page 4
1994
Volume 28 Number 21
MtukethgNews
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Printed in the U.SA.
Oct. 10.
Sales, marketing relationship redefined
by Benjamin F. Ball
and Robert F. Monaghan
Benjamin F. Ball is executive direc- aware of and conversant with hrand
tor of Dechert-Hampe Co., Chica- posidoning and marketing strategies.
go, and Robert F. Monaghan is
executive vice president in the
firm's Trumbull, Conn., office.
Brand marketers, take note: The
sales force is fast becoming a major
determinant in whether or not the
consumer receives your brand mar-
keting message.
This dramatic shift in the sales role
should he viewed as a significant
Leam some lessons Inclusive marketing
fi-om the front line shows sensitivity
by Patrick J. Alberts
Patrick J. Alberts is vice president
of administration/support service
at Monongahela Valley Hospital
Inc., Monongahela, Pa.
Total quality management, reengi-
necring, and visioning are a few of
the concepts tliat have penneated
services markedng, but they do not
always deliver their promise.
A major reason is that they may
distract the manager's attention from
a vital asset: the frontline employee.
The potendal for variability in the
production and delivery of services
can he significant. In addidon, mar-
kedng, operadons, and human re-
source management are intertwined
and must be medculously orchestrat-
ed.
For these reasons, services market-
ing uldmately is the responsibility of
individual employees. Foremost, ser-
vice managers need to develop the
credihility and commitment essendal
to lead employees to exhibit desired
hehavior.
Cutdng-edge concepts may not
pay the dividends expected if employ-
ees do not fully commit to managers'
plans. Before embarking in a new
direcdon, service managers should
consider the following checklist:
• How does the change benefit the
employees? Workers invariably view
change selfishly and managers must
place themselves in the employees'
shoes. Unless a new concept makes
their job easier or more fulfilling,
workers will he slow to embrace it.
G Are meaningful incentives in
place? Employee self-interest is a
strong modvator, and what gets
rewarded tends to get accomplished.
Well-structured incendves can help
channel employees' efforts to commit
to and contribute to desired change.
• What is management seeking to
gain? This is the corollary to the first
quesdon. Service managers must be
forthright in addressing what man-
agement hopes to achieve by imple-
menting change. Without employee
acceptance, management inidadves
will squarely confront resistance that
results in lower morale and out|)ut.
• Are expected benefits overstat-
ed? Employees are not fooled often;
if something .sounds too good to he
true, they will view it with skepd-
cism. Moreover, service managers
can injure their future credibilty by
lever iji implementing hrand market-
ing strategies. But using this lever
will mean making salespeople more
Just how has this shift come about?
Some major changes in the retail
marketplace have given salespeople
significant control over funds for local
customer and consumer marketing.
Their influence has grown as a result.
A closer look at these changes will
help in understanding their effect on
brand posidoning and markedng
strategy.
1. The sales force job descripdon
is being radically reshaped. Although
overselling a program. Although
endiusiasm and hype capture atten-
don in the short run, the long-term
impiicadons of falling short of expec-
tadons can act as a potent demodva-
tor.
Q Is the change too complex for
employees to leam? F.ffecdve service
delivery often requires employees to
spontaneously respond, within estab-
lished parameters, to cu.stomer
desires.
New concepts that are too compli-
cated for the employees to readily
assimilate into their roudnes ean
confuse interacdons with customers.
Service managers must concentrate
on simplifying fundamental customer
service acdvides to allow employees
to better cany out these transacdons.
• Is the change in hannony with
the organizadon's culture? Modify-
ing the nomis and values ingrained in
employees mvolves a long nurturing
process which, in all likelihood, will
oudast a new plan's dme horizon.
Furdiennorc, inidadves inconsis-
tent with company culture will con-
fuse and bridle employee efforts.
G Will the change improve the
business's perfonnance-to-cost rado?
Delivering customer value to a target
market must serve as a business's
driving force. Employee sadsfocdon
will not be sustained when changes
are poorly planned and, uldmately,
fail in the marketplace.
To be successful, new programs
must either increase the benefits
offered to customei^s or reduce their
purchasing costs. Unless change is
predicated on enhancing customer
value, a company is hetter advised to
invest its resources elsewhere.
Service marketers and managers
ignore these guidelines at their own
risk. Many cutdng-edge business
concepts have fallen short of expecta-
dons principally due to the lack of
objecdve forethought and planning.
Service deliver}' offers rich poten-
dal fur product differendadon. How-
ever, this potendal cannot be realized
without the commitment and pardci-
padon of fronthne employees. This is
gained, in tum, when their trust and
respect is earned by responding to
their needs and wants. M
the tradidonal tasks of presendng
manufacturers promodon programs,
selling new items, fighdng tor shelf
space, merchandising product, han-
dling credits and deducdons, and
gathering marketplace intelligence
are all sdl! important, the field role
has expanded significantly to include
making decisions for spending that
directly affect the impleinentadon of
brand markedng strategy.
by Marlene Rossman
Marlene Rossman is president
of Rossman, Graham Associ-
ates, New York, and author of
Multicultural Marketing: Selling
to a Diverse America.
Over the last few months, I
have heen invited to speak at a
numher of public seminars with
such dtles as "Targedng Ethnic
Markets" and "Ethnic Target
Markets: New Opportunity," hut
the targeting approach that some
of us have been taking lately
seems a litde superficial.
There is certainly nothing
wrong with the recent explosion of
interest in ethnic or muldcultural
segments. After all, the 70 million
consumers that compose die
•African-Ameri-
can, Hispanic,
and Asian-
American mar-
kets account for
well over $500
hillion in spending power.
As marketers, however, we ofren
seem to drift from one promising
segment to another, allotdng per-
haps 15 minutes to see whether
we've hit our target. Because we
are close to an age of micromarket-
ing in which we try to reach
increasingly dny segments, it's cer-
tainly dme we began reaching out
to segments other than those of the
overtapped and increasingly over-
saturated "mainstream" market.
What's needed, however, is
inclusive markedng, not target
markedng.
The difference is that in inclu-
sive marketing we are involved for
the long tenn. It means including
from the outset African-Americans,
Hispanics, .Asian-Americans, gays,
lesbians, etc., rather them adding
them as an afterthought to a main-
stream marketing campaign.
For example, the importance of
the family and children, even to
the assimilated Hispanic con-
sumer, shouldn't be underesdmat-
ed. The ideal is a large family,
which includes a system of god-
parentship, in which godmothers
and godfathers are considered part
of the extended family.
When marketing to Hispanic
consumers, it's smart to avoid ads
showing a diner eadng alone; such
ads would violate the rule diat
2. The buyer is no longer merely
a purchasing agent, and retail outlets
are no longer merely distribudon
outlets for manufacturers' products.
Instead, retailers are becoming mar-
keters in their own right.
Retail marketers must promote
their store franchise to the consumer
in the same way that hrand managers
promote their brand franchise. To do
so, retail marketers are developing
programs designed not to promote
specific brands, but to promote their
store and endce consumers to shop
there. Marketplace roles are being
tumed upside down as retailers pitch
^ see Redefine on page 11
people are most likely to huy
products if they can idendfy with
the people in the ad.
Inclusive marketing means
invidng the African-American,
Hispanic, Asian-Ainerican, and
other underscrvcd groups into the
consumer franchise to build a cus-
tomer base. It may mean that we
have to educate the consumer
about the product or semce or
create awareness of the product
and its benefits, or reconfigure
those products and service to meet
the needs of the market.
Banks have hegun to offer non-
tradidonal mortgages and debit
cards, and some large food com-
panies have started to use bilin-
gual labels. But this may just be a
case of reaching out to a new mar-
ket in an appropriate fashion.
For example, ads in black media
are somewhat
less expensive
than in mass
media, and
die higher
retum on
investment jusdfies the modest
ouday. There are at least 800
black media oudets from which to
choose. Given that numher, mar-
kedng organizadons could never
say that they can't find appropriate
vehicles for reaching the African-
American audience.
The niuldplier effect created
when black consumers see a rele-
vant hlack lifestyle print or TV ad
at the same dme they see an ad for
the same product in mainstream
media is phenomenal. The con-
sumer can idendfy with the hlack-
directed ad and will douhly appre-
ciate the company and its prod-
ucts; that appreciadon will trans-
late into buying behavior.
Inclusive markedng may take a
httle more time to understand and
implement at the outset, hut the
rewards are great.
A va,st number of African-Amer-
icans, Hispanics, Asians, gays, and
lesbians in the U.S. have money to
spend and would he pleased to see a
sincere effort by marketers to show
them the respect and sensidvity
given to the general market. Al-
though it's a start, it's not enough
to spend some money on adverds-
ing just during Black History
Month or at the Gay Games or the
Chinese I Iarvest Aloon Fesdval.
Inclusive marketing is a process,
not an event. M