Customer care and relationship marketing

Transcription

1 Chapter 9 Customer care ad relatioship marketig LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the ed of this chapter you will: uderstad the importace, scope ad meaig of customer care ad relatioship marketig ad the liks betwee these two areas of marketig appreciate why customer care ad relatioship marketig have become importat i cotemporary marketig kow how to develop policies ad programmes to improve stadards of customer care i a orgaizatio uderstad how ad whe to develop policies ad programmes of relatioship marketig be aware of recet developmets i customer care ad relatioship marketig, ad i particular the role of ew techology ad its impact o these areas

2 304 Customer care ad relatioship marketig INTRODUCTION Marketig is a evolvig body of thought ad practice. We have see that marketig is a cocept ad a maagemet fuctio that has developed over the years. We have see how use of the marketig cocept ad tools has wideed from its origial primary applicatio i marketig cosumer goods i profit-seekig orgaizatios to spread to idustrial markets, service markets ad ot-forprofit orgaizatios. Similarly, we have see how ew techology ad techological developmets are chagig the practice of marketig. So much is happeig with regard to developmets i cotemporary marketig thikig ad practice that it is difficult to select what are the most importat ad far-reachig of these for the moder marketer. However, amog the most sigificat chages i recet years have bee the iterliked developmets of a icreased emphasis o customer care activities, coupled with the growth of relatioship marketig (RM). Developmets i these areas represet what costitutes a almost seismic shift i marketig thikig ad practice. Why this is so we shall see shortly, together with the implicatios of this shift. We start with customer care. It is importat to stress that these two areas of cotemporary marketig are iterrelated. The term customer relatioship maagemet (CRM) is also used to lik relatioship marketig to customer care. CUSTOMER CARE We have see that the marketig cocept cetres o the importace of customers ad the absolute ecessity of idetifyig ad satisfyig their eeds ad wats. The marketer puts the customer at the cetre of the busiess ad the developmet of orgaizatioal strategies. This idea is fudametal to marketers ad eve o-marketers i that other busiess fuctios would ot disagree with the otio of the importace ad cetrality of customers. If this is the case, why has there bee a upsurge i the importace of customer care i marketig programmes i recet years, ad how does the otio ad scope of customer care differ from the traditioal marketig cocept? How ca a compay pla ad implemet effective customer care programmes? Meaig ad scope of customer care Amogst the may views of the meaig ad scope of customer care, the view take here is that it ivolves plaig all the activities ivolved i the customer supplier relatioship icludig pre-, durig- ad post-trasactio stages to esure that customer expectatios are met or exceeded.

3 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 305 This view emphasizes the fact that customer care is all-embracig coverig every aspect of customer supplier relatioships. It also illustrates that customer care ivolves plaig i both the strategic ad tactical sese. Customer care etails much more tha the otio of customer service, as this focuses more o order-cycle related activities. Customer service is a importat facet of overall customer care, but cetres more o those activities that ivolve direct cotact with the customer. Customer care is a much more holistic way of lookig at customer satisfactio. It ecessitates the ivolvemet of every facet of the compay s marketig ad customer-related programmes ad should affect every stage of the marketig plaig ad implemetatio process. Why the do we eed customer care, ad why has it grow i importace i recet years? These are questios that we ow examie. Cost of poor customer care It is icreasigly recogized that should customer expectatio at ay poit i the supplier/customer relatioship ot be met, this will result i customer dissatisfactio. The extet to which the customer feels dissatisfied depeds upo the circumstaces. For example, the customer may be simply mildly dissatisfied or at the other extreme might be hoppig mad. Particularly where the latter is the case, we kow that every displeased customer is likely to talk about this dissatisfactio to other customers or potetial customers. Youg 1 suggests that customers with bad experieces are twice as likely to tell others about it as those with good experieces. Quite simply, poor customer care loses ot oly the customer ivolved, but may more as well. Beefits of good customer care We kow that satisfied customers are more likely to retur to buy agai, ad over time, become loyal. This illustrates just oe of the liks betwee customer care ad RM. This is particularly importat whe we look at the costs of acquirig customers compared to keepig them. Kotler ad Keller 2 have suggested that i orgaizatioal purchasig settigs it ca cost as much as te times more to acquire a ew customer tha it does to keep a existig oe. Certaily, the marketig costs required to persuade a ew orgaizatioal customer to purchase are much greater tha those required to persuade a satisfied customer to purchase agai. I this respect, the otio of a ladder of loyalty has bee developed. Peck et al. 3 show this as ivolvig the steps or rugs show i Figure 9.1. The first rug o the ladder, Prospect, represets a idividual or a orgaizatio which the marketer could possibly persuade to do busiess. Oce the prospect has bee persuaded i this way they become a Purchaser, havig doe busiess at least oce with the orgaizatio. The Cliet is someoe who has doe busiess with the marketer s orgaizatio o a repeat basis, but is still at best eutral towards the supplier. A Supporter, however, is someoe who has doe busiess with the marketer o a regular basis, but ow begis to like the supplier s orgaizatio ad gives support if oly passively. The peultimate stage, the Advocate, is a customer who recommeds the marketer s orgaizatio to others, i.e. effectively someoe who helps to do your marketig. The highest rug of the ladder is represeted by a Parter who is a customer who effectively has the relatioship of a strategic parter with the supplyig orgaizatio.

4 306 Customer care ad relatioship marketig PARTNER ADVOCATE SUPPORTER CLIENT PURCHASER PROSPECT FIGURE 9.1 The relatioship marketig ladder of loyalty Source: Peck, H. et al. (1999), Relatioship Marketig, Oxford: Butterworth-Heiema, p. 45. As we shall see, RM is aimed at movig customers up the ladder of loyalty util they ultimately become parters. The lifetime value of loyal customers ca be huge as measured i sales ad profit terms. Give that customer care is a major facet i movig customers up the ladder of loyalty, we ca see why marketers have become icreasigly iterested i the customer care aspects of marketig yet this does ot explai i itself the growth i importace of customer care. Customer expectatios Perhaps the major reaso for the growth i importace of customer care is the fact that customer expectatios have chaged over the years both i orgaizatioal ad cosumer cotexts. Quite simply, customers expect higher levels of customer care ad satisfactio from the marketer. I part, this is as a result of chages i educatio o the part of may customers. Customers are ow more ready to challege poor levels of customer care ad are much better iformed as regards their rights i this respect. Aother factor is that customers have much better access to iformatio about failigs ad shortcomigs i customer care through more media exposure i this area ad iformatio that is posted o the Iteret. Customers are also better protected through legislatio regardig their rights as customers ad what they ca realistically expect with respect to customer care.

5 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 307 Spread the Word But Be Careful! Word-of-mouth implies persoal oe-to-oe commuicatio. Oe perso tellig aother perso i a face-to-face coversatio or telephoe call about a bad experiece with a brad is a commo occurrece. Imagie the problems whe a dissatisfied customer ca tell millios, ad all virtually at the same time! Not possible, uless that perso ows say a televisio chael or ewspaper or presets a popular programme or writes a well read colum. Well, it was ot possible for the disgrutled customer to tell this may people, but ow it is. How? Through the growth i use of social etworks o the Iteret such as YouTube or through the myriad of bloggig sites, may of which are global ad able to reach millios. I Jauary 2009 there were estimated to be over 120 millio bloggig sites. If you upset customers it ca be very costly. We should remember, of course, that upset customers have to be careful about what they say about compaies ad brads. By 2009 defamatio litigatio related to bloggig sites i the US reached over $17 millio. Today s customers are more willig to complai if they feel their expectatios have ot bee met. Moreover, they are icreasigly likely to follow up these complaits through some form of formal procedure ad eve litigatio if ecessary. It is importat to stress, however, that the average customer, eve i the USA, where perhaps the highest levels of customer expectatio with regard to customer care i the world exist, is still reluctat to complai. For example, a report by The US Office of Cosumer Affairs 4 suggested that the average busiess does ot hear from 96 per cet of its uhappy customers, ad that for every complait received there were as may as 30 customers with problems or serious problems. I coutries like Germay, Irelad ad the UK where customers are more reluctat to complai, these figures are likely to be eve higher. Oe might be tempted to believe that most customers are simply ot that cocered about customer care, to the extet that they perhaps do ot thik it is worth complaiig. Certaily, may customers do ot feel it is worthwhile, but this is more a reflectio of the fact that they feel that their complaits will go uheeded. Other customers simply may ot kow how to start to complai i a formal way. This does ot mea that such customers are ot cocered about customer care or that the marketer eed ot be too cocered. Just the opposite is the case; it is probably customers who do ot complai that are most importat with regard to focusig improved customer care efforts. Such customers represet a majority of customers who ever purchase agai, ad who represet the mai source of egative iformatio about a compay, ad this is passed by word-of-mouth to other potetial customers. STEPS IN ESTABLISHING A CUSTOMER CARE PROGRAMME There are clear beefits of havig a effective customer care programme. Mere acceptace of this is ot sufficiet to esure effective customer care. A series of practical steps must be implemeted i establishig effective programmes. The mai steps i this process are i:

6 308 Customer care ad relatioship marketig Icorporatig a customer care philosophy ito compay missio statemets The first ad most importat step i establishig a customer care programme is to esure that a commitmet to customer care is eshried i the corporate missio statemet. By so doig a compay has take the first step i a commitmet to customer care. Moreover, beig the missio statemet, this commitmet ca be see to come from the top. This should serve to form ad guide a customer care culture ad philosophy throughout the orgaizatio Establishig a customer care culture ad philosophy Effective customer care is ot somethig that ca be left solely to marketig ad sales departmets. Customer care is everyoe s busiess. I the same way as the adoptio of the marketig cocept ecessitates a cultural chage withi may orgaizatios, so too does the adoptio of the customer care cocept. However, istillig this philosophy is ot easy. As with the marketig cocept, customer care is ofte see as beig someoe else s resposibility. Adoptig a customer care philosophy starts at the top ad must have the full support ad commitmet of seior maagemet. The importace of customer care must be marketed throughout the orgaizatio. This is part of the process of iteral marketig that we referred to i Chapter 1. Idividuals ad fuctios i the orgaizatio must be persuaded ad show how their activities relate to overall levels of customer care ad the impact they ca have o this area. Implemetig this philosophy throughout a orgaizatio requires that people s tasks, activities, resposibilities ad eve promotio ad remueratio are liked to customer care. Customer care resposibilities are part of everyoe s job i the orgaizatio. Needless to say, the marketig fuctio has a primary role to play i this process; i particular the marketer or marketig fuctio should be resposible for providig up-to-date ad reliable iformatio about what it is that customers wat with regard to customer care, how various activities i the orgaizatio cotribute or otherwise to the satisfactio of customer eeds ad ay problems or shortcomigs i this respect. The marketer must also esure that track is kept of competitor levels of customer care ad ay treds i these levels. Idetifyig customer eeds ad perceptios As with all marketig programmes, the start poit of effective customer care is the idetificatio of customer eeds. Customer care is about esurig these eeds are met ad i particular that customer expectatios are fulfilled or exceeded. May compaies still do ot appreciate what their customers eeds ad expectatios are with regard to various facets of the trasactio process. For example, most ew car customers wat a full tak of fuel whe they collect their ew cars. I spite of this, eve some of the most expesive ew cars have oly eough fuel i them to reach the first fillig statio. As metioed already, customers are ofte reluctat to complai, ad i ay evet if the customer does complai it is already too late. The marketer must therefore research customer eeds to establish precisely what costitutes customer satisfactio ad the customer expectatios with

7 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 309 regard to the various facets of the trasactio process. The marketer must also at this stage cosider perceptios that customers have with regard to the compay ad its stadards of customer care. Focus group iterviews with both potetial ad existig customers ca be useful. Customers are ofte more willig to reveal their true eeds or, i the case of existig customers, feeligs of satisfactio ad dissatisfactio i a group settig. May compaies use follow up phoe calls or mailed questioaires to check o customer satisfactio. For example, Home Care, a isurace product for householders coverig plumbig repairs, kitche appliace breakdows, etc., regularly cotact a sample of customers who have had a call-out to check levels of service ad customer satisfactio. As with all marketig the marketer must be careful ot to assume he/she kows what the customers eeds are. Establishig customer care stadards ad specificatios This step i the process ivolves the compay establishig specific levels for customer care ad the key activities ad processes to be icluded. These must relate to customers expectatios ad eeds established i the first step. For example, we eed to establish delivery stadards, stadards for customer resposiveess, courtesy ad credibility ad product quality. Every facet of the compay that may impige o customer satisfactio eeds to be icorporated here; ot just marketig activities. Specific stadards for customer care that ca be measured ad evaluated eed to be established at this stage. Although customer care programmes should meet the highest level of stadards i lie with customer expectatios, it is importat to establish a basic miimum level below which levels of customer care should ot drop uder ay circumstaces. Agai, regular surveys ad feedback from customers are essetial. Cosumer paels which allow for such regular feedback from customers are useful. I additio, the marketer should cosult dealers ad other itermediaries o a regular basis for their views. Specifyig jobs ad activities Related to required stadards ad specificatios for customer care there eeds to be detailed specificatios of what this meas for people s activities ad jobs withi the orgaizatio. It should iclude, for example, the desigatio of tasks ad activities, allocatio of resposibilities, motivatio ad moitorig ad cotrol systems ecessary to successfully implemet customer care ad the iformatio systems required to facilitate effective customer care programmes. Esurig adequate systems for moitorig ad evaluatig levels of customer care It is importat that effective systems are established for measurig ad evaluatig stadards of customer care icludig trackig ad moitorig systems, market research ad customer evaluatio procedures. Clear systems ad procedures for esurig effective resposes to problems with customer care levels, icludig complaits are ecessary. These are the practical steps i implemetig customer care programmes, but effective customer care also requires a orgaizatio-wide

8 310 Customer care ad relatioship marketig commitmet. I this respect it is importat to stress that this is ot just a marketig departmet resposibility ad activity. The importace of customer care ad a acceptace of this importace throughout every level ad fuctio of the orgaizatio is a critical issue. Customer care must be part of overall corporate culture. Moreover, it should impige o every facet of the marketig programme. It is to these two aspects of implemetig customer care programmes that we ow tur our attetio. CUSTOMER CARE AND THE MARKETING PROCESS Where commitmet to customer care becomes part of a compay s philosophy, we fid that customer care impiges o the whole of the marketig process. This otio ca most easily be see by returig to the typical steps i the marketig plaig process established i Chapter 1 ad exteded i later chapters. We ca see from this how a compay-wide philosophy ad commitmet to customer care affects the whole marketig process. Each of the steps i the marketig plaig process, together with a outlie of how customer care relates to each of these steps is ow outlied. Corporate objectives/busiess missio Commitmet to customer care should be reflected ad eshried i the overall corporate objectives ad missio statemets of the orgaizatio. At this stage, missio statemets about overall customer care objectives feed ito ad shape the subsequet stages ad strategies of the marketig pla. The marketig audit/swot aalysis This ecompasses a appraisal of the iteral ad exteral eviromets of the compay. With regard to the exteral eviromet aalysis, this should help shape required levels of customer care i, for example, chagig cultural ad social values. These, i tur, are reflected i customer requiremets ad expectatios for customer care levels. Competitor customer care levels should also be appraised i the exteral audit. The iteral part of the audit requires the orgaizatio to assess stadards of performace regardig customer care ad ay shortcomigs. As we have see, the iteral ad exteral audit feed ito the SWOT aalysis. Part of the SWOT aalysis should be a assessmet of stregths, weakesses, opportuities ad threats with regard to customer care levels ad programmes e.g. a compay may establish through the audit that it has major weakesses i certai elemets of its customer care activities that eed to be remedied. Alteratively, a compay may idetify possible future opportuities by buildig o strog levels of customer care compared to competitors. Marketig objectives ad strategies Marketig objectives ad strategies should iclude customer care elemets. Overall, marketig objectives may relate to, for example, growth ad market share, but should also iclude specific objectives with regard to levels of customer care. Agai, tools such as gap aalysis ca be used. As the term implies, gap aalysis looks at ay differece betwee plaed levels of customer care ad

9 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 311 service ad achieved levels with a view to correctig these differeces. For example, a compay may specify a maximum umber of rigs before a call is aswered by a customer service operative. Possible reaso for gaps may iclude operative overload or iadequate call queuig systems. As regards marketig strategies, differet strategies for growth such as diversificatio will ofte have customer care implicatios. If the itetio is to pursue ew markets e.g. as a strategy for growth, the marketer will eed to establish customer eeds ad expectatios regardig customer care levels i these markets. Marketig tactics/marketig mix decisios Perhaps oe of the most importat facets regardig customer care ad the marketig mix is to esure that marketig mix decisios ad i particular specific marketig tactics that ca ofte be short term i ature, do ot coflict with or detract from overall plaed levels of customer care. For example, pricig strategies desiged to attract ew customers may result i lower levels of customer care tha is ecessary or required for existig customers. May compaies oly make special offers available to ew customers e.g. a ew subscriber to a cable TV service may be offered a iitial three moths at a reduced price ad free istallatio of the latest set top box. Existig subscribers, however, must pay the full rate for the service ad pay a upgrade fee for the ew box. I this way, existig customers who may have bee with compay for a log time are dealt with less favourably tha ew customers whe it comes to offers ad price deals. Needless to say, this ca result i cosiderable dissatisfactio amogst previously loyal customers ad is a major cause of high customer chur rates i some markets. Virtually every facet of the marketig mix has implicatios for customer care. Thus, delivery ad after-sales service stem from distributio ad logistics decisios; product ad augmeted product decisios (as discussed i Chapter 4) have a major effect o customer care; promotio should be aimed at buildig log-term customer relatioships. Therefore, pricig should reflect overall customer care strategies. Implemetatio We have see that overall objectives for customer care eed to be traslated ito specific actio programmes with the allocatio of resposibilities, systems ad procedures that should iclude traiig ad motivatio of staff. Suitable orgaizatioal structures eed to be i place to implemet effective customer care programmes. Evaluatio ad cotrol It goes without sayig that effective customer care, like other areas of marketig, eeds to be evaluated ad cotrolled. Systems for moitorig achieved levels of customer care, resposes to customer complaits, etc. must be built ito the compay s overall evaluatio ad cotrol systems. Customer care affects, ad is affected by, every sigle facet of the marketig plaig process. Before we cosider the developmet of relatioship marketig, icludig how this relates to customer care, we eed to cosider the relatioship betwee customer care ad quality, ad the distictio betwee customer care ad customer service.

10 312 Customer care ad relatioship marketig CUSTOMER CARE AND QUALITY There is a close, but complex relatioship betwee customer care ad quality maagemet i the orgaizatio. Quality has bee a major issue i competitive strategy i recet years, ad i particular the pursuit of improved ad cosistet quality has maily bee due to the fact that we kow ow that good quality is a major factor i competitive success. Note that good quality does ot ecessarily mea simply high quality. I cosumer terms, good quality meas fitess for purpose. I other words, the marketer must esure that the product or service is of a quality that meets customer eeds ad expectatios. For example, if we purchase a shovel or spade the we must at the very least be able to dig with it. Used for the purpose iteded, it should ot bed or break ad should last what ca be cosidered a reasoable life-time. Over ad above this, the customer might be lookig ad payig for higher quality levels like stailess steel costructio. The PIMS programme 5 developed by the Marketig Sciece Istitute ad the Harvard Busiess School i the early 1970s, has log established the lik betwee maagemet strategies ad profitability. The PIMS project (Profit Impact of Maagemet Strategies) looked at the retur o ivestmet (ROI) of a large sample of America ad Europea busiesses ad compared this with iformatio o the various strategies these busiesses were usig. The essece of PIMS is the use of empirical evidece to establish which strategies are associated with higher levels of profitability i a idustry ad thereby to steer maagers i these idustries towards better (more profitable) courses of actio. Some of the basic questios that PIMS seeks to aswer iclude: What is the typical profit rate for each type of busiess? Give curret strategies i a compay, what are future operatig results likely to be? What strategies are likely to help improve future operatig results? To obtai this iformatio for a particular compay, the compay must subscribe to the PIMS project ad provide detailed iformatio, icludig, for example: competitors ad market iformatio; balace sheet iformatio; assumptios about future sales, costs, strategies, etc. This iformatio is the compared with the PIMS database ad a series of reports prepared for the subscribig compay as follows: 1 A Par report showig the ROI ad cash flows that are ormal for this type of busiess give its market, competitio, techology ad cost structure. Also icluded is a aalysis of stregths ad weakesses that are regarded as explaiig high or low par figures compared with other busiesses i the database.

11 Customer care ad relatioship marketig A Strategy aalysis report which computes the predicted cosequeces of each of several alterative strategic actios, judged by iformatio o similar busiesses makig similar moves, from a similar startig poit ad i a similar busiess eviromet. 3 A Report o look-alikes (ROLA) that examies possible tactics for achievig strategic objectives such as a icrease i market share, by aalysig strategically similar busiesses more closely. 4 A Optimus strategy report aimed at predictig the best combiatio of strategies for that particular compay, agai based o the experieces of other busiesses i similar circumstaces. The advatages of PIMS to a idividual busiess are that ot oly ca maagemet assess the likely outcome of its proposed strategies, but it ca also idetify those strategies that will yield the highest retur o ivestmet. Why does t every compay subscribe to PIMS for its strategic plaig? First, there is the questio of cost. The full rage of PIMS services is expesive. Secod, the amout of data required to be supplied by a compay for a PIMS aalysis is extesive. This ca be costly ad time cosumig. Most importat of all, there are limitatios to PIMS: PIMS data is historical ad may be misleadig i coditios of rapid chage. The uderlyig assumptios of the PIMS model are ot clarified ad must be take o trust. The statistical basis of PIMS ca give rise to problems of iterpretatio ad uderstadig. PIMS is ot a paacea for strategic decisio makig i idividual compaies. It is best used as a aid to maagerial judgemet. I geeral terms, aalysis of the PIMS database has show that some 37 variables together accout for almost 80 per cet of the variatios i retur o ivestmet. These, therefore, are the key factors that most strategic marketig plaers will eed to cosider i their marketig plas. From the viewpoit of our discussio, good quality was foud to be a major factor accoutig for differeces i success for the compaies i the PIMS database as measured by retur o ivestmet. Put simply, quality pays! PIMS offers access to a comprehesive, empirically based strategic plaig tool although the full advatages of PIMS are available oly to a compay that subscribes to the PIMS database. However, eve for the o-subscribig compay, the geeral published fidigs of PIMS regardig key determiats of retur o ivestmet cosistetly uderpi the importace of good quality ad compay success. Give our defiitio of customer care, effective stadards of customer care are impossible where the quality that the customer experieces or perceives does ot match their expectatios. Customer care ad quality are iextricably liked. A major developmet i recet years has bee the total quality maagemet (TQM) approach to busiess that is applied whe maagig every aspect of the compay s activities. Give that quality maagemet revolves aroud meetig customer requiremets ad expectatios, ad what represets acceptable quality is essetially determied by customers ad their requiremets, the customer care ad TQM are closely related. Quality programmes ecompass may other areas tha dealig with customers, while customer care programmes are specifically focused o customers ad how to improve care. The major ifluece of TQM o customer care activities is the otio that with TQM processes, all activities, ot oly i-compay activities, but also parters i both the demad chai ad the supply chai (i.e. the etire value chai) ca affect quality. Total Quality Maagemet

12 314 Customer care ad relatioship marketig also gives cetral place to the customer i desigig quality systems. Customer-drive quality is oe of the key distiguishig features of TQM as a philosophy. Compaies ca make two types of mistakes whe it comes to quality ad customer eeds. The first of course is producig products ad services which do ot come up to the target customer s quality requiremets ad expectatios. The quality is too low. I our previous example of the spade, obviously if o first use the spade beds or breaks the the customer to say the least is goig to be disappoited. Less obvious, however is the mistake of supplyig products ad services which exceed the target customer s quality requiremets ad expectatios. The quality is too high. This may result i a product which either has too high a price, lowers compay profits or both. May British egieerig compaies have i the past made this mistake, producig thigs that were of too high a quality or specificatio for market eeds hece leavig the way ope for other lower priced, lower quality competitors. I may ways, TQM ad customer care go had i had i the cotemporary orgaizatio, but what is the relatioship betwee customer care ad customer service? CUSTOMER CARE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE A degree of cofusio exists regardig the relatioship ad distictio betwee customer care ad customer service. I fact, although the two are closely related there are also some major differeces. Some of the key differeces are captured by Stoe ad Youg 6 ad show i Table 9.1. Takig each of these differeces i tur, customer service emphasizes the tasks ivolved i servicig customers rather tha customer eeds. It is more a supplier s view of the elemets of customer requiremets as opposed to the customer s perspective. Customer service also focuses primarily o the costs associated with customer requiremets, whereas customer care cetres o log-term profit ad reveue implicatios. With customer service, more attetio is give to procedures, maagemet processes ad hierarchies ad o techical ad admiistrative requiremets. Customer care, o the other had, emphasizes the importace of procedures that ecourage TABLE 9.1 Differeces betwee customer services ad customer care Customer service Emphasizes tasks Focuses o costs Procedures restrict resposiveess Hierarchical maagemet Techical/admiistrative eviromet Customer care Emphasizes customers Focuses o profit ad reveue Procedures eable resposiveess Supportive maagemet Commercial eviromet Source: M. Stoe ad L. Youg (1992), Competitive Customer Care: A Guide to Keepig Customers, Kigstoupo-Thames: Croer, p. 20.

13 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 315 resposiveess to customer eeds ad ways i which maagemet systems ad procedures ca support this with a view to achievig commercial, as opposed to techical or egieerig, aims ad goals. Havig said this, i may compaies we still fid customer service departmets. There is othig wrog with this so log as the elemets of customer service ad the activities of the customer service departmet are set ad maaged i the cotext of a wider overall compay approach ad perspective regardig customer care. Put aother way, customer service is but a part of overall customer care activities. RELATIONSHIP MARKETING Aother major developmet i marketig thikig ad practice i recet years has bee the growth of relatioship marketig (RM). We emphasize that RM is very much liked with the otio ad practice of customer care. We shall, therefore, highlight these liks betwee the two areas where appropriate as we discuss relatioship marketig. For may RM represets a eve more sigificat shift i marketig thikig ad practice tha the growth of the philosophy of customer care, so much so that it is referred to as ivolvig a paradigm shift i the marketig cocept itself. Certaily there is o doubt that the developmet of RM has had, ad will cotiue to have, major implicatios for the marketig maager. What follows is a overview of these aspects of relatioship marketig. Essetially RM is based o the otio that istead of the marketer lookig at the exchage process as oe where two protagoists, supplier ad customer, each look to maximize the beefit they receive from each trasactio or exchage. It is more effective to look at customer ad marketer as parters i a exchage, whereby both parties beefit by workig together o a basis of mutual trust ad loyalty. This deceptively simple statemet represets a ew ad revolutioary marketig paradigm though there are some who dispute this (Zieldi ad Phillipso 7 ). There are differet views as to the precise ature ad defiitio of RM. For example, Groroos 8 stresses the elemet of mutual exchage ad trust i relatioship marketig: Relatioship marketig is a process icludig several parties or actors, the objectives of which have to be met. This is doe by mutual exchage ad fulfilmet of promises, a fact that makes trust a importat aspect of marketig. Gamble et al. 9 put more emphasis o the traditioal tools of sales, commuicatios ad customer care techiques ad agai we see the overlap betwee these areas: Relatioship marketig ivolves the use of a wide rage of marketig, sales, commuicatios ad customer care techiques ad processes to: idetify amed idividual customers, create a relatioship betwee the compay ad these customers, ad maage that relatioship to the beefit of both customers ad compay. Perhaps oe of the most powerful summaries of what relatioship marketig represets is that provided by Buttle: 10

14 316 Customer care ad relatioship marketig At its best, RM (relatioship maagemet) is characterized by a geuie cocer to meet or exceed the expectatios of customers ad to provide excellet service i a eviromet of trust ad commitmet to the relatioship. He goes o to idicate what is ivolved i successful relatioship marketig ad the commitmet of the compay, required to geerate this success: To be successful relatioship marketers, compaies must develop a supportive orgaizatioal culture, market the RM idea iterally, itimately uderstad customers expectatios, create ad maitai a detailed customer database, ad orgaize ad reward employees i such a way that the objective of RM, customer retetio, is achieved. This illustrates that as suggested RM has major implicatios for how we thik about marketig ad our approach to the practice of marketig. It affects ad icludes the provisio of marketig iformatio, orgaizatioal systems ad procedures ad the elemets of marketig strategy. We must the cosider the characteristics of a RM approach, ad i particular how it compares ad cotrasts with the more covetioal trasactioal marketig approach. We must also cosider why RM emerged as a suggested ew paradigm for marketig ad the implicatios of this for the practice of marketig maagemet. RELATIONSHIP AND TRANSACTIONAL MARKETING COMPARED AND CONTRASTED RM first became evidet i B2B marketig, but this approach is ow evidet i the services sector ad i cosumer marketig. Covetioal trasactioal marketig, based o the otio of mutual exchage, is where the seller offers immediate ad hopefully attractive combiatios of product, price ad techical support to geerate a sale. The emphasis, albeit implicitly, is o completig this idividual trasactio. I tur, this completio of the trasactio is the measure of success of the exchage. The marketer the moves to cosider the ext order the customer might place ad attempts to geerate aother idividual trasactio. The buyer is iterested i the best possible value, ad the marketer with reveue from the exchage. There is little emphasis o customer service or log-term relatioships by either party typically foud i a relatioship where a buyer of a raw material such as steel plate purchases purely o price, specificatio ad delivery. With RM the emphasis switches to developig a loger-term ad more iteractive set of relatioships betwee the marketer ad customer based o partership ad sharig. I particular, the marketer s cocer is to move the customer up the ladder of loyalty to the poit where the customer becomes a parter with the supplier. Although trasactios ad immediate satisfactio are still importat to both parties, i RM the success of the exchage is the extet to which both parties beefit thorough co-operatio ad agreemet. I the most successful examples of RM, the two parties grow more trustig, more kowledgeable about each others iterests ad eeds, ad more iterested i helpig each other. Trasactios cease to be egotiated each time ad become part of a loger-term routie. The outcome of successful relatioship marketig is the developmet

15 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 317 TABLE 9.2 Trasactioal marketig vs. relatioship marketig Trasactio marketig Focus o sigle sale Orietatio o product features Short timescale Little emphasis o customer service Limited commitmet to customer Moderate customer cotact Quality is primarily cocer of productio Relatioship marketig Focus o customer retetio Orietatio o product beefits Log timescale High customer service emphasis High commitmet to customer Extesive customer cotact Quality cocer of all fuctios Source: Adapted from Kotler, P., Armstrog, G., Sauders, J. ad Wog, V. (2001), Priciples of Marketig, Lodo: Pretice-Hall, p of solid, depedable supplier customer relatioships which form the basis of a marketig etwork ad represet a valuable marketig asset. By so doig, the bureaucratic process of sedig out equiries, receivig quotatios, placig the order ad followig up the order ca be short circuited. RM, as opposed to traditioal trasactioal marketig, ca be see as opposite eds of a cotiuum. The distictios betwee trasactio marketig ad RM already highlighted, together with additioal key areas of differece are summarized by Kotler et al. 11 ad are show i Table 9.2. We ca see from this table that relatioship ad trasactioal marketig are differet i several respects. But why has RM emerged ad what has give rise to this paradigm shift i the cocept of marketig? Reasos for the growth of relatioship marketig The well established otios of exchage ad iteractio i marketig provide the theoretical atecedets for the emergece of RM. However, as Lacaster ad Massigham 12 poit out, the growth of RM has more pragmatic causes. Put simply, they assert, both marketer ad customer have icreasigly recogized that relatioship marketig, ad i particular the requiremets eeded to develop effective relatioship marketig such as the buildig of strog trust ad cofidece betwee the two parties, the exchage of iformatio ad effective commuicatio, ad mutual support, simply makes good sese. I particular, this commosese approach cocers the buildig of strog trust ad cofidece betwee the two parties, the exchage of iformatio, effective commuicatio ad mutual support, ad this ca oly be good for busiess relatioships. To these atecedets, Gummesso 13 adds the otio of etworks. By etworks he is referrig to the fact that i may exchages there are more tha two parties ivolved, especially i B2B markets. For example there is a whole etwork of parties ivolved i the chai of supply, maufacture ad marketig icludig raw material suppliers, suppliers of fiace, distributors ad itermediaries

16 318 Customer care ad relatioship marketig ad a whole array of service agecies like advertisig ad market research agecies. The suggestio is that we pla marketig strategies aroud the whole etwork of supply ad marketig. Perhaps this explais why RM first bega to emerge i B2B markets, where it was readily see to make good commercial sese i terms of improvig customer retetio rates. Estimates vary, but o average it ca be up to six to eight times more expesive to create a ew customer tha to keep a existig oe. For the marketer, buildig log-term relatioships with customers ca lead to substatially lower marketig ad other costs, e.g. lower costs are icurred i advertisig ad promotio to attract ad keep customers. Sellig costs ca be lower, particularly i B2B markets where salespeople sped less time havig to prospect for ew customers. Both implicitly ad explicitly, RM focuses o customer retetio. As we have see with customer service, compaies have realized the fiacial value of keepig customers ad the life-time value of loyal customers is huge. This recogitio of the fiacial pay-off of buildig log-term, lastig relatioships with customers is ow icreasigly recogized i cosumer goods markets. A RM approach is felt to bestow beefits o the customer i cosumer goods markets, especially if customers feel they ca purchase the same brad every time because they trust the brad or supplier. This ca substatially help reduce the time, effort ad risk i makig a purchase. I additio, may RM campaigs used i cosumer markets ivolve some sort of fiacial iducemet for the customer to become ivolved i a log-term relatioship with the marketer loyalty cards, air miles ad bous poits are examples of iducemets desiged to ecourage the customer up the ladder of loyalty. RM would ot have icreased if there were o beefits for the customer. Agai, i the case of B2B customers these beefits are readily idetified ad easier to commuicate as they are pricipally fiacial i ature, e.g. for the maufacturig customer, developig effective relatioships with suppliers eables more cost-effective systems of purchasig to be put i place if productio operates a just-i-time (JIT) lea maufacturig system. Through RM, compaies are able to develop collaborative vetures with customers or suppliers with regard to developig ew products. Clearly, JIT ad collaborative ew product developmet require log-term relatioships betwee customers ad marketers. Overall, as oe would expect from ay successful relatioship, both parties eed to feel they ca beefit if RM is to be appropriate ad successful. I this respect, Bud-Jackso 14 suggested that the developmet of a RM approach is ot always appropriate for all customers. She suggests that some customers are better maaged through the traditioal trasactio marketig approach. These customers she refers to as always-a-share customers. Such customers iclude those who have low switchig costs i terms of chagig suppliers ad brads ad fid makig such chage relatively easy. Because of this, they do ot value log-term relatioships with suppliers ad for more expesive durable goods items prefer to egotiate idividual trasactios each time a purchase is made. Other types of customer i this category iclude customers who are make oe-off purchases ad are ot iterested i supplier relatioships. Such customers are brad promiscuous ad wat to try out as may differet brads as possible i seekig variety. For this category of customers, ay would-be supplier is always i a positio to gai a share of this type of customer s busiess so RM is less appropriate. I cotrast, she terms customers who are best suited to a RM approach as lost-for-good customers. The characteristics of such customers are that they have high switchig costs i terms of chagig suppliers, ted to have loger time horizos, make a series of purchases over time ad view commitmets to particular suppliers or brads as importat ad preferably

17 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 319 relatively permaet. Oce a supplier has wo this type of accout, the customer is likely to remai loyal to the supplier for a log time. If lost, however, the customer ofte ever returs, so is lostfor good to the supplier. If aythig, the icidece of lost-for-good customers, particularly i busiess-to-busiess markets, has grow i recet years, agai related to developmets such as JIT maufacturig ad collaborative vetures betwee compaies. Such collaboratio requires close co-operatio betwee supplyig ad purchasig compaies that ca oly be achieved by supplier ad buyer takig a log-term RM approach. Oe of the first steps i developig RM, ad i determiig whether a RM approach should be used, is to idetify which customers merit a relatioship approach. There are those who feel that RM is more relevat i B2B marketig ad is ot suited to marketig cosumer goods where it is suggested that customers do ot seek relatioships with marketers. BRANDING AND RELATIONSHIP MARKETING Whe it comes to cosumer goods marketig, do customers wat or eed a relatioship with suppliers other tha esurig smooth trasactios? The emergece of powerful brads has chaged this. May customers ow wat to develop a relatioship i their purchasig, ad what they seek ad value is a relatioship with the brad rather tha the marketer. Brads are big busiess ad are estimated to drive early two-thirds of purchases i cosumer markets. Coca-Cola, Soy, McDoald s ad Microsoft are global brads that trasced atioal boudaries. What is the lik betwee brads ad relatioship marketig? The most successful brads over time develop a relatioship with customers. Iitially a customer may purchase a brad simply for ovelty, perhaps to try somethig ew or because of the recommedatio of a fried. If the brad delivers, i.e. the customer is satisfied, the it icreases the chace of the customer purchasig this brad agai. Over time, provided the brad cotiues to deliver, the customer will become brad loyal. From a mere likig of, or satisfactio with, the brad, the customer becomes committed, seldom cosiderig purchasig aother brad ad evetually possibly becomig a advocate for the brad. Brads make the process of purchasig easier ad less stressful. They reassure ad build trust. Some cofer status o purchasers ad become badges that sed sigals out about the customer ad what they feel about themselves. Reast 15 suggests that the marketer ca build o a customer s relatioship with a brad to develop brad extesios. I the case of retail brads, Biiger 16 shows how strog retail brads are associated with store loyalty, providig a powerful basis for retailers to develop relatioships with customers i cosumer markets. THE IMPLICATIONS OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING There are far-reachig implicatios for the marketer associated with the emergece ad growth of relatioship marketig. RM heightes the eed for a more effective two-way commuicatio betwee the marketer ad customers. I B2B markets, electroic data iterchage (EDI) systems have facilitated the growth of RM. I cosumer markets, direct o-lie commuicatios help i developig effective customer relatioships. Marketers ad cosumer ca ow commuicate o a

18 320 Customer care ad relatioship marketig more persoal basis through the Iteret. We receive s from orgaizatios with whom we have had some cotact ad, aoyigly for may, sometimes from those with whom we have ot. Most compaies have extesive databases o their customers liked to, for example, loyalty card systems that they ca mie to reveal patters ad prefereces i purchasig, givig a more detailed isight ito the eeds ad wats of idividual customers which ca the be persoalized for direct commuicatios. A secod major implicatio is that everyoe i the supplyig compay, ot just marketig, eeds to be cocered with geeratig customer satisfactio. This is a area where RM ad customer service overlap ad iteract. Ay failig i customer service ievitably leads to the loss of customers. Like customer service, RM eeds a appropriate supportive orgaizatioal culture where everyoe i the compay is seekig to build relatioships with customers. This heightes the importace of iteral marketig i compaies. The otio of total relatioship marketig (TRM) is suggested by Zieldi 17 who asserts that the mai philosophy behid the TRM approach is to facilitate, create, develop, ehace ad cotiuously improve all iteral ad exteral relatioships with customers, employees ad collaborators. RM meas a orgaizatio s marketig effort should be desiged aroud a series of cotacts with customers over time, rather tha focused o sigle trasactios. This meas that more o-marketig people are ivolved, ad has led to the otio of what Gummesso 18 terms the part-time marketer. Here, o-marketig people are icreasigly brought ito cotact with customers at a operatioal level. This has always bee the case i B2B marketig where, for example, egieers come ito direct cotact with customers, but with the growth of service idustries ad markets it is ow true for may cosumer products where the customer comes ito cotact with the service provider s persoel. No-sales persoel eed to be educated i marketig priciples ad this has led to the otio of iteral marketig whereby all employees are ecouraged to develop a customer-orieted perspective, whatever their fuctio ad role i the orgaizatio. Mele 19 suggests TQM is a itegrator betwee productio orietatio ad marketig orietatio while Mehra ad Ragaatha 20 suggest that TQM should focus o ehacig customer satisfactio. Combiig customer satisfactio ad TQM requires ew attitudes ad approaches by both marketig ad o-marketig persoel. I some compaies, customers are still see as beig the sole resposibility of marketig, ad customer cotact by staff from other fuctioal departmets is sometimes see as beig couterproductive. RM, however, demads a move away from such rigid demarcatios of resposibilities for customers. Some compaies have moved to cross-fuctioal multi-discipliary teams to build relatioships with customers. I idustries ragig from cars ad computers to jet egies ad idustrial cotrols, this iter-fuctioal team approach is useful ad it uses RM i the process of developig ew products, where close relatioships with, ad iputs from, customers are essetial. A further implicatio of RM is the way the customer ofte leads the whole of the marketig process. This otio is cetral to the origial marketig cocept, but with RM the marketer makes a coscious effort to ecourage customers to explai what is required ad the marketer develops a appropriate marketig programme to respod to this. This process is referred to as reverse marketig. This is prevalet amogst buyers i retail chais like Tesco ad Saisbury s; buyers source appropriate suppliers ad eter ito cotracts with them; they iitiate ad ofte help fud log-term commercial maufacturig relatioships such as helpig to set up a farmers co-operative i a overseas coutry to grow, process, pack ad despatch agricultural products that caot be grow i the UK.

19 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 321 RM puts greater emphasis o systems for eablig costat trackig ad assessmet of customer satisfactio ad eeds. Customer databases ad other sources of iformatio o customers are cetral to its successful implemetatio. Orgaizatios ca access extesive databases o customers. Such data ca be aalysed for patters of behaviour ad purchasig that help reveal isights ito cosumers ad their eeds. I additio, it is ow possible to access exteral sources of iformatio o customers ragig from their credit profile to their drivig records ad i some cases eve their medical histories. RM potetially affects every elemet of the marketig mix. As with customer care, the elemets of the mix should be used carefully to ecourage customers to become, ad stay, loyal to the compay. The use of short-term tactics such as special promotioal deals, while possibly ecouragig ew customers, may attract the wrog sort of customer who is ot iterested i log-term relatioships with a supplier or brad. Of all the areas of the marketig mix, it is i the area ad process of persoal sellig that we see some of the most far-reachig implicatios of a relatioship as opposed to a trasactio approach to marketig. The followig represets just some of the shifts i emphasis ad perspectives i the sellig process whe a compay moves towards a RM approach: The salesperso must take a loger-term perspective tha that of simply makig a oe-off sale whe dealig with customers. Effective relatioship sellig requires much more of a team effort ot oly betwee idividual members of the sales force, but betwee the salesperso ad other fuctios i the supplyig compay. The salesperso must be proactive with customers, callig or visitig customers at times other tha whe they thik the customer is ready to place a order. The salesperso must act as a exchager of iformatio betwee his or her ow compay ad the customer, ad vice versa. The emphasis must be much more o levels of customer service rather tha simply o special deals ad attemptig to geerate sales. This meas that RM requires differet skills ad attitudes for successful sellig. The relatioship salesperso must be skilled at listeig to customers ad iterpretig their problems. Moreover, systems for maagig ad motivatig salespersos may eed to chage. For example, remueratio may eed to be geared much more to developig customer loyalty ad trust, rather tha o immediate oe-off sales. The otio of customer retetio is cetral to the practice of RM. Kotler ad Keller 21 discuss three ways i which a compay ca attempt to build ad maitai stroger relatioship with existig customers thereby helpig to retai them over time: 1 Addig fiacial beefits: Essetially this ivolves rewardig customers fiacially for beig loyal. Loyalty schemes metioed earlier, such as reward poits or air miles, are examples of these types of beefits. There is some debate about the extet to which such schemes actually ecourage truly loyal customers, or simply ecourage customers who are lookig for the best deal or value. The supermarket group Tesco was amogst oe of the first retailers i the UK to itroduce a loyalty card system. At first, competitors thought that this was a throwback to the 1960s whe

20 322 Customer care ad relatioship marketig cosumers were offered tradig stamps with their purchases which they could later trade i exchage for products from a catalogue. May of these competitors felt that customers would ot be bothered to collect their reward poits let aloe be iduced to shop at Tesco because they were available. They very quickly chaged their attitudes whe they foud they were losig market share to Tesco partly as a result of Tesco s loyalty scheme. Needless to say may of these competitors were quick to follow Tesco s example whe they saw how successful the scheme had proved to be. 2 Addig social beefits This ivolves compay persoel icreasig their persoal ad social bods with customers e.g. by learig about customers idividual ad specific eeds ad requiremets, ad by givig more persoal service, customers are tured ito cliets, thereby stregtheig the ties ad the loyalty they have to the supplier. The salesperso ca play a key role i this approach to buildig customer loyalty, but i additio, the use of more sophisticated databases to aalyse idividual customer eeds ad tailor specific marketig programmes to idividual customers is growig i importace with developmets i IT. The bakig idustry has icreasigly bee usig the otio of social bods to improve customer retetio rates. At oe time, up to the 1970s ad early 1980s, may baks had persoal relatio - ships with their customers, with customers ofte kowig ad dealig with a bak maager o a close persoal basis. Durig the late 1980s ad early 1990s the baks moved away from this persoal approach i a effort to reduce costs ad become more like retailers tha bakers. Recetly, however some of the baks have bee makig determied efforts to rebuild bods with idividual customers by learig about their customers idividual ad specific eeds ad by givig persoal care. NatWest Bak itroduced a product for its curret accout holders who may, for a fee, be give access to a rage of bakig services which are specifically desiged to meet their idividual bakig eeds, thus returig persoal service to part of the UK bakig system. 3 Addig structural ties: There are ways i which this approach to buildig customer loyalty ad relatioships ca be implemeted. Essetially, it ivolves providig customer support i the form of expertise or equipmet. This provides helps to lock the customer ito the supplier. I other words, this approach icreases switchig costs for a customer. Examples iclude compaies providig computer software to a customer which helps the customer ru productio schedules, but which is specific to the supplier. Aother example would be the supply of electroic data iterchage systems for purchasig. Research by Dodourova 22 cocludes that behavioural characteristics such as commitmet, coordiatio ad commuicatio are foud to play a more sigificat role i explaiig overall partership success compared with orgaizatioal characteristics like structure ad cotrol mechaisms. Hewlett Packard provide comprehesive techical ad after-purchase support systems for their customers. This is so comprehesive that customers do ot eed to tur to other suppliers for this service. The implicatios of relatioship marketig Systems must be i place with RM to eable costat trackig ad assessmet of customer satisfactio ad eeds. Customer databases ad the itroductio of total quality maagemet are importat i implemetig a effective relatioship marketig approach.

21 Customer care ad relatioship marketig 323 RM, as we have see, is based o developig log-term relatioships with customers ad hece heightes the eed for buildig ad maitaiig customer loyalty. Although there are may reasos for their itroductio, customer loyalty schemes, as itroduced by may retailers, are examples of how compaies are cocetratig o customer retetio. Similar iducemets through frequet flier clubs i the airlie idustry also illustrate this approach. Such beefits ted for be largely, but ot exclusively, fiacial i ature. Obviously, if a customer feels they ca purchase the same brad every time this ca substatially help reduce the time ad effort required to purchase. Similarly, havig a trusted brad reduces the risks to the customer of makig wrog or ill-advised purchase decisios. As we saw i Chapter 4, more ad more compaies are ivolved i collaborative vetures with regard to developig ew products with their suppliers. Clearly this requires effective log-term relatioships. These are just some of the ways i which a compay ca build ad maitai stroger relatioships with their customers. I tur, the applicatio of some marketig mix elemets is affected by the adoptio of a relatioship marketig approach. As we saw i Chapter 8, persoal sellig i particular requires a fudametally differet approach uder the relatioship marketig cocept compared to trasactio marketig. Overall, ad together, customer care ad relatioship marketig are chagig the way i which marketig is practised. SUMMARY The two iterrelated areas of customer care ad relatioship marketig represet some of the most sigificat chages i marketig thikig ad practice. Both, however, reflect the essetial ad core cocept of marketig iasmuch as they stress the importace of idetifyig ad satisfyig customer eeds, but with the emphasis o buildig log-term parterships with customers. Both cocepts effectively add further layers to the otio of cosumer orietatio. Marketers ow recogize that buildig log-term customer loyalty, payig careful attetio to retaiig customers ad developig effective systems of customer care ca provide major logterm beefits to customer ad marketer alike. KEY TERMS Customer care 304 Relatioship marketig (RM) 304 Customer relatioship marketig (CRM) 304 Gap aalysis 310 PIMS 312 Total quality maagemet (TQM) 313 Demad chai 313 Supply chai 313 Value chai 313 Trasactioal marketig 316 Total relatioship marketig (TRM) 320 Iteral marketig 320 Reverse marketig 320

22 324 Customer care ad relatioship marketig CASE STUDY Ifotech Ifotech is a small egieerig compay producig quality egie compoets. The compay s maagemet team are kee for the compay to grow ad have bee explorig the possibility of becomig a supplier to a iteratioal car maufacturer i the North East of Eglad. Prelimiary discussios have proved prom - isig ad the maufacturer s egieerig team seem pleased with Ifotech s egi - eerig skills ad productio systems. The issues of Ifotech possibly becomig a supplier to this compay lie ot so much with the egieerig ad desig skills of Ifotech, but rather with its curret systems of customer service ad quality maagemet. I particular, at the momet Precicts has o experiece of EDI (Electroic Data Iterchage) systems with its customers, or does it curretly operate a TQM system. CASE STUDY QUESTIONS Why would it be ecessary to implemet EDI ad TQM i this compay, ad how might this help them get this busiess? REFERENCES 1 Youg, L. (2008), From Products to Services: Isights ad Experieces from Compaies Which Have Embraced the Service Ecoomy, Chichester: Joh Wiley & Sos Ltd. 2 Kotler, P. ad Keller, K. (2009), Marketig Maagemet, 13th ed, Harlow, Essex: Pearso Educatio, pp Peck, H., Paye, A., Christopher, M. ad Clark, M. (1999), Relatioship Marketig: Strategy ad Implemetatio, Oxford: Butterworth-Heiema, p US Office of Cosumer Affairs (1992), Customer Complaits Icidece ad Practice, Washigto, DC: The White House. 5 Buzzell, R.D. ad Gale, B.T. (1984), The PIMS Priciples: Likig Strategy to Performace, New York: Free Press. 6 Stoe, M. ad Youg, L. (1992), Competitive Customer Care: A Guide to Keepig Customers, Kigsto-upo- Thames: Croer, p Zieldi, M. ad Phillipso, S. (2007), Kotler ad Borde are ot dead: myth of relatioship marketig ad the truth of the 4Ps, Joural of Cosumer Marketig, 24(4): Groroos, C. (1994), From marketig mix to relatioship marketig: towards a paradigm shift i marketig, Maagemet Decisio, 32(2): Gamble, P.R., Stoe, M., Woodcock, N. ad Foss, B. (2006), Up Close ad Persoal?: Customer Relatioship Marketig at Work, Lodo: Koga-Page. 10 Buttle, F. (2008), Customer Relatioship Maagemet, 2d ed, Lodo: Paul Chapma. 11 Kotler, P., Armstrog, G., Sauders, J. ad Wog, V. (2001), Priciples of Marketig, Lodo: Pretice-Hall.

23 Customer care ad relatioship marketig Lacaster, G. ad Massigham, L. (2002), Essetials of Marketig, 4th ed, Maidehead, Berkshire: McGraw- Hill, p Gummesso, E. (2008), Total Relatioship Marketig, 3rd ed, Oxford: Butterworth-Heiema. 14 Bud-Jackso, B. (1985), Build customer relatioships that last, Harvard Busiess Reveue, 63(November December): Reast, J.D. (2005), Brad trust ad brad acceptace: the relatioship, Joural of Product ad Brad Maagemet, 14(1): Biiger, A.S. (2008), Explorig the relatioship betwee retail brads ad cosumer store loyalty, Iteratioal Joural of Retail ad Distributio Maagemet, 36(2): Zieldi, M. (1999), Explorig the commo groud of total relatioship maagemet (TRM) ad total quality maagemet (TQM), Maagemet Decisio, 37(9): Gummesso, E. (1991), Marketig orietatio revisited: the crucial role of the part-time marketer, Europea Joural of Marketig, 25: Mele, C. (2007), The syergistic relatioship betwee TQM ad marketig i creatig customer value, Maagig Service Quality, 17(3): Mehra, S., ad Ragaatha, S. (2008), Implemetig total quality maagemet with a focus o ehacig customer satisfactio, Iteratioal Joural of Quality ad Reliability Maagemet, 25(9): Kotler, P. ad Keller, K.L. (2007), Marketig Maagemet, 13th ed, Basigstoke: Macmilla. 22 Dodourova, M. (2009), Alliaces as strategic tools: a cross-idustry study of partership plaig, formatio ad success, Maagemet Decisio, 47(5):