Sborník 2009 díl 2. - Fakulta informatiky a managementu - Univerzita ...

Dr Grazyna Rembielak-Vitchev RELATIONSHIP MARKETING AND ITS IMPORTANCE
IN THE CONTEMPORARY MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Modern marketers take the view that customers are intelligent enough to know what
they need, and they can recognise value for money when they see it, which means that
they will not make any business with the company in the future, if they do not get value
for money. This is the basis of the marketing concept with a main stress put onto a
consumer.
The marketing concept affects all the areas of business, from production through to
after-sales services. In practice this means that at the very beginning of the process
engineers and designers have to produce items that meet customers’ needs, and after
selling the product customer complaints need to be taken seriously and dealt with as
soon as possible.
It is hard to implement the marketing concept because, unlike the sales orientation
approach, which seeks to change the mass of customers to fit the organisation’s aims,
the marketing concept seeks to change the organisation’s aims to fit one or more
specific groups of customers who have similar needs. In practise, this means a necessity
to find out about the needs and wants of a particular group of customers, what price they
would be willing to pay, and fitting the organization’s activities towards meeting those
needs and wants at the right price.
Today’s companies are facing a very tough competition. In order to win customers
and outperform competitors they have no choice but they need to concentrate their
efforts on meeting and satisfying customer needs and gaining their loyalty. [10: 197]
According to Kotler ‘satisfaction’ is a person’s feelings of pleasure or disappointment
resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to
his or her expectations. [6: 36]
Many companies are aiming for high satisfaction because customers who are just
satisfied still find it easy to switch when a better offer comes along. Those who are
highly satisfied are much less ready to switch. High satisfaction or delight creates an
emotional link with a brand or a company, not just simply a rational preference. The
result is high customer loyalty.
In order to maintain customer loyalty it is important to track customer satisfaction.
Kotler [7: 140-168] distinguishes four kinds of methods, which customer-centred
companies use to track customer satisfaction:
1. Complaint and suggestion systems – many restaurants and hotels provide forms
to guests to report likes and dislikes. Some companies (e.g. P&G, General
Electric, Whirlpool) – establish hot lines with toll-free 800 telephone numbers.
Companies are also adding Web pages and e-mail to facilitate two-way
communication.
2. Customer satisfaction surveys – studies show that although customers are
dissatisfied with one out of every four purchases, less than 5% of dissatisfied
customers will complain. Most customers will buy less or switch suppliers.
Complaint levels are thus not a good measure of customer satisfaction.
Responsive companies measure customer satisfaction directly by conducting
periodic surveys. They send questionnaires or make telephone calls to a random
sample of recent customers. They also solicit buyers views on their competitors’
performances.
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