Lesson 1: Knowing Oneself – Strengths and Limitations

Self Development/Personal Development

• Process of discovering oneself by realizing one's potentials and capabilities

• Taking steps to better yourself

• Efforts toward self-fulfillment.

Know Thyself

• is an old maxim or aphorism gained different meanings.

• “The Suda” is the encyclopedia of Greek knowledge wherein the concept of Know Thyself is interpreted in
different meanings.

Read Thyself

• Thomas Hobbes also discussed his own views about the maxim from which he used the phrase “read thyself” in
his famous work The Leviathan.
Defining Relationship Marketing
Relationship Marketing

• involves creating, maintaining and enhancing strong relationships with customers and other stakeholders.
Gilaninia et al (2011)
• is oriented more towards the long term. The goal is to deliver long- term value to customers and the measure of
success is long-term customer satisfaction.
• requires that all the company’s departments work together with marketing as a team to serve the customer. It
involves building relationships at many levels – economic, social, technical and legal – resulting in high customer
loyalty.
• is a strategy designed for customer loyalty, interaction, and long-term engagement to be fostered. It is designed
to develop strong connections with customers by providing them with information directly suited to their needs
and interests by promoting open communication. Forbes.com
• includes activities aimed at developing and managing trusting and long-term relationships with larger customers.
(Customer profile, buying patterns and history of contacts are kept in a sales database). Serrano

Five Different Levels Of Relationships That Can Be Formed With Customers Who Have Purchased A Company’s
Product, Such As A Car Or A Piece Of Equipment

1. Basic. The company salesperson sells the product but does not follow up in any way.

2. Reactive. The salesperson sells the product and encourages the customer to call whenever he or she has any
questions or problems.

3. Accountable. The salesperson phones the customer a short time after the sale to check whether the product is
meeting the customer’s expectations. The salesperson also solicits from the customer any product improvement
suggestions and any specific disappointments. This information helps the company continuously to improve its offering.

4. Proactive. The salesperson or others in the company phone the customer from time to time with suggestions about
improved product use or helpful new products.

Partnership.

• The company works continuously with the customer and with other customers to discover ways to deliver better
value.

Customer relationship

• is the development of an ongoing connection between a company and its customers. The relationship involves
marketing communications, sales support, technical assistance and customer service.
• is a big part of marketing. Relationship marketing is an interaction with current customers and potential ones.

Characteristics of Relationship Marketing

1. It focuses on the long-term rather than the short-term.

2. It focuses on partners and customers rather than on the company’s products.

3. It puts more emphasis on customer retention and growth than on customer acquisition.

4. It relies on cross-functional teams rather than on departmental-level work. 5. It relies more on listening and learning
than on talking.
Benefits in Developing and Implementing Customer Relationship

1. Consistent customer experience

2. Customer Feedback

3. Customer Profitability

4. Customer advocate

5. Innovation

Benefits of Relationship Marketing

In the business world, retaining customers has a lesser cost at least eight times compared to acquiring new ones.
Thus, this marketing capitalizes on the same fact and is beneficial to the company in several ways.

A. Understanding Customer Characteristics;

- the company can segregate its customers into groups based on their characteristics like purchasing power, frequency
and volume of sale transactions. It also helps the company get valuable feedback from its customers and understand
their needs and expectations.

B. Delivery and Meeting Expectations

- if the company knows what its customers’ needs are, it will help reduce wastage due to trial and error methods. It is
easier to create a product if the features and specifications of the product are known.

C. Repeat Business

- Sellers should maintain good attitude to the buyers. By doing this, buyers will feel that they do not need to switch
sellers.

D. Prevents Negative Transition.

- Trust and loyalty go hand in hand and it is super beneficial for all business. It will help prevent customers from turning
to competitors.

E. Word-of-Mouth Marketing

❖ Increasing customer base - satisfied existing customer is 100% more likely to recommend a product/service to
a prospective customer. Apart from customer, referrals, there are several other ways to increase customer
satisfaction by employing methods of utilizing social networking websites, blogs, informal surveys, benefits on
loyalty cards, timely response to complaints and requests as a constant reminder of its presence around and
retention equity is improved by enhancing customer satisfaction.

F. Reduced Marketing Cost

- benefits also include lesser marketing costs and more value creation. This can be explained by stating the following
statistics: every 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s annual profits from at least 25% to as much
as 125%, while simultaneously leading to a reduction of 10% in marketing costs. An existing customer will spend 33%
more than a new customer to buy a company’s product/service.
G. Identification with the company

- the benefits are reaped both by the company and the customers. It helps customers identify more with the company.
Keeping your communication lines open and keeping in touch with the customers makes them feel like they are being
valued. It will keep customers coming in and build brand equity for the company in the long run.

H. Product Market Expansion

- the company’s employees must be ready to deliver beyond the company’s boundaries on customer demand.

Customer Expectation: Customer Value

When there is a repeated purchase, it indicates that the customer has strong confidence and trust in the product or
service. But sometimes the interest of the customer changes gradually. They might need the product now; it doesn’t
mean they want it tomorrow.

Customer expectations

• are created in the minds of customers based upon their individual experiences and what they have learned,
combined with their pre-existing experience and knowledge. If the customer is satisfied with their previous
experience most likely they will expect a high value. To meet the expectation, companies keep on introducing
and changing the products. To achieve this, companies continuously conduct market research. The survey,
interview, and other means contain information that could help determine the level of expectation as well the
satisfaction of customers.

“underpromise and overdeliver” strategy.

• This strategy is doing quicker and faster delivery of products and services more than stated to satisfy customers.
For example, a company promised to deliver the item in five working days but arrived earlier than the promised
schedule. It has performed better than its promise.
• Most common strategy used by most companies.

Blue Ocean strategy.

• It is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open a new market space and create new
demand. Instead of competing with the existing market, they create new demand through innovating and
enhancing their product features to make them different from other existing products.

Customer value

• is the perception of what a product or service is worth to a customer versus the possible
alternatives. Worth means the customer feels he/she got benefits and services over what
he/she paid.
• is having something to do with meeting the expectation that results in customer
satisfaction

It is the job of marketers to recognize and understand what the customer needs and perception as
to create value. A good customer experience will create customer satisfaction that leads to
customer loyalty, increased purchasing power, and profitability.
Customization

• is another means of creating value based on customer preferences.