Here is a repost of classwork from the degree program for Business Marketing.
Understanding Marketing Concepts
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Learning Program Evaluation
Evaluating the learning process is a difficult task, especially when considering the complex objectives of skilled training for adults. So much of the success of the program depends on the learner and their circumstances in society after the program. Usually, learning theories are conceived in a controlled environment in the laboratory. In the real World, many more variables which can’t be controlled exist.
The evaluation of a program is broken down into four levels, according to Donald Kirkpatrick. Reaction evaluation is the first level. Here, data is gathered from the participants during the program about their feelings toward it. They can discuss what aspects of the program are negative or positive in discussion groups, interviews or questionnaires. This information would be valuable to an educator or facilitator attempting to evaluate a program.
The second level is learning evaluation, where the participant is pre and post-tested on their ability to grasp the new skills they learned. This information is useful for the learner when they can see the new skill they’ve acquired by the operation of equipment, for instance. Evaluation for this step may also include writing, speaking or other “information-recall tests or problem-solving exercises. (Knowles)”
The third step is also helpful to the facilitator of the program. This is behavioral evaluation, which tracks the behavior of the participant after the program is over. They study how the person’s skills, knowledge or behavior expresses growth from the learning process. Certain work performance evaluations will give an indication of how much a subject learning from training.
The last step is results evaluation, which is gathered from the records of an organization. These may include cost, efficiency, turnover or frequency of accident data. This information is useful to a funding agency responsible for subsidizing the program. This will give them an idea of how successful the program could be in the future and if the investment was useful.
Reference:
- Knowles/Holton/Swanson, the Adult Learner, 7th, Routledge, 2012
Discussing the Purchase Decision
The purchase decision making process comes in four stages; needs recognition, internal/external search, purchase, post-purchase satisfaction. Different products
have varying degrees of emphasis in each stage, which require different levels of financial commitment. Some products are purchased out of habit and have very little consideration of their attributes when purchasing them, like toothpaste. Branding works on products like this by promotion that keeps the name of brand as part of the consumer “evoked set.” These are the brand names that will come to mind when a consumer decides to fill the need for the type of product. Much of peoples purchases are repeated over and over so advertisers try to maintain brand loyalty to the 60% of their purchases which are habitual.
(definition) evoked set – is a list of brands that come to mind when a need arises. A person may not have ever previously required the use of a certain product, but because of continuous marketing, they might already be familiar with a range of different brands that may satisfy the need.
Other purchases are infrequent, like the purchase of a house or a car. These will take more consideration and research before any commitment to the purchase is made. Normally in the first stage of decision making, a need is identified. Virtually all sales are made to satisfy some need the consumer feels, whether actual or perceived. Some products are chosen for their functional benefits such as reliability, durability, convenience and performance. Other times products are purchased to satisfy emotional or intangible needs like prestige, pleasure, pride or conformity. Products and brand names in particular can instill a sense of emotional satisfaction that makes the product worth the sale.
A person’s socio-economic status may have a lot to do with the choices they make for products, but may not always dictate the type of purchase a person will make. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs says that people will tend to satisfy basic physiological needs before they try to satisfy emotional needs like prestige. However, in the consumer culture we live in, brand recognition is a source of status to those rich and poor. A need arises when one’s actual state of affairs differs from their desired state of affairs. People sometimes seek brands to alter their perceived feelings about their actual state of affairs. Dissatisfaction with their actual state of affairs may cause them to seek satisfaction elsewhere, like in the consumption of products. The purchase of a car to many is a status symbol to be used as a source of pride and self-esteem. When someone is purchasing a used car, they may still look to fulfill this status requirement or look to fulfill the functional need of getting back and forth to work.
At the point of need recognition, a person will draw on their personal knowledge about the products to start analyzing a way to solve their problem. The internal search is the beginning of step two in the purchase process. A consumer will use the evoked set of products they have already heard of, to try and make a match with their current need. They will rely on their attitudes about products they like, as well as ones they wish to avoid. From there, they might do more external searching to find out more of what’s available. They can use consumer reports, advice from friends, and information from retailers to generate a set of evaluative criteria. The list might include the price, service history, available warranties, color, class rating or similar features to judge one product from the other.
The next step is to make the purchase. The retailer can make this step easier by offering alternate methods of payment or extended payment options and rebates. After the purchase is made, a feeling of satisfaction or it’s opposite, cognitive dissonance, will arise in the mind of the consumer. The advertiser can help the feelings of satisfaction by being involved in the post-purchase process with their consumers. The advertiser can send thank you messages, welcome letters and promotional offers which are only available to customers. Since most purchases of small items are repeated, it is in the interest of the retailer to concentrate on the post-purchase process.
When buying food, which is a habitual purchase, the advertisement of certain brands can be informative and still have no effect. In a store I frequent, Aldi’s supermarket, there are no commercials or advertisements for their products. The company is based overseas and consequently doesn’t promote in my area at all. However because of prices and familiar packaging that is always similar to the widely-promoted American brands, Aldi’s does a good job capitalizing on the promotion of others. Long ago, off-brands learned the technique of creating a similar product with similar packaging which they didn’t have to promote
References
(Kerin, Hartley, Rudelius, Marketing the Core, 5th Ed., McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2013)
Is advertising deceptive?
When I was young, I remember seeing an episode of the Brady Bunch that introduced me to the concept of “caveat emptor”, which Mr. Brady explained as, “let the buyer beware.” This is the idea that it’s up to the buyer to be vigilant about what they purchase. This seems to be the model we work from here in America. It’s up to the consumer to not fall for deceptive marketing. The seller has freedom to market and can employ seductive techniques that persuade buyers to embrace their products creating a desire to buy them. Many of the deceptive practices commercial advertising uses are not overt, but instead subliminal. To me deceptive tactics include associative techniques that put beautiful models in beer commercials for example.
False claims are obviously wrong and deceptive by nature, but the associative techniques that create moods or feelings toward the brand are really the most powerful. The techniques themselves, although deceptive are not necessarily wrong though. So whereas a false claim is deceptive and always wrong, associative techniques are deceptive but not always “wrong’ to do.
Perfume commercials or alcohol commercials are some of the easiest ones to see this practice unfold. Perfume commercials use models and exotic locations to create scenes with a certain mood that have little to do with the way a perfume smells. They sell it based on associations a person makes in their mind to the images they were presented with. If they wanted to illicit smells thru the visuals, they would show pictures of flowers or mountain rivers, like air-freshener commercials do. Instead, they show you two individuals chasing each other through a mansion with their clothes askew. You might not know if they’re running toward each other or away from each other, whether they’re angry or in love. It’s just a mood which seeks to stimulate feelings in the consumer. This, is kind of deceptive because what does the image have to do with the product? What does the commercial imply about the use of the product? Nothing really. And they aren’t really making any claims that they can be held to. They just create a mood and hope the consumer associates strong positive feelings with their brand and subsequently buys it.
Because some advertising is deceptive by nature, some people feel that it’s immoral, and it can be at times. The act of persuasion is almost always an attempt to increase the benefits of the persuader in commercial advertising. Other times, the persuadee or person the ad is directed at, can be warned or cautioned away from something that will harm them which in turn, benefits them. Is it always immoral to persuade someone to purchase something? No, yet sometimes ads cross the line into subliminally shaming, threatening or coercing the consumer with their message. Here, the consumer must remember the line Mr. Brady told his son Greg on an episode of the 1970’s TV show the Brady Bunch “caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.” The episode was all about truth in advertising.
The full episode and synopsis of the show can be found on TV.com (TV.COM LINK) “Greg is all excited as he’s about to go in for his driver’s test. When he passes the test, he decides that he needs his own car so he buys a car for $100 from his friend Eddie who made the car into something it’s not. Finding that he has been stuck, Greg attempts to do the same thing Eddie did, when he tries to sell the car.”
Assessing Buyer Needs Chapter 3
A business market is one “composed of firms, institutions and governments who acquire goods and services to use as inputs into their own manufacturing processes, for use in their day-to-day operations, or for resale to their own customers. (Ingram, 2013)” The main distinction between business and consumer markets is that businesses are not usually the end-users of the good or service. The product the business purchases may be for use in their own business objectives aimed at consumers.
Business markets have a concentrated demand which allows for large purchases from a small number of buyers. Sales may have to navigate their way through a small number of the same purchasers and make comparative bids to get contracts. Sales may have to have detailed information about competitors and how the sale product is more beneficial than the competition.
Derived demand buyers mimic the needs of the consumer market in terms of demand. If a demand in the consumer market rises or falls, the related manufacturer will have a demand that reflects the change. Sales will have to become a source of intuitive information that predicts the fluctuations in the consumer market. This will add value to the buyers they service.
Purchasing professionals will have a more in-depth knowledge about their buying criteria and capabilities. For this market, “salespeople must possess increased levels of knowledge and expertise to provide customers with a richer assortment of application, performance and technical data (Ingram, 2013).” Of these types of business buyers, the purchasing professional might be the most challenging because they will encompass aspects of the first two categories. The buyer may be one of few purchasers of the product and may be experiencing the acceleration principle where demand increases or decreases due to consumer demand. In addition, this buyer will be more knowledgeable about all aspects related to the purchase decision, and therefore harder to convince about a new product or service.
The business buying decision is an eight phase process that starts with the recognition of a need. A need arises when a needs gap is perceived in the distance between the desired state and the actual state. The need may then spark an interest in seeking out information to lessen the needs gap. Next the buyer determines a set of characteristics that will have to be addressed to map out the specifications of the problem. These criteria will be used to analyze which solutions will be appropriate. The buyers will then search for sources that can provide the solution to the problem. The buyer will then solicit and evaluate proposals from prospective suppliers. The buyer will then begin negotiations with suppliers to finalize terms of the purchase. Once a buyer has been chosen, terms of ordering must be finalized. This will include shipping details such as quantities, locations for distribution etc. The last phase is the feedback and evaluation of performance. Communication is key in this phase to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The most challenging phase for sales may be the negotiation of terms to finalize a deal. Even after the prospective companies are chosen, terms of the final deal may include extending credit, handling large orders and the distribution details of the purchase. These details may cause major conflict and will affect profit as well as future interactions with the customer.
Reference:
Ingram, LaForge, Avila, Schwepker, Williams, SELL, 3rd ed., South-Western, Cengage Learning, 2013
Building Trust with Buyers Chapter 2
*Following based on Chapter 2 Continuing Case in Sell – Building Trust and Sales Ethics
Expertise – ex. offer to train salespeople on a system designed to work with the client’s business. They can offer to work with managers and financial officers to develop the proper training program.
Dependability – ex. They can devote a certain portion of training to understanding and pursuing the goals of the company.
Candor – ex. Let him know that the old relationship is over if they would be willing to start with a new salesperson.
Custom Orientation – ex. They could do research on the needs of the company and propose ways to solve those problems. Brenda can find out what problems might occur along the market chain which affects the use of the product, whether it is delivery time or application and training on the product. Follow-up service could include a number of hours of training on the use of the product.
What should Brenda do? Brenda should make herself accessible to the client in order to understand fully their needs. Brenda needs to make her goals compatible with those of the client in terms of performance, service and return on investment. She should plan on offering promotions that fit the buyer’s needs. These planned promotions could be a way of introducing the product to the client. Brenda must know how much is to be spent on the promotion, as well as the terms and conditions of the promotion.
The sales methods Brenda uses should build trust with the client. The salesperson should exhibit an extensive knowledge of the company’s products and their specifications or capabilities. They should also be able to relate their products with industry standards and show how they rank on dependability and service.
To compete against those with long successful track record, Brenda must do several things. She must study their practices and what made them successful. Brenda must be able to “deliver complete comparative product information in a sales presentation. (Ingram, 2013)” She should understand the strengths and weaknesses which expose vulnerabilities. There may be gaps in technology, service time or delivery expenses. These vulnerabilities must be demonstrated as inferior when compared to Brenda’s products.
How to handle the rumor mill? Brenda should use candor in dealing with the situation. She should be forthcoming and honest with her client. She might want to prepare a statement that addresses each of the rumors. She could then use them to fortify and show examples of how the company excels on that area. She can use the rumors to explain why the company is not ‘in financial trouble’ and dependable for the future. This use can be used to emphasize reliability and trust. That also relates to the rumor about missing delivery deadlines. Brenda may want to produce delivery statements to show that their record is up to the industry standard or exceeds it in any category.
The rumor about the glitch in software will provide Brenda with an opportunity to discuss the superior technology used in her product. She can give a more detailed account into the time and research and history of the product while stressing their ethical standards for maintaining transparency with their clients. Likewise, Brenda can provide service staff records to show that they are not cutting staff. She can also demonstrate how their service department has maintained an outstanding record.
Reference:
Ingram, LaForge, Avila, Schwepker, Williams, SELL, 3rd ed., South-Western, Cengage Learning, 2013
Role Playing Sales Scenario Chapter 1
In role playing scenario 1, Rebecca Stanley advises Wilson to make his own strategy to deal with the Hypermart situation. In the trust-based strategy of selling, the salesperson (SP) strives to build a long-term relationship with the customer. This relationship will be built on generating customer value. In the scenario, Hypermart is interested only in gaining market share not profit. They see all retailers including Biomed itself and its retail website as competition. Wilson’s choice will be in providing customer value for new clients as well as existing ones and the possible conflict which will arise in the future when the Biomed website begins to offer more web-based retail services.
Role-play
Location – Stanley’s office 48 hours later. Wilson discloses his plan to deal with the Hypermart situation.
Stanley: Have you come up with a way to deal with the situation with Hypermart and Ed-Toys?
Wilson: Yes, however, I may need more detailed reports on the market share of existing businesses versus Hypermart ordering capability. Hypermart has the ability to disrupt future sales of the product to other companies. Because of this we will have to choose between selling to them and not selling much to others. Hypermart has a totally self-serving agenda that will discourage other firms from doing business in the market. Already Ed-Toys has voiced objection to them selling at a 20% discount. And Hypermart has voiced objection to our plans to make website friendly retail available to our future customers once the website is done. At this point we may have to determine if an account with Hypermart is worth any new business that may come in later for this product. Unless their impact is more important than any new business they should be dropped as a client. The possibility of generating new clients who will adhere to suggested retail pricing with the advent of the website modifications will generate less channel conflict in the future. It is already evident that Hypermart is trying to utilize a dominant power relationship to force its goals onto the rest of marketing channels. Satisfying this one client will generate continued problems in the future.
Stanley: After I confirm the numbers generated by Hypermart’s purchasing goals, I am sure I will come to agree with your decision. The stability of our market channels is more important the goals of one company.
A manger will want to avoid unfair power relationships that create dependence on one client or channel member. This conflict can be avoided by detaching from the channel which causes the conflict. In this case, it is Hypermart, which is only concerned with its own goals. They have the potential to discourage future clients and dominate too much of the revenue stream for the product. It is wise for Stanley to let Wilson figure this out on his own because it is his presentation of the purchasing terms which will generate the next situation like this. If Wilson doesn’t learn how to spot the channel conflict before it happens, Stanley will constantly have to manage the conflict later on.
If the initial terms required the use of suggested retail pricing for a certain number of months per year or if all retailers are informed of Biomed’s own retail capabilities on the website, this problem can be avoided before the sale. Having a schedule of pricing will help generate confidence in competitors who like Ed-Toys only wanted to know when Hypermart would resume normal pricing. If companies like Hypermart are unwilling to work within a comfortable channel structure for all the members, contracts with them should be discontinued or avoided altogether.
Reference
Ingram, LaForge, Avila, Schwepker, Williams, SELL, 3rd ed., South-Western, Cengage Learning, 2013
Palmatier, Stern, El-Ansary, Marketing Channel Strategy, 8th ed, Pearson, 2015
Marketing vs Public Relations
Marketing concentrates on customers, wholesalers and retailers while public relations concentrates on internal and external stakeholders including employees, stockholders, public interest groups, the government and society as a whole.
A company cannot always control public relations. Sometimes there are unplanned contact points with stakeholders and non-stakeholders that influence the perception of the brand in the news or during interactions between employees. A public relations department should use these situations to create a positive image and perception for the organization.
Companies can engage in cause-related marketing and socially-responsible production of its goods and services to positively reflect its public relations activities. Damage control consists of responding effectively to “negative events caused by a company error, consumer grievances, or unjustified or exaggerated negative press (Clow, 2014).” Proactive approaches include entitling where a company attaches itself to the positive outcome of an event like a fundraiser for cancer awareness. Enhancements are proactive measures which use small benefits to siggest much more beneficial outcomes overall such as low-fat ice cream.
Reference:
Kenneth E. Clow; Donald Baack, Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications, 6th ed., Pearson, 2014