The traditional Seven Ps of Marketing

In addition to the traditional four Ps of marketing (Product, Pricing, Promotion and Placement), customer services marketing brings in an extra three, making seven in total. They are collectively known as the extended marketing mix. The extra three Ps are:

People: Anyone coming into contact with customers will have a definite impact on overall customer satisfaction. They may be part of a supporting service or directly involved in a total service. People are always very important because in the eyes of the customer, they are inseparable from the overall customer service . Because of this, they must be well trained, well motivated and be the right type of person for the job. Customers are also referred to under 'people', as they can have an effect on the customer's service experience, (eg at a sponsored event).

Process: This is the entire process in providing a service and the specific behaviour of the people involved, all of which can be crucial to the customer's satisfaction.

Physical evidence: Unlike product evidence, a service cannot be actually experienced before it is supplied, which makes it a very intangible item. This means that prospects could think that there is a greater risk in deciding whether to use a particular service. To reduce this perception of risk, and also to improve the opportunity for success, it is vital to provide potential cnew ustomers with the opportunity to see what the potential service would be like. This is normally done by providing physical evidence like as case studies or magazine articles.

Five ways to determine good prospects

All prospects are not created equal; some are more likely than others to turn into sales. To avoid wasting resources, you need to weed out the poor prospects and concentrate your efforts on prospects who will yield a return on your investment of time, money and resources.

The following five steps will help you determine good prospects from bad prospects:

1) Define your target market very precisely. Break your market down by demographics ie geography, industry, company employee size etc. This will enable you to focus on the prospects that match your target audience.

2) Assess need, budget and the prospect’s buying authority. Ask basic questions that will allow you to determine whether a prospect is ready, such as:

What's the time frame for this project?
Who else is involved in making the decision?
What's the budget for this type of product or service?
How will the decision be made?
Is your company ready to buy if the right product or service is found?
If you decide that our product or service meets your needs, what will the next step be?

3) Ask for a “yes” or "no." Conventional wisdom says that as long as the prospect hasn't said "no," then the sale is still possible. However, when it comes to rating prospects, get a decision, even if it's no. It’s better to find out sooner rather than later that the chances of closing a sale are slight.

4)  Evaluate financial position. Creditworthy prospects are better than high-risk customers. Stable prospects are better than customers going through widespread changes. A company that is merging or downsizing may delay buying decisions.

5) Develop a scoring system. Rate prospects by a letter or number grade, based on the possibility of closing the sale. Concentrate on A prospects, and upgrade or downgrade the other prospects as circumstances change.