of the service
product and a clearer positioning strategy for
ht eservice in its marketplace.
5. A service product is profoundly different from
a

physical

product.

service

is

psychological and largely personal outcome,

whereas

physical

product

is

usually

impersonal in its impact on the customer.

Most executives and managers in service
48

businesses are still trying to depersonalize

the product and run their organizations with
thing-oriented philosophies and practices.
6. Managers do not control the quality of the
product when the product is a service. Quality
control changes drastically when the product
is an interaction rather than a thing. The
quality of the service product is in a
precarious state it is in the hands of the
service workers who produce and deliver it.
Mangers can affect the quality of service only
indirectly, by inspiring and motivating the
people at the front line. Many of those
managers dont realize this yet.
7. Service

improvement

starts

at

the

top;

managers must walk their talk. Research

and

practical

experience

show

that

universal commitment to quality service does

not spontaneously ignite in organizations. It
49

must originate from the center of influence,

which is usually at the top of the pyramid. If
senior management believes in service, there
is a chance the idea can become contagious.
If they dont really believe in it, it will go
nowhere fast, regardless of what they say.
8. Management practice will have to evolve from
a manufacturing orientation to a moments-oftruth orientation to meet the demands of
competition. We are at the beginning of an era
that will see the demise of the General Motors
model of management, with its tool-and-task
orientation, and the evolution of a new motif
that will revolve around outcomes instead of
activities. This will probably be a long, slow
process, taking at least a decade to get into
full swing. The early thought leaders will take
the lumps for the learning process, but they
may reap significant rewards in market
performance and organizational productivity.
50

9. Your employees are your first market; you

have to sell them on the service idea or they
will never sell it to your customers. The way
your people feel about themselves and their
jobs will always affect their interactions with
the customers. If they believe in giving the
best service they possibly can, it will show. If
you havent sold them, that will show too. And
they do need to be sold in most cases, or at
the very least, not unsold.
10.

Systems are often the enemies of service.

Many of the problems of poor or mediocre

service originate in systems, procedures,
policies,

rules

and

regulations,

and

organizational craziness. Too often, we blame

the frontline people for poor service, when the
real problem is system that dont work or
make sense. If you arent willing to rethink the

51

systems, youre asking them to run the race

with only one shoe.
Of course, weve learned a great deal more
than these 10 things, but do service as
jumping-off points for discussion about how
to make the service revolution happen in the
firm.

FIVE (5) LEVELS OF SERVICE.

1. Going out of business. These firms are so out

of touch with their customers that they are on
the way down the tubes; some know it, some
dont.
2. Dogged pursuit of mediocrity. These firms are
probably in business to stay, but service
quality is not pat of their thinking. Some fairly
52

major companies fall into this category,

including

number

of

airlines.

Many

government agencies operate at Level 2,

largely because they lack a profit imperative.
3. Present and accounted for. These firms know
they are in the service business and tend to
have an innate respect for doing at least the
basics. However, most of them enjoy only
what marketing theories call a natural market
share, i.e., the share of the market theyre
entitled to by virtue of showing up. Service
quality doesnt entitled to by virtue of
showing up. Service quality doesnt play a
major part in their strategic positioning. Many,
if not most, banks fall into this category, as
well as many retail chains and quite a few
hotels.
4. Making a serious effort. These firms are on
the move, and they are usually working hard
53

to find ways to make service a competitive

weapon. this is the level at which service
management

makes

sense

as

an

organizational driving idea. A number of

major firms as well as many smaller ones are
working at, arriving at, or passing through
this level. A great deal of innovation, risk
taking, and rethinking of customer image and
organizational focus goes on here.
5. Service as an art form. These are the
legendary firms in the service business
those very few that have become household
names and market leaders because of their
obsessive, unrelenting commitment at all
levels to the doctrine of maximum positive
customer impact. These are the Marriotts, the
Disneys, the Nordstrom department stores,
the IBMs (in the old days), and a number of
smaller firms that are legends in their corners
of the world. World-class restaurants and
54

hotels and a very few cruise ships fit into this

category. The mission of management in
these companies is to preserve and refine the
image of outstanding service. Figure 1-1
illustrates these levels of service quality with
respect to competitive impact.
Many of the companies that are hoping to make
service their competitive edge factor will not
succeed, simply because they wont be able to
raise their levels of service quality high enough to
esteemed participants simply trying hard wont do
it. Advertising comparing wont do it. Exhorting
the employees to be friendly with the customer
wont do it. The only thing that will do it is to
deliver a superior service product that wins in the
market place.
From the standpoint of competitive strength,
service leadership is all about unnatural market
share I;e; setting a piece of somebody elses pie.

55

And that takes a will marketed, superior

product.
Some of the identified most common insults to
customers include favoring one customer to
another,

treating

customers

with

attitude

bothering on arrogance, downright rudeness,

delay attendance to customer, lack of courtesy
etc.

THE SEVEN (7) DONTS OF SERVICE.

1.

Apathy: A just-dont-give-a-damn attitude

on the part of the customer-contact person,
or an impression conveyed to the customer
expressed in terms of what comedian
George Carlin describes as DILLIGAD, or,
Do I Like Give a Damn? Many counterservice people get this way when they get
bored with their jobs and nobody is
reminding them that their jobs are to serve
rather than stand behind the counter.
56

2.

Brush-Off: Trying to get rid of the customer

by brushing off his or her need or problem;
trying to slam dunk the customer with
some standard procedure that doesnt
solve the problem but lets the service
person off the hook for doing anything
special. An example is the department store
clerk who is standing around waiting for the
end of the shift who says, This isnt my
department, when a customer asks for
help in finding something.

3.

Coldness:

kind

curtness,

of

chilly

hostility,

unfriendliness,

inconsiderateness, or impatience with the

customer that says, Youre a nuisance;
please go away. It still amazes me to find
that some many restaurants carefully select
the most moody, depressed. Hostile person
they can find for the hostess-cashier job,
57

making sure the customers first and last

moments of truth are good ones.
4.

Condescension: Treating the customer with

a patronizing attitude, such as many healthcare people do. They call the doctor
Doctor Jones, but they call you by your
first name and talk to you like youre four
years

older.

They

dont

think

youre

qualified to know what your blood pressure

is-the doctor will take care of everything.
5.

Robotism:

Think-you-have-a-nice-day-

NEXT. The fully mechanized worker puts

every customer through the same program
with the

same

standard

motions

and

slogans, and with no trace of warmth or

individuality. A variant of this is the smiling
robot who gives you a permanent star
smile, but you can tell nobodys home
upstairs.
58

6.

Rule Book: Putting the organizational rules

above customers

satisfaction, with no

discretion on the part of the service person

to make exceptions or use common sense.
Banks are famous for this; they usually do
everything possible to eliminate all traces
of human thought and judgment, with the
result that no one is authorized to think.
Any customer problem with more than one
moving part confounds their system.
7.

Runaround: Sorry, youll have to call (see)

so-and-so. We dont handle that here.
Airline people have made this into an art;
the ticket agent tells you the gate people
will take care of it, and the gate people tell
you to see the ticket agent when you get to
your destination, and the agent at your
destination tells you to have your travel
agent take care of it.
59

Life has only so many plots, and if you observe

long enough youll see almost all of them acted
out sooner or later. For a personal exercise, pay
attention to the service episodes you experience
for about a week, and see how many times you
get less than satisfactory service. When you do,
see which of the seven sins of service youve
been subjected to.
If you manage or work with service people,
discuss these seven sins of service with them and
see what you and they can do to make sure they
are not guilty of them with as many service
businesses as there are today, and with the
service revolution well underway, one would think
almost all businesses would pay close attention
to the quality of their service. Yet that is far from
true. In majority of service businesses, mediocrity
is the norm.
1. Apathy
2. Brush off
3. Coldness
4. Condescension
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5. Robotism
6. Rule book
7. Runaround
REFERENCES

Bennet and Cooper, Beyond the Marketing

Concept Pg. 81

Edward Cundiff and Marge TharpHilger;

Marketing in the International Environment,
2nd ed, Englewood Cliffs, N. J: Prentice Hall,
1988, PP 350 353.

John F Love and McDonalds Corporation,

MacDonalds, Behind the Arches, Toronto:
Bantam Books, 1986;

Peter .F. Drucker, Management; Tasks,

Responsibilities,

Practices,

(New

Harper & Row 1973 PP 64 65)

61

York

Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman

Jr, in search of Excellence; lessons from
Americas Best Run Companies (New
York: Harper & Row, 1982).

Thomas .J. Peters and Nancy Austin, A

Passion

for

Excellence, the leadership Difference (New

York, Random House, 1985).

Wynne
common

Thomas,
sense

Compelling
marketing,

November 24, 1986 PP 11 - 12

62

story

of

marketing,