Chapter Ten

Case Study Six

Relationship Marketing

Company Overview

• Supplier to CPG industry• Few competitors– fierce competition– highly specialized expertise– timing is critical– small # of customers but very profitable

• Value-laden exchanges within the marketing definition

• Company’s current position– based on survey results

• Higher than expected dissatisfaction

• Higher than expected switching

• Customers had above average technology readiness scores– description of the construct

• Customers’ preferences for services

Three Types of Marketing

InternalMarketing

Employees Customers

Company

External Marketing

InteractiveMarketing

technology

Service Culture…

“a culture where an appreciation for good service exists, and where giving good service to internal as well as ultimate, external customers is considered a natural way of life and one of the most important norms by everyone”

Christian Gronroos “Managing Internal Marketing-a Prerequisite for Successful External Marketing”

Service Profit Chain Success• 8 causal links (Service Mgmt Trinity)– customer loyalty drives profit and growth– customer satisfaction drives customer

loyalty– value drives customer satisfaction– employee productivity drives value– employee loyalty drives productivity– employee satisfaction drives loyalty– internal quality drives employee satisfaction– top management leadership underlies the

chain’s success

Underlying Logic of Relationship

Customer retention & increased profits

Employee Satisfaction & Loyalty

Quality Services

Customer Satisfaction

Why Focus on Employees?

• They are the service

• They are the organization in the customer’s eyes

• They are the marketers

• This is the same for the web site

E-Business Marketing Goals• E-Commerce– providing quality online services– payment may not be electronic but service

delivery is• CRM–meeting and exceeding customers’ needs

• ERP– Lower cost of doing business (!)

• BI– continual input from CSRs and customers

Value Bubble

• Site needs work– Strategies and implementation differences

• Attract– none--why?

• Engage– customized services

• Retain– research library updates with email

notification

• Relating– dynamic site configuration

• Prototype

• www.buzzsaw.com– evolution of site– where it is now…unfortunately