The main features of service differentiation are-
Ease in ordering:
Corporations like Dell, Baxter Healthcare and web-based services like peapod and net grocer have eased the process of placing an order. One does not have to step out of the house to buy the product.
Delivery:
It is related to how well a product or a service is delivered to the customer with speed and accuracy. The best examples are again Dell, which delivers its products right at the doorstep of the customers.
Installation:
It refers to the work undertaken to make the product operational at the prescribed location. Buyers of heavy equipment expect good installation service. Differentiation by installation is particularly important for companies that offer complex products such as computers and machinery.
Customer training:
It refers to how the seller provides training to the buyer about the product and how to use it. General Electric supplies and installs expensive X-rays equipment in hospitals but also gives extensive training to the staff of hospitals about using the machines.
Customer consulting:
It refers to the data, information systems and advising services that the seller offers to buyers. For example, the Rite aid drugstore chain’s communication program, called the Vitamin Institute provides customers with research so they can make more educated judgments and feel comfortable asking for help. On the web, Rite Aid has teamed up with drugstore.com to offer even more comprehensive health related information.
Maintenance and repair:
It refers to the post-sale services which generally include maintenance and repair services. Automobile manufacturers are often seen providing free services initially for the automobiles.
Tagged with
Marketing,
Marketing of Financial Services,
marketing Study materials
Service Differentiation is a design pattern for business services and software, in which the service varies automatically according to the identity of the consumer and/or the context in which the service is used. Sometimes known as smart service or context-aware service.
The concept of being different is very much essential in today’s world of cut-throat competition. The difference of one product from its competitor is the revenue that it earns. Products have to be different in order to survive the competition. It is not just the domestic competition but also the competition from and abroad, as one country produces and sells in another country while some other countries produce and sell in our country. The targeted customers have many options. Choosing among options is always based on differences, implicit and explicit. So, one must differentiate in order to attract the customer and make him/her buy the product.
Creating differentiation in one’s own product and services is a better way to avoid competition. One can offer a number of possible options in products to the customers. Every type of customer can choose a product which he/she likes. In this way, low-end, mid-end or high-end customers, all of them will have a product to choose from. Common differentiations include, speed, performance, quality, responsiveness, availability, ease or integration.
All the above mentioned points are for a tangible product. But, how can we differentiate services. It is easy when the differentiation of variables is tangible as in the case of product but, difficult in case of services. If the product has not many tangible features, then adding value-added services to the product is one of the methods. This process is called service differentiation.
Tagged with
Marketing,
Marketing of Financial Services,
marketing Study materials
In business, a strategic business unit is a profit center which focuses on product offering and market segment. Strategic business units typically have a discrete marketing plan, analysis of competition, and marketing campaign, even though they may be part of a larger business entity.
A strategic business unit may be a business unit within a larger corporation, or it may be a business into itself or a branch. Corporations may be composed of multiple strategic business units, each of which is responsible for it’s own profitability. General Electric is an example of a company with this sort of business organization. Strategic business units are able to affect most factors which influence their performance. Managed as separate businesses, they are responsible to a parent corporation.
An example of a strategic business unit is General Electric. Product offering typically encompasses a strategic business unit.
Tagged with
latest,
Marketing,
Marketing of Financial Services,
Marketing Short Notes,
marketing Study materials
Memory is plastic and changeable. The idea that memories can be deleted—or perhaps “overwritten”— can be found in the psychological effect known as “verbal overshadowing.” If you show someone a picture of a face and then ask him to describe it in words, he will afterwards have a slightly harder time recognizing the face than if there was no attempt to first reconstruct the face verbally from memory. The idea that memories can be erased from working memory storage is also inherent in the idea of the intentional blink.
The suppression of memory associated with the blink works in both directions. If something really interesting appears on a screen then it pushes the image that preceded it out of working memory, as well as inhibiting attention to the image that follows for about half a second. That is why short-term memory produces rising and falling wave-like peaks.
Advertisers dream of the eternal sunshine of a spotless consumer mind into which they can implant brand memories. But the reality is that different brands are competing to colonize the same places in the mind with their memories. The result may be dueling memories
Tagged with
latest,
Marketing,
marketing Study materials
Marketing scope develops day to day. These developments carry special significance for service sector in which customer and service producer interact closely.
Especially in service sector like external relations, internal relations also have significance. It requires finding and keeping successful personnel.
For personnel of the organization to be considered their own goals and service situation, values of the organization are sold to them. The communication techniques carried out for customers are also performed for the personnel in internal marketing and this two techniques go together. For example, the ads that aim creating firm’s image should be prepared with regarding to audience which is composed of firm’s personnel.
This approach takes the organization as a sequence which involves producer and customer that market services to each other in the organization. In this structure, the activities of departments that compose organization would be more focused on market. This will also affect the structure of organization.
It was mentioned that close relationship was established between producer and customer in service sector. In addition to this, life cycle of a customer relationship was also mentioned under the product outline.
According to the researchers, maintaining the relationship for extant customer increases the profit of firms. It should be emphasized that this fact has an importance for service sector.
Life cycle of a customer relationship is composed of three stages. At the first stage, firms try to be well known and to acquire new customers. At the second stage, the connection between customer and firm has been achieved. During the stage, firms intensified their activities on acquired customers and both of them promises mutually. At the third stage, these promises are accomplished and the service is consumed. During the stage, firms face “Reality Instants” which could possibly achieve satisfaction of customer and continuous relationship.
This could be also true for second stage. So, these instants should be managed successfully.
Tagged with
Marketing
The main features of Bank Marketing are-
1. Banking product cannot be seen or touched like manufactured products (intangibility)
2. In marketing banking products, the product and the seller are inseparable; they together define the banking product (inseparability)
3. Banking products are products and delivered at the same time; they cannot be stored and inspected before delivering’ (perishability)
4. Standardization of banking product is difficult (variability)
Tagged with
Marketing
Mainly there are two types of product in Bank. These are
· Deposits – Banks accept the deposits of the public. In order to attract the savings of the people, the bank provides every sort of facility and inspiration to them and collects the scattered savings of the society. The bank opens an account of those people who deposit their savings with the bank. These deposit accounts can mainly be of three types and people can open any of these three types of accounts according to their wish. These accounts are current account, saving bank account, fixed deposit account.
· Loans – The bank just don’t keep with themselves the deposited amount of the people, rather they advance them in the form of loans to the businessman and entrepreneurs, just to earn profits for their partners. The loanee keeps some gold, silver, fixed and variable assets in the form of security with the bank. The bank can advance loan to their customers in three ways: overdrafts, money at call, discounting bills of exchange.
Tagged with
Marketing
There are some approaches to bank marketing. These are discussed below:
· Identifying the customer’s financial needs and wants.
· Develop appropriate banking products and services to meet customer’s needs.
· Determine the prices for the products/services developed.
· Advertise and promote the product to existing and potential customer of financial services.
· Set up suitable distribution channels and bank branches.
· Forecasting and research of future market needs.
From the above discussion of bank marketing, it can be understood that the existence of the bank has little value without the existence of the customer. The key task of the bank is not only to create and win more and more customers but also to retain them through effective customer service. Customers are attracted through promises and are retained through satisfaction of expectations, needs and wants. Marketing as related to banking is to define an appropriate promise to a customer through a range of services (products) and also to ensure effective delivery through satisfaction. The actual satisfaction delivered to a customer depends upon how the customer is interacted with. It goes on to emphasize that every employee from the topmost executive to the junior most employee of the bank is market.
Tagged with
Marketing
· Technology
Marketing by private sector banks and foreign banks is more effective than public sector banks because these banks are IT oriented. Private sector banks and foreign banks are attracting more customers by providing e-services. Thus, technology has become a challenge before the public sector banks.
· Untrained Staff
Often it happens that when a prospective customer approaches the branch, the employees seem to have very little knowledge about the scheme. This reflects an ugly picture of our bank’s image. Banks are not losing one prospective customer but 10 more customers who would be touch of this man. Attitude of the employees towards customers is also not very well. Thus, it is a need of time to reorient the staff.
· Rural Marketing
This is a big challenge before the Indian banks to enhance rural marketing to increase their customers. Banks should open their branches not only in the urban and semi-urban areas but also in the rural areas.
· Trust of Customers
Marketing can be enhanced only by increasing the customers. Customers can be increased or attracted only by winning the trust of the customers.
· Customer Awareness
Customer awareness is also a challenge before the banks. Bank can market their products and services by giving the proper knowledge about the product to customer or by awarding the customer about the products. Bank should literate the customers.
Tagged with
Marketing
You can subscribe by e-mail to receive news updates and breaking stories.
