Best Practice in Marketing, Customer Service and Sales

Introduction

An examination of the makeup of the market, the role of marketing, sales, and customer service in the delivery, and relevant consumer behavior. Topics include basic principles and key concepts related to the design and implementation of marketing efforts in service & product organizations. The goal is to develop and evaluate marketing, sales, and customer service plans. Discussion covers the marketing process and the development and analysis of strategic marketing plans.

Course Objectives 

• Define customer service and break it down to its most basic dimensions.
• Explain how to gain customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty and measure them in a meaningful and systematic way.
• Defend the use of a profitability dimension to any customer loyalty strategy.
• Identify the right professional selling behaviors and skills needed to maximize sales performance.
• Develop the right personal habits to optimize selling effectiveness.
• Define the marketing framework of a business organization.
• Conduct marketing audits and analyses to better examine the micro and macro environments.
• Combine best practices, tools, and models to implement an effective marketing and sales management system.
• Develop strategies, initiatives, and programs to build and sustain a competitive market advantage.
• Apply planning and the execution of advanced marketing strategies to enhance organizational results.

Course Outlines

Day 1: Customer service

• Introduction to customer service.
• Definition of customer service.
• Service dimensions.
• Addressing customer needs.

Attaining customer satisfaction through quality measures

• Customer service excellence.

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

• Customer satisfaction, retention, loyalty, and delight.
• Levels of loyalty.
• Customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Customer Delight.

Day 2: Key loyalty measurements

• Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) and Customer Retention Rate (CRR).
• Profit impact of CRR.
• Customer life expectancy.
• Customer loyalty index.

Loyalty and profits

• The cost of loyalty.
• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) shortfall.
• Activity-Based Costing (ABC).

Customer satisfaction surveys

• Surveys and questionnaires.
• The objective of the survey.
• Population of interest.
• Writing the questions.
• Sampling methods.
• Administration and analysis.

Day 3: The changing business environment

• The evolution of personal selling.
• Marketing.
• Consultative.
• Strategic.
• Partnering.
• Social.
• The new sales competencies.
• Behaviors, characteristics, and skills of a successful salesperson.
• Assessing performance according to specific sales indicators.
• The 10 root causes of sales problems.
• Personal selling profile.

Preparation and self-organization

• Personal management.
• Self-mastery.
• Personal planning.
• Self-talk.
• Personal image.
• Time management for salespeople.
• Understanding the psychology of selling.
• Developing strategies for sales success.

Day 4: The sales process

• Prospecting and qualifying.
• Pre-approach.
• Approach.
• Presentation and demonstration.
• Overcoming objections.
• Closing.
• Follow-up and maintenance.
• Product selling versus service selling.
• A glimpse into different selling models.

Marketing concepts

• Marketing management defined.
• Evolution of the marketing concept.
• Differences between marketing and selling.
• Scope of marketing management.
• Setting the scene: the marketing mix.
• Using the 4Ps marketing mix model.

Marketing audit and planning

• Understanding the marketing environment.
• Various marketing analysis techniques.
• 'PESTLE' Analysis.
• 'SWOT' analysis.
• The Five Forces model (M. Porter).
• Customer analysis.
• Competitive analysis.
• The marketing audit.
• Marketing planning.

Day 5: Marketing communication and campaigns

• Elements of the communication process.
• Steps in creating a promotional campaign.
• The goals and tasks of promotion.
• The 'AIDA' concept.
• Setting the advertising budget.
• The various media types.
• Media Scheduling.
• Evaluating promotional campaigns.

The Product Life Cycle (PLC): A Strategic Approach

• The PLC concept.
• Marketing strategies for PLC.
• The promotion mix and marketing objectives.
• Characteristics promotion mix elements.
• Promotion mix strategies across the PLC.
• Push and pull strategies.

Marketing research

• Marketing research defined.
• The marketing research process.
• Secondary and primary data.
• Questionnaire design.
• Forms of survey research.