Page 183 - Marketing the Basics 2nd

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are legitimate. Throughout the site click-to-call or click-to-chat icons are prominently displayed, which connect the user directly to its customer service department. Only the largest companies in the space, Expedia and Priceline for example, can afford to offer similar a service and still turn a profit.
At the core of the people component is the simple idea that all our marketing noise boils down to how employees treat customers. If we have a bad experience, all the marketing and advertising in the world don’t amount to a hill of beans. It is how we are treated at the essential points of human contact that we judge a service- oriented business. A critical point is that the success of more and more businesses is defined by service. For example, IBM and GE were both once formally dominated by the manufacturing side of their business, but are now quite dependent on services.
We measure an airline to large degree by our experience when we call the airline frequent flyer programme, spend time in the business class lounge, interact with the flight attendants, ground service staff and even the pilots. These are called ‘moments of truth’, when the marketing efforts of British Airways or Southwest are seen as hype or true. Interestingly the expression ‘moments of truth’ was first widely used in the airline industry by SAS. Based in Scandinavia, among the least hierarchical countries on earth, SAS had a real problem because in that type of society service was not seen as a natural activity. It was only through a stint of long and hard work did they make service part of their corporate culture. More and more we are in a profoundly and increasingly service- and experience-based economy. This is an important thing for marketers to focus on in the next five years.
SUMMARY
• Salespeople, direct marketers and support staff are the building blocks of a customer value and satisfaction strategy.
• Depending on roles and responsibilities, the salesperson may
be the sole point of contact with the client.
• Due to the high costs of employing a sales force, a system of
sales management is required.
• There are six steps in a sales force management system:
designing the appropriate structure, recruiting the right