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MarketAbility's Marketing
Briefing |
Issue 5 /
2004 |
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in this
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The China Syndrome - Market Opportunity and Marketing Challenger Some would tell you that the Chinese culture or race is at the core and heart of Asian business. Whether you believe that or not, there is clearly a very strong business and commercial ethic in the Chinese culture, which is also reflected in the speed with which the "western" approach to commerce has become visible in China. But is it really a western approach? For many centuries before the last one, the Chinese had a booming economy and they were the centre of global trade with flourishing businesses in silks, molasses, herbs and spices - to name but a few. The fact that many western companies have been taken by surprise by the onslaught of Chinese competition, which not only offer competitively priced products but also state-of-the-art technology, consistently high product quality and highly qualified support and service staff (who can often speak better English than their English or American competitors), is a clear indication of the commercial and market awareness of Chinese manufacturers and service providers. To underestimate them is dangerous, to ingore them is foolish. China may have a large and relatively inexpensive workforce, but there is also a very well-educated and highly business savvy section of that workforce, that is doing more than a passable job of leading Chinese industry into local and global competitiveness, not only on the basis of cost advantage, but also by being very market and customer-focused. There is a growing opinion that China will evolve to have a central and pivotal role in global trade and the global economy both as a major consumer of products and services - not just driven by price but ever increasingly seeking quality, differentiation and branded offerings - and as a major producer and exporter of products and services both of high quality and at competitive prices. |
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• Marketing and CVM in Practice @-Success.com A recent report by Business Week identified the companies who have made a success of their e-investments and e-business models in spite of the bursting of the e-business bubble. What is particularly interesting and a key learning point from the successes of such companies as Mattel, Alcoa, Eli Lilly, Bancorp, BMW, Nike, Progressive Insurance, Lockheed Martin and the others listed in Business Week's Web Smart 50 is that they cover all sorts of product and service markets from B2B, B2C, B2B2B and B2B2C and they achieved their successes in different ways, ranging from collaboration, through customer service and customisation to streamlining, management and cutting edge ideas. Let this be a lesson to all those out there still trying to figure out whether to or how to build a market success from e-business and technology. If you want to differentiate yourself from competition, you have to get ahead to stay ahead and you need to be alert to the potential for creating and capturing customer value from new business and marketing ideas and new business and marketing models. Needs and Behaviour-Based Segmentation - A MUST For all those of you who still believe that purchasers and consumers behave logically, please take another look at the latest SCIENTIFIC research into the workings of the human brain, which quite clearly shows that thinking patterns are sensory emotive rather than logical. Actually, it just confirms what many of us know - but perhaps don't like to admit: humans are ANIMALS not machines! What does this mean to you as a marketer or business manager? Well, if your business model assumes that consumers or purchasers follow rational and conscious decision-making processes then that business model could be doomed to failure. This means that appealing to the senses may be a better way to a customer's wallet than offering a lower price! Relevancy is more likely to attract than rational argument. It also means that building and sustaining brand values are critical to the long-term sustainability of market position and customer loyalty and retention. Brand values have to be believable and memorable as well as relevant to the target customer. Price is the last thing on most purchasers' minds during the decision-making process, so leading with price can be counter-productive and can undermine the REAL attraction of your offering to the customer. If you can attract the customer's attention, appeal to the customer's emotions and senses and then demonstrate the relevance and value of your offering this is normally what will win and secure you the loyalty of the customer. Think again and think differently all you logic-driven price marketers out there. |
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• What's New in Marketing and CVM Measuring
Marketing Effectiveness with CVM Diagnostic SM MarketAbility's UNIQUE CVM Diagnostic enables companies and businesses to measure marketing effectiveness using a blend of qualitative and quantitative metrics. CVM Diagnostic also enables companies to get an objective assessment of the performance of the company or individual business units on customer value management against best practice. Based on the five-step Pentadigm CVM model featured in the book, co-written by Phil Allen (CEO, MarketAbility): "Value-Based Marketing for Bottom-Line Success: 5 Steps to Creating Customer Value". ISBN 0-07-139656-X. De Bonis, Balinski & Allen, published December 2002 by McGraw-Hill & American Marketing Association, has been further developed and refined with a graduated measurement scale. CVM Diagnostic produces a rigorous and systematic evaluation of a company's or business unit’s performance on the Pentadigm steps: 1. Understand the Customer 2. Commit to the Customer 3. Create Customer Value 4. Obtain Customer Feedback 5. Improve Customer Value Results are fed back in an interactive workshop aimed at identifying key initiatives and actions to deliver better business results, typically enabling the client to achieve a more than 100% payback on the investment in CVM Diagnostic within 12-18 months. CVM Diagnostic can produce results as fast as 3-4 weeks from instigation. |
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MarketAbility
News MarketAbility Academy launches two new
Workshops Read more about the Process
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Customer Value Management Phil Allen joined an illustrious panel of speakers to debate the creation of customer value through enlightened channel management during the recent EPCA logistics conference in Monaco (November 2003). Key message from Phil was the general failure of major producers in the chemicals and plastics industry capture the value back to themselves from the customer value they create in the value chain. He ascribes much of this inability to the lack of true Customer Value Management best practice, which is evidenced in the industry-wide benchmarking study conducted by MarketAbility. Further details on Phil's participation on page 5 and other aspects of the EPCA Logistics meeting can be read in the EPCA publication attached to this link. Further information about MarketAbility's CVM Benchmarking study is available in the special report Key Account Management Much is talked about key account management – what is it and what are the key elements of success? Most companies or businesses serve a substantial number of customers of varying size and importance. Some customers are easy to please, some more demanding. Some are long-standing customers, where a relationship has evolved over time, others are new or relatively recent accounts. In many industrial and business-to-business markets the time-served 80:20 rule still applies and is relevant (i.e. 80% of the sales revenue or even 80% of the profit is generated from 20% of the customer base). In some cases, it can even be 90:10. This begs the question: are ALL customers important or are some more important than others? |
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