Desperate to do just that, I had to also be swift, as our vehicle’s engine had already started. Glancing to and fro, I hurried to a brightly lit kiosk window. Luckily, it hadn’t closed yet. Upon seeing the sales woman, admittedly, I couldn’t help exclaiming excitedly, ‘Hurray! I would like to…’ ‘Hurray what?’ interrupted the lady frigidly. ‘I’m in the middle of stocktaking,’ added she crisply. “So, out you go!”
In an attempt to sell products or services every and any business inevitably resorts to some kind of strategy, which has traditionally been referred to as the marketing mix and is, most commonly, a blend of 4 Ps: product, price, place and promotion. It goes without saying we need to have something to sell in the first place. Also, we have to price our commodity.
Then, we ought to decide where we will be trading our goods or/and services. And, obviously, we don’t have to discard the ways of promoting what we are doing. Comprehensive enough, isn’t it?
However, a number of voices suggest we include at least one more P, the one which stands for people. At the end of the day, it is real people, who make their buying decisions. Rather intriguingly, far not always do they make up their mind on the basis of the 4 self-evident Ps. At times, consumers choose to buy or not to buy because of…how they are treated on the selling floor.
And although the decades of free-market competition have made developed countries realise the paramount importance of the ‘people P’, it seems this empirical truth is a bit too hard to crack for some of our Ukrainian entities. Well, here is the product; it’s affordable; it’s within a reasonable reach; we have even run an advertising campaign. Now customers are doomed to buy from us. But are we?
Looking for a web-hosting company, we shortlisted two of them. A then more appealing company had a sizeable price advantage. It seemed we would collaborate happily ever after… Until we talked to their administrator or whoever it might have been on the phone. Asked some practical question, the man irritably suggested we read the info on their website. Well, we could have, but we didn’t.
The contract went to the other company. I guess this exemplifies that customers don’t mind leaving their money with a company which make them feel respected.
Years ago, while shopping in a neighbouring supermarket, I couldn’t make head or tail of the attending staff behavior. Not a ‘hello’. Not a single ‘Thank you for the purchase’. Not even a word – just illegible murmuring at times – to respond to YOUR ‘thank you’! Needless to say I quit going there. However, in my heart of hearts I sensed it wasn’t the end of the story for that store. Well, from a once-thriving store occupying 2 floors, it has dwindled to something mediocre, barely filling one floor.
And, according to a top manager of the whole chain (I’ll restrain from voicing its name) it is currently the most problematic department within the group. Where have the former customers gone? Given comparable products and similar prices, I people opt for a place where they are appreciated.
All in all, the people component of any marketing strategy is at least as vital, as the product, price, place and promotion side of the equation. Those who live by the people principle will eventually succeed. Those who turn a blind eye to this facet will inevitably struggle to fix their declining bottom-line. Let’s hope and pray that the former will outnumber the latter. And, by the by, did you know that about 68% of customers stop buying from a particular company because of an attitude of indifference?
