End of course

Cyprian Lunga.

II Part of Course

Marketing Successfully 284

Definition

Marketing is the streamlining of company policy, approach, manner and practices that focus on encouraging and persuading customers to buy its products and services by manipulating its price indices and advertising processes; and Effective Marketing is often described as “ making what you can sell, NOT selling what you can make. ”

Organisations that sell what can make are product-led, i.e. they make the product first and consider customers afterwards and such organisations view marketing as a way of persuading customers to buy their products.

However, the most successful organisations make what they can sell; they are customer-led in creating products and services in response to customer needs; they make customers their prime focus and they reap the rewards of high success in business.

Focusing on every aspect of marketing not just on promotion and sales techniques and you will reap the benefits of satisfied, a growing base loyal customers, successful popular products, increased turnover, more (WOM) recommendations, repeat sales as well as fewer complaints.

Tips for Marketing Managers

1 Gather as much information as possible on the requirements of the potential new market.

2 Design your whole business around your customers’ needs, not your need to make money,

3 Develop an outward-looking marketing approach not an insular marketing approach.

Marketing Company Types

Type of Company	Company Characteristics
Fore-Fronter: consistently anticipates customers’ needs and gets its products to the market first.	Is innovative and proactive and truly understands marketing, invests in research and product development.
Follower:dislikes taking risks, waits to see which way the market will go before deciding whether to take action.	Lacks pioneering spirit will always achieve minimum success because its attitude will always limit its achievement.
Fossil: Conducts business in the same old fashion and sees no reason to change	It is conservative, insular and complacent; this company will soon join dinosaurs.

Strategic Marketing (Marketing Mix). 286

Market mixing refers to proportional use of:

P= products (producing the right products that meet customer needs),

P=prices (setting the right product price that delivers profit and keeps customers happy),

P=place (getting the product where customers can buy it and

P=promotion (to encourage customers to buy the product).

PR=public relations to enhance the image and perception of your reputation.

Customer sensitivities vary in different places and the marketing mix strategy can be used to adjust any of the ingredients of the mix to suit the market concerned.

Tips for successful Marketing Mix.

1 Create the right balance between price and quality of the product.

2 Concentrate on key elements of the marketing mix.

3 Re-examine your mix regularly from time to time.

4 Compare your mix to that of your competitors and make sure you know what they charge.

5 Employ market research to find out how you are perceived by your customers.

6 Use research and not gut feeling to assess customers’ needs.

Points to Remember about Pricing

1 Low price is often equated with low quality. Customers may prefer to pay more for an identical product because they are convinced that if it is more expensive it is better than a cheaper product.

2 Customers do not simply buy a product because it is cheap; they buy because they need the product. Therefore, customers will not buy something even if it is cheap unless they need it.

3 Customers are sometimes less aware about price than you expect. Therefore find out about your customers’ buying habits and whether they shop around for the best price or not.

4 What value you are offering customers in terms of saving them time and effort.

5 Customers sometimes buy products for enhancing beauty or status.

6 Customers sometimes buy goods for investment rather for utility purposes.

7 Have you asked customers what they value most about your products?

Attractive physical surroundings, committed staff, well thought out procedures are all important in conveying a caring and friendly image which gives your organisation a competitive edge.

Getting to Know Your Customers

Good customer information is key to boosting profit, so build a up a clear picture of your customers, watch them, talk to them, ask them questions, and find out all that you can in order to give them what they need and keep them happy.

Identifying Information you Need TABLE.

INFORMATION SOURCE	FACTORS TO CONSIDER
Company Resources: Invoices, dispatch notes, mailing lists and sales statistics.	This can give valuable marketing intelligence such as date of last and size of purchase and geographic location of customers
Customer Interaction: face to face surveys and focus groups.	Elicit quality information about customers’ motivation and explain that their insights will help to develop products to meet their needs
Customers Feedback: comment cards and feedback via your web site.	Create many channels for customers to give you their views, ask what they think about your products, but seek only relevant data
Statutory Bodies: Regulatory bodies holding company data performance and finances.	Use these to build company profile of your typical customer base on factors such as size of turnover and to target similar companies.

Tips for Collecting Relevant Information.

1 Collect information on an on-going basis by asking new customers a few marketing questions.

2 Avoid gathering facts that are not relevant and look only for what you can use for marketing.

3 Turn low-value customers to high-value regular customers using segmentation.

4 Identify your principal segments and target and then market your products accordingly.

Understanding Customer Buying

If you can find out the key to why customers buy something, you have opened the secret of how to sell to them. AIDA or the process follows Recognition of the need to buy; Appraisal of what is available to satisfy the need; Negotiating for the product or service; Buying the product of service; Recommending it to others.

Use surveys to find out Why Customers choose to buy goods or services from you.

The reason could be: Quick free delivery; Competitive price; Excellent after service support; easy payment terms or friendly staff.

Self-completion questionnaires are an excellent way of reaching customers quickly and cheaply. Set a deadline to encourage the return of mailed questionnaires.

Making the Most of Surveys Techniques to Collect Relevant Information.

TYPE OF TECHNIQUE	USING THE TECHNIQUE EFFECTIVELY
Mailed questionnaires are an excellent way of reaching a large number of geographically spread customers quickly and cheaply.	Enclose stamped addressed envelops and follow up, and make sure questionnaires have and attractive layout and easy to complete.
One-To-One Interviews is seen as the bets type of survey and tends to get the best response rate.	Carefully choose where interviews will take place, home, shop, street, hotel etc and reporting is important to ensure the purpose and value of the survey.
Customer Panel comprising of a customer group with a strong interest in your organisation or products.	Use customer groups to sound out new ideas and as a valuable feedback source and ensure that they are objective.
Focus Group a small discussion group aiming to uncover attitudes, motives and qualitative insights.	Ensure that members are representative of your customers, and these groups should be less rigid than questionnaires.

Building and Maintaining Customer Relationships. 296

Selling to existing customers is easier and cheaper than finding new ones. You should nurture customer loyalty by through good service and quality products backed up by a strong lasting mutually rewarding Relationship. Remember that customers are your work and not a problem, without them you have no business and older customers are more valuable than new ones.

Questions to Ask Yourself Regarding Customer Service.

1 Do we always answer mail and telephones promptly and courteously?

2 Are our staff smart, helpful, friendly and knowledgeable about our products and policy?

3 Are our premises clean and comfortable for our customers and will they come back?

4 Do we provide good after sales-service?

5 Could we do more to eliminate errors, how many compliments or complaints do we get?

Sequence for Monitoring Quality of Service.

a) Review all aspects of your working practices.

b) Set measurable standards so that quality is not left to chance.

c) Make sure that staff are trained not only to meet but to exceed standards.

d) If necessary issue staff with a customer service manual.

e) Measure performance to check that quality is being attained.

f) Regularly review standards to keep improving customer care

Building Strong Products. 302

Products generally have some kind of life cycle after which they become old and die while others need to be recycled to remain fresh. You should change, enhance, repackage rebrand, upgrade, and remodel your products to ensure they appeal to today’s market. Only strong products can have a longer life and reduce the number of times you need to develop and introduce new products.

Keep your products fresh by introducing new variants, limited editions, add-ons special recipes and improved versions, but avoid creating new products at the expense of existing ones.

Differentiating Your Products is Major Challenge in Marketing.

Very few products are unique in the market and the major challenge is often to find what makes your products different from your competitors’ similar products. A genuine customer-centric approach will differentiate you from competitors because you give customers coffee while they wait or because customers prefer your packaging. Customer-care plays a significant role in differentiating products. Remember, creative thinking is free, but can bring significant results.

Ask yourself the Following Questions about Differentiating Products.

1 Why should customers prefer to buy from us rather than from our competitors?

2 What makes us different from our competitors? Or are we different from our competitors?

3 How are we better than our rivals? Or are we better than our rivals?

4 What strengths do we have that we can effectively capitalize on against competitors?

5 What added-value do we give to our customers, such as free same day delivery, free trial etc?

6 Do we have a (USP) unique selling point or can we develop to attract new customers?

7 Do I sell products endorsed by professionals e.g. football boots endorsed by David Beckam?

8 Do my products have feature-benefits that will influence customers to buy them?

Comparing a Bread-Toaster FEATURES and Benefits to Customers.

PRODUCTS FEATURES.	CUSTOMER BENEFITS.
The Bread-Toaster uses the latest technology microchip.	Never burn your slice of toast again,
The Bread-toaster has “In-built moisture reader”.	“It transforms stale bread into fresh toast”
Bread-Toaster has “Audible toast-completion bell.	“It lets you know when the toast is ready”

Developing A Brand or Branding. 308

A brand is a logo, sign or symbol that stands for a very clear strong message of good quality and reliability of a product from a single glance. A customer should be able in a second to look at one of your products and assimilate all that you stand for by recalling the brand values.

An effective way of differentiating your products from those of your competitors is to use branding. Branding means developing unique attributes so that your products are instantly recognisable, memorable and evoke positive associations. Some brands have a solid and reliable personality and others are youthful and fun. Branding conveys a full and complete complex message effectively and quickly.

Product brand attributes are: good quality and value; reliability and durability; usefulness, value for money and aesthetic value.

Service brand attributes are: friendliness; creativity; courtesy, helpfulness and knowledgeability.

Choose a brand name that enhances your product and company image, it must be short, crisp, apt, and easy to read and remember. If your market is international ensure that your brand name is pronounceable and not rude in other languages or with negative connotations.

The creation of a corporate identity is a vital element of branding because; branding presents an integrated, strong instantly recognisable, individual image that is regarded in a positive way by customers. Seize every opportunity to strengthen your corporate identity through branding.

Maintain the positive values of your brand by patenting, trademarks, design rights and other devices to prevent others cashing on it. Ensure that standards of customer care, service, and product quality remain high giving real substance to the BRAND.

Achieving Growth Through Products.

Achieve growth by expanding your share of the existing market, finding new markets, developing new diversified products.

Implementing Growth Strategies.

GROWTH STRATEGY	IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY
Market Penetration by market-share reaching previously unreached potential customers.	Use heavy advertising, promotional offers, mail campaigns, cold calling to find new customers, focusing on winning customers from your competitors.
Market Development by identifying and breaking into new markets to increase sales of existing products.	Use targeted advertising direct mail, Internet; remodel products, an appeal to new markets, and setting up sale arm to deal with companies.
Product Development introduces new product lines, add-ons, to existing products to appeal to current market.	Research new productideas ask customers for opinions, examine successful rival product lines, and ensure that your market is not already saturated.
Diversification is expanding through the development of new products to be sold to new markets, this is like going into a completely new market, and it’s risky but it can be done.	Rules that apply to setting up new enterprises also apply to organisations seeking to diversify; you need to develop a separate marketing strategy.

Maximising Publicity. 314

In order to buy from you customers must know what you are selling, that is why promotion is a vital part of the marketing mix. A successful promotion (publicity) campaign can lead to an enhanced profile of your products, increased sales and improved profits. Before starting promotion you need to map out exactly what you wish to achieve so that you can choose the right method to attain your goals.

Setting out Your Objectives.

1 Consider the outcome you desire and set clear specific measurable, time-limited objectives to achieve it.

2 Avoid vague outcomes such as “to attract more orders” you must be specific “e.g.“to attract orders at $100,000 in four weeks” or “to attract 5,000 enquiries for 1,000 sales per month”.

3 It is only by setting measurable objectives that you will be able measure success.

4 Use public launches and previews to reach your customers.

5 Use directories, public displays, year books, public holidays celebrations as publicity tools.

6 The most effective tools are the press and radio advertising, direct mail and internet.

Consider the Following Publicity Tools,

a) Advertising in newspapers (print) allows targeting because most publications have detailed readership profiles.

b) Radio adverts are easier to digest (understand) than newspaper (print) but they are more transient (pass too fast).

d) Direct mail is highly effective if it is properly targeted, but it has a poor public image.

e) The internet is a booming growth publicity tool with a vast potential.

Successful Publicity Campaign DOs and CONSIDERATIONS

THE DOS.	THE CONSIFERATIONS
Draw up a profile of your target audience	Do you want to target one specific group or a wider range of people?
Decide when and how often you want to reach them.	Do you need to contact people at a specific time of day, month or year?
Select appropriate publicity method(s).	Which method(s) will deliver your message at the right time and place?
Calculate the cost of your chosen campaign	Examine whether your campaign is likely to achieve your set objectives?
Ensure systems are in place to handle the response to the campaign.	Check that staff levels and stocks are sufficient to meet the demand.
Measure the success of your campaign.	Decide whether you need to extend or stop it.

NB

The best way to obtain maximum publicity is to organise an integrated campaign combining several methods because the integrated approach allows optimum penetration of the market whereby one technique builds upon the work achieved by another.

Points To Remember When Campaigning.

a) Check that any claims made in your campaign publicity materials can be substantiated.

b) Avoid making false or exaggerated claims.

c) Ensure that publicity is both accurate and not ambiguous.

d) Be sure that publicity does not mislead or deliberately give the wrong impression.

e) Ensure that relevant staff know when, where, how and which adverts are appearing.

Table of Key Steps to Successful Publicity

KEY STEPS TO CONSIDER	HOW TO TACKLE TEHM
To Grab Attention of potential customers.	Use striking designs, hard-hitting headlines, strong colours, large lettering, powerful photography or other devices to get noticed.
To Hold Potential Customer-Interest.	Devise an appealing, persuasive proposition that will make potential customers sit up and pay attention.
Stimulate Desire of potential Customers	Make your offer irresistible by showing how good the deal is and highlight add-ons such easy payment terms or quick deliveries.
Gain Conviction by being genuine to your customers yourself.	Convince customers that they need what you are selling by giving powerful reasons that will appeal to them
Push For Action by customers	Urge customers to act using words such as “time limited offer”, make customer action easier by giving them coupons, free phone numbers, credit card payments etc.
Allow a margin of error in customer response.	Always aim never to make a loss from your product publicity campaign but don’t repeat if it causes loss to you business.
Investigate and assess the impact of your campaign.	Do not launch a campaign becauseeveryone does so, examine likely benefits to you.

Advertising in Print

Press advertising offers the cheapest way to reach a large audience and is highly effective for direct response where the public straight off buys off the peg. Draw a list of possible s in which to advertise and ask each to send a media pack with information on readership profile and circulation details.

Never pay the quoted price rate for advertising space without first negotiating it downwards because it always possible to arrange reduction due to time of the day, week, month or year.

Ask Yourself the Following Questions First.

1 What do we hope to achieve as a result of advertising in print (newspapers)?

2 Whom do we want to reach and what do we to say to them?

3 Which publications do our target customers read?

4 How often do we need to advertise to get our message across successfully?

5 How large will our advertising need to be and what colours should it be?

Using the Right Publications for your Adverts.

TYPE OF PUBLICATIONS.	ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES
Free Local Papers are daily papers containing editorials in the area and are delivered through the door.	These rely on advertising for income; they are cheap because there are many more adverts competing for space in them.
Paid for Papers Daily and weekly, local and regional; these are titles serving local cities and communities.	These are good for local organisations that wish to target areas where they have outlets. They have short lead-times than daily papers.
National Newspapers have daily publications, with a Sunday title or sister title.	Good for reaching large audience, readership profiles allow wide socio-economic targeting, they can be prestigious and expensive though with short a short shelf life.
Consumer Magazines huge range including publications for women’s lifestyles, music, health and sports titles.	Good for targeting special interest groups, high reader interest. Longer lead-in-times high competitive publications, expensive.
Professional Publications include particular professions and trades, from architects to pig-farmers, take your pick.	Excellent for targeting particular professional groups, they are kept for reference extending their shelf-life, passed round and round, read by many people.

Use the headlines of your advert to attract readers and remember that readers 80% of people will stop reading further at this stage.

When readers see an advert for the first time, their eyes follow a set route, first they look at the picture, then at the headline, then they look at the bottom right-hand corner, then they read subheads and body copy in that order.

Analysing Different Types of Headlines 320

HEADLINE TYPE	EXAMPLE	WHEN TO USE IT
A Direct Headline presents your proposition in a direct and concise clear form.	Mobile Service Vans transport lorries or bill boards etc	To present a simple message requiring little explanation or no explanation at all
Filter Headlines show the relevance of your advert by flagging up the target audience.	Attention to All Van Owners	To attract the right prospective customers and ensure that they do not overlook you advert.
Cryptic Headline attracts the readers’ curiosity but makes no sense as a stand-alone headline.	“Its what everyone is talking about” “What is it” “I will find out”	To hook readers and lure them to your body copy and providing you with an opportunity to persuade them.
Command Headline gives the reader instructions that cannot be ignored.	“Contact us today to arrange your cheap van Service”	To prompt readers to take action and respond to your advert.
Question Headline poses a query to which the answer should be “yes”.	“Want to save money servicing your car”	To engage readers’ interest and push them towards accepting your proposition.

Tips for Advertisers.

1 Give a small advert a heavy dashed border to increase its impact on the reader.

2 Appeal directly to readers by using the “first person” in advertising copy.

3 Use colour adverts to attract twice the mono number readership.

Using the Internet for Advertising 328

Nowadays everyone seems to want to be in the cyberspace and more organisations are getting on-line daily, so should you. It is very important that you create a Web Site that reflects your image. Professional web-designers can help to produce an effective Web-Site with pop-ups when potential customers use search engines hunting for you.

The Pros and Cons of Internet Selling

INTERNET ADVERTISING ATTRIBUTES	INTERNET ADVERTISNIG LIMITATIONS
Internet conveys a massive amount of information very fast	Freud presents problems for buyers and sellers.
Internet providers a gateway to new markets world-wide.	Buying on-line worries some customers
Internet enables instant feedback from customers	Hacking and viruses are an ever present threat.
The number of “hits” or visits attracted can be measured on the internet.	It is impossible to go to customers, they must come to you.
Internet is available 24 hours a day (internet, like business, never goes to sleep.	Not everyone is on-line; the world market is far much larger than on-line customers.

Use your internet site for: Interactive publicity; Customer support via e-mail; Maintaining relationships with customers and attracting new ones; Generating interest an you and building awareness of your products, service or organisation; Conducting market research; Selling on-line and providing product information and current availability.

Points to Remember When Using the Internet.

1 The Web should be designed to tour corporate image and easy to read and quick to navigate.

2 If your pages are slow to download customers will leave and visit those of your competitors.

3 It should be possible to return to your home page with a single click.

4 Including an e-mail link will allow visitors to easily get in-touch with you.

5 Register with directories to help publicise your site.

6 Maintain your site to keep it fresh, current, relevant and up-to date.

7 The internet is a proactive medium, customers pull out information that they want.

Creating a Virtual Shop. 330

E-commerce is a major growth marketing area because it provides a fats-efficient “open-all hours” way of selling. Once you begin to sell on-line you are entering a new world of marketing that needs internal restructuring comprising of management systems and interactive forms, order handling and tracking, safe and secure payment environment, automated invoicing and order fulfillment delivery systems.

Some products (those that need to be touched) do not lend themselves well to on-line, while others made for the net (music or software that can be downloaded direct from the net). You should consider how an on-line shop front (Virtual shop) will affect your selling channels.

Ask yourself the following Questions before opening a Virtual Shop.

1 Are our customers on-line or not and are our products suitable for on-line sales?

2 Do we want to limit our on-line presence to publicising of our venture?

3 Are our competitors on-line, do we have the skills to create and maintain on-line site?

4 Do we want to sell via the internet, could we handle the extra orders?

Developing a Marketing Strategy.

A business marketing strategy is a long term (not a one-off activity) defined route of steps to be followed towards a clear outcome. It provides an organisation with a shared vision for the future and ensures that you maximise returns on your marketing spending to boost profits.

Comparing a Strategic Managers and a Non-Strategic Manager

STRATEGIC MANAGER	NON-STRATEGIC MANAGER
A strategic Manager always has a clear picture of the future of the organisation.	A Non-Strategic Manager lives day to day without planning.
A Strategic Manager always anticipates changes ion the market.	A Non-Strategic Manager reacts to changes in the market.
A Strategic Manager always works towards clear long-term goals.	A Non-Strategic Manager has only short-term objectives.

To produce a credible marketing strategy you should bring together a marketing strategy team from a range of departments to assist with drawing up future plans. Involve people whose function touches on marketing and also those whose job involves considerable customer contact and the establish common ground by agreeing definition of the task and purpose of the group.

1 Start by analysing the present position of your company, products, services, customers, your market and your competitors.

2 Look closely at your current market activity and logic behind it, ask your self why you adopt certain working practices, are there strong reasons for undertaking marketing activity in the way you do or is it just a habit?

3 What is your marketing success up to now, what are your failures, what is your current market position, how do you compare with your competitors?

4 Build up a realistic present picture of your organisation, are you ready for the future?

5 Work out how long you will need to develop the strategy bearing in mind all the stages.

6 Map out the process of producing the strategy and set a deadline for completion of the strategy

7 Agree dates with your team for meetings and diarise them

8 Keep notes of the meetings and principal decisions taken and circulate notes to team members.

Create your Marketing Strategy along this Sequence:

First create your team; Review the current company situation; Set Objectives; Plan actions; Implement Strategy and Review strategy at regular intervals.

Set objectives by analysing your current position, then, specify your ideal future and modify it to incorporate current reality, define measurable short-term and long-tem objectives, seek advice from colleagues, modify and finalise your objectives.

Set measurable objectives like this: To increase our customers by 25% in 12 months.

Not to increase our customers in future without a definite time limit.

After setting your objectives: work out how you are going to attain your objectives and investigate constraints such as time and money and timetable of activities to complete your marketing campaign.

Strategic Marketing Plan.

ACTIVITY	PRIORITY	START DATE	COMPLETION DATE
To organise lunch for our top ten customers.	Medium	1^st of March.	By end of February
To produce a new brochure for them.	High priority.	Middle of January.	End of March
To update mailing list for new the brochure.	? Students set priority	December 2005	End of February.
To mail new brochure.	High Priority.	? Students set date	? Students set date

Then Ask Yourself the Following Questions.

1 Is there anyone else I should really have included in my team?

2 Will we need to report to anyone higher up the ladder such as the chief executive?

3 Would it be helpful to engage an external marketing expert to facilitate implementation?

Do a SWOT Analysis to Answer the following Questions.

1 Do you use your strengths and company strengths to full advantage? Could more be done?

2 Are the current or future opportunities you could exploit, new markets, customers etc?

3 What threats do your competitors pose; the market, new legislation, environment, etc?

4 What are your weaknesses, what lets you down, are your competitors better than you?

Stepping Stones to Marketing Success.

All marketing strategies comprise THREE main stages: First determine what you want to achieve; Next, adopt the right approach or method to achieve that aim; Finally, use performance indicators to measure gauge the level of your success.

Create your Vision by: Aiming what to do; then Doing what you should do; and Assessing or Measuring what you have done.

Effecting the Strategy

After completing the strategic marketing plan you should assign tasks to staff who have the time knowledge, expertise, skill and provide necessary support during implementation; measure performance, and periodically revise the your objectives. Avoid SPOTS. (Strategic Plans on the shelf).

YES Checking Implementation Progress of Objectives. NO

Carry on Implementation	Are objectives still relevant?	Do they need revision?
Should we consider adding new objectives?	Have you achieved any of your objectives?	Should we carry on implementation?
Should we devise new objectives?	Have new objectives arisen that require new objectives?	Should we carry on implementation?

After implementation of the strategic marketing plan you need to measure its impact by asking the following questions.

1 Have profits increased since the strategy was implemented?

2 Have we seen an increase in our customer base?

3 Have we attracted a greater number of orders or larger individual orders?

4 Has the number of product/service enquiries risen?

5 Has awareness of our organisation and its products/services increased?

Marketing is not the concern of only the marketing department of an organisation but the concern of the organisation as a whole. Therefore make the whole staff organisation aware of the strategy and cultivate support from all your colleagues from all the departments.

The organisation should become A Marketing Organisation. If all staff across the organisation can see the relevance and benefits of marketing, their cooperation will follow naturally. The can offer sales leads, provide constructive feedback on marketing materials or the can come up with workable ideas for improving customer service.

Tips for Marketing Managers.

1 Explain to everyone in the organisation how marketing can support their work.

2 Inform everyone aware of the marketing strategy and its importance to the organisation.

3 Be prepared to justify the existence of the marketing strategy to the organisation.

4 Explain that the marketing department cannot work separately from other departments.

5 Find out what other departments can contribute to the organisations’ marketing strategy.

Handling Scepticism about the marketing Department. 342

It is usual for other employees to criticise the marketing department saying: “We don’t know what the marketing department does in this organisation”; or “The marketing Department does not understand what we do in this organisation”. If you hear such statements, there is compartmentalization in your organisation. “ One hand does not know what the other hand is doing. ”

In a true “ Marketing Organisation ” all members of the organisation are able to see the benefits of marketing and are fully aware of how the marketing team contributes to the overall success of the organisation.

Points to Remember about Marketing. 342

1 Cross-organisation support is required for effective marketing.

2 Colleagues should be given full clarification of the role and value of the marketing department.

3 You must be ready and prepared to justify the existence of the marketing department.

4 Find out what colleagues in different departments do and show them your marketing plans.

Marketing has a vital role to play in every organisation, but its contribution is not always recgnised. You should explain to colleagues how marketing techniques can use the marketing department to support them in their work. Involve them in planning and make them your partners. Assess your marketing Ability 344.

Project Management and Project Definition of Project.

A project is series of activities designed to achieve a specific outcome within a time scale and a set budget. It has clear start and end points, defined objectives and a sequence of activities in between. Painting a staff restaurant can be a project just building a bridge can be a project.

Starting a business can be project if you decide to begin trading at a set time such as in six months or ten months. Routine work such as managing a business is not considered a project because it has no future starting date or end date, but certain specific task like establishing a marketing department can be a project of a business organisation.

In today’s competitive business environment knowledge and skills of running a project is very important. Project management knowledge and skills will enable you to focus on priorities. To track performance, overcome difficulties and adapt to ever changing business environment.

Project management teaches you the skills to control business and also provides you with the know-how tools and techniques to help you lead teams to reach objectives on time and within set budgets. Organising activities in project form can be time-consuming initially, but in the long term it will save you time, effort and will reduce the risk of failure.

Questions to Ask Yourself about Project Management.

1 What projects am I involved in at the moment?

2 Has my organisation been striving to make changes that might be more likely to happen if tackled as a project?

3 Would I work more effectively if I regarded certain tasks as part of a project?

4 Could project management techniques help to make me more efficient?

Identifying the Key Features of Projects. 353

PROJECT FEATURES	POINTS TO NOTE ABOUT PROJECTS
All Projects have a start-up date and close-down date.	Some projects can be repeated often, but they still have start and end points. Routine work can be distinguished form projects because it goes on and there is no clear end to its life.
Projects have organised, methodical approach plans used to implement objectives.	Good planning ensures that projects are completed on time and within budget. Effective plans guide projects and provide details of the work that needs to be done.
Projects are allocated (Definite Resources) of time, personnel and budgets on their own merits.	Some projects operate outside the normal routine of business life, others operate within business; nevertheless, all projects need separate resources.
Projects emphasise team-work to get the (job done)objective completed on time and budgets.	Project teams take responsibility for completion of projects and contribute to the success of organisation. Projects offer new challenges and experience to staff.
Projects have established goals which bring results in terms of quality and performance.	Projects often result in new ways of working or they create something that did not previously exist, projects work is innovative. NB Project objectives must be identified and understood by everyone involved in the project.

Tips for Managers

1 Greet a new project as an opportunity to develop your skills.

2 review your work to determine which tasks would be better tackled as projects.

3 Draw up a list of all people who might be able to help you.

4 Make sure that your core team consists of people you really trust.

Examining Key Roles Players in Project Management.

Projects usually involve a wide range of people with different skills and background and interests. As project manager you are only in charge of the project, but you cannot succeed alone; therefore you need to establish good relationships with other key players in the project.

Identifying Key Players and their Roles in Project Management.

KEY PLAYER	KEY PLAYER ROLES
The Sponsor initiates the project, adds to the team’s authority and is the most senior team member of the project.	a) Ensures that the project is of real value to the organisation. b) helps in setting objectives and constraints, is the inspirational figurehead c) provides resources (money)
The project manager is responsible for achieving the project’s overall objectives and leads the project team.	a) Produces detailed plans, b) develops and motivates the project team, c) communicates project information to stakeholders and other interested parties and d)monitors the project.
The stakeholder is any party (person or, organisation) which is interested in and or is affected by the outcome of the project.	Contributes to various stages of the planning process by giving feedback from time to time and sometimes is not a stakeholder for the entire project life.
A key team member assists the project manager providing wide advice, experience and knowledge needed by the project manager.	Examines the feasibility andplanning of the project, gives technical expertise, and is co-responsible for the completion of the project on time and within budget.
A team-member can be full or part-time who carries out (implements) the project plan.	Is responsible for completing project tasks or fulfills specialised e.g. consultant to the project.
The customer is the person (organisation) which benefits from the changes (results) brought about by the project.	Strongly influences the objectives of the project and how its success is measured, dictates how and when some activities are provided, and provides direction for the project manager.
The Supplier provides the materials, products or services needed to carry out the project.	Can be very involved and supportive of the project, delivers supplies on time and at fixed cost agreed with the project manager.

Involving Stakeholders.

When stakeholders are enthusiastic and strongly supportive of the project aim to involve them at the earliest opportunity and seek their assistance in motivating others. Make sure you forge very strong alliances with those stakeholders who control the resources.

Finally, check that all everyone understands the reason why they are involved in the project and what impact they will have on the project as well as the impact that the project will have on them.

Feasibility Study Definition. 360

A feasibility study is an analysis of the chances to find out if NOW is definitely the right time for something to be done, are there clear reasons that the project will succeed?

Therefore before starting a project you need to be certain that it will succeed. You can find out by doing a feasibility study comparing the Driving Forces against Resisting Forces (Force-field Analysis) to make sure that you are not undertaking a project that cannot be achieved.

Ask Yourself the Following Questions:

1 Are there any on-going projects with higher priority than my own that are taking up key resources?

2 Are my project goals in line with long-term objectives of my organisation?

3 How will the outcome of the project affect the performance of my organisation?

4 Could this project damage the chances of another project being successful?

5 Use a Force-field Analysis to assess if Driving Forces are Stronger than Resisting Forces.

6 The Force-Field Analysis is a useful technique to predict success of a project.

7 You can also seek expert advice from a key member with technical expertise to help you.

Planning the Project

Having a clear idea of what a project will achieve is essential to ensure the project accomplishes something of value. With your key team members and sponsor produce an overall statement that describes the project vision and prepare your plan well so that it will guide you to success.

Advice for Managers Planning a Project.

1 Create a precise vision in order to avoid ambiguous results and agree the vision with others.

2 Be as ambitious as you can but avoid committing yourself to the impossible.

3 Compromise on certain ideas if that is what it takes to arrive at the vision.

4 Explain the vision statement and why the project is needed by your organisation.

5 Do not ignore obstacles at this stage they can become stumbling blocks in future.

6 Do not involve too many people at this early stage and include only essential individuals.

7 Make sure that colleagues understand what you are aiming to achieve by using project work.

Create the Project Vision by a) identifying the need for change, b) meeting with key team members and the sponsor, c) defining what the project will change, d) assessing the possibility of attaining the ideal vision e) explaining why the benefits of the change will be good for the organisation and customers and f) encourage team members to question and examine every aspect of the vision to check that it is sound and workable, h) make sure that everyone agrees on the way forward so that they are committed to attaining the vision.

Setting Project Objectives.

It is essential that when setting objectives you should expand your vision statement to explain what you are going to do and achieve (the purpose), how long it will take and how much it will cost. For example if you aim to create a new product that competes in the market, the key purpose is (the performance) of the new product in the market.

Key for Setting Project Objectives.

OBJECTIVE	INDICATOR	PRIORITY	CURRENT	TARGET
To improve sales	Increased orders	High (10)	$5 million	$7 million
Improve decision making speed	Reduce time customer response	High (8)	8 weeks	4 weeks
Reduce quotation time	Reduce time for delivery	Medium (6)	4 days per week	2 days per week
Flat structure	Number of Mgrs	Medium (6)	5 managers	3 Managers

The above set of objectives is clear, measurable, prioritised, categorized and targeted. You as manger can actually monitor the progress of the project and take corrective action if something is not working.

Gaining Team Commitment to the Project.

A keen skilled informed and committed team is vital for to the success of any project. Therefore, the motivational and people-management skills of the project manager are very important. You as project manager, it is your responsibility to develop the best team that you can guide in the right direction and ensure that member benefit from the experience. Choose your team carefully and provide training if necessary. You also need to gain the support of your superiors, your sponsor and other interested parties from the outset.

For the project to run smoothly, the resources required must be available at the time you need them. You therefore need effective front-end resources planning taking into account of skilled personnel, facilities, equipment and materials that will be needed. Check with your superiors that the budget and realistic timescales have been agreed before starting the project.

It is also vital that you keep everyone, colleagues, stakeholders and customers fully informed about the planned project and update them whenever there are changes. This will avoid the success of your project being threatened because money or time has run out.

In the current ever-changing business environment, the ability to think ahead and anticipate changes can make a difference between achieving project objectives or failure. You must be prepared to make changes in your plans in a flexible and responsive manner to suit changing circumstances. Re-evaluate your plans regularly and adapt accordingly.

In the modern technological fast business changing environment you must anticipate and recognise the need for change, to cope and implement sudden changes. This is the business world you live in. You can hope for the best but you must always plan for the worst.

Project Development Stages.

There are five stages in project development stage a) initiating the project, followed by stage b) planning, c) motivating, and d) closing the project.

To gain commitment of all concerned with the project make sure you start with a well prepared flourish using the authority of your sponsor, manager, and customer(s) to focus everyone on the strategy and the vision outcome. Ensure that everyone has access to key project information, and keep communication flowing at all times.

Points to Remember about Project Work

1 A new project should be viewed as an exciting opportunity to bring new skills and knowledge to your organisation.

2 Encourage team-members to build friendships among themselves and to help one each by making constructive suggestions.

3 A system of recording what the team has learned should be established.

4 Make sure that everyone knows about the project and its benefits to the organisation.

5 Monitor the project constantly from the start to the end, problems can occur anytime.

6 Bring the project team together as early as possible to introduce them and yourself informally.

It is very important that you start off on a good footing, therefore, be positive and stress how much you look forward to working together as a team to the successful completion of the project.

If you are assigned several projects you should prioritise which project should be done first, second, third etc.

Understanding Project Development Sequence.

a) Initiators of the project agree a vision; b) Key people outline the purpose and objectives of the project; c) Activities and resources are agreed and prioritised; d) The project plan is approved by all involved; e) The project manager executes the project plan guiding the team to achieve goals; d) Progress is monitored and the plan revised and modified if necessary; f) The project is closed and successfully completed on time and within budget.

Assessing Constraints 368

A fast-moving business environment often gives projects a specific window of opportunity and the principle of JIT just in time delivery of your products can be the only competitive edge you got over your competitors. In this case time is the constraint within which you must work.

Things to Do.

1 Assess whether time is of essence for successful completion of the project.

2 Analyse what resources you will need and whether you can afford them.

3 Look at using existing processes or resources.

4 Identify any external constraints such as legal or environmental regulations.

5 Decide whether to proceed within the given constraints or to postpone the project.

Committing Resources to the Project

Before starting to implement a project you must study resource requirements and budgets. The feasibility of the project depends on your being able to justify the expenditure and effort by comparing the project with other activities.

Consider how many staff you will need, their level of skills, facilities and materials, information technology required, the total cost of the project and sufficient funds. If the answers to these a re positive then you allocating activities to staff, agreeing dates and re-evaluating the planned project.

Each member of the team has a unique personality and style. Take time to study each individual and understand what motivates them so that you can provide the level of guidance they need. Some team members will prefer to be set objectives with you delegating responsibility to them. Others will react better to being given specific tasks and left alone to complete them.

Use the appropriate style for each individual but be prepared to change your leadership style when the situation demands it.

Questions to Ask Yourself when Selecting Team Members

1 How much do I know about a potential team member and do I trust her/her?

2 Will I be able to work comfortably with him or her?

3 Am I confident that all the team members will get along with one another other?

4 Do team members have the necessary skills and talent to do the job or willing to train?

Key Project team Members should Ideally have the Following Roles. 387

1 COORDINATOR: who pulls together the work of the team as a whole.

2 CRITIC: who guards and analyses the team’s effectiveness.

3 IDEAS PERSON: who encourages the team’s innovative vitality.

4 IMPLEMENTER: who ensures the smooth running of the team’s activities.

5 EXTERNAL CONTACT: who looks after the team’s external contacts.

6 INSPECTOR: who ensures that high standards of the project work are maintained.

7 TEAM BUILDER: who develops and maintains high team-working spirit.

Having planned the project with a core tam now must make sure you have the compliment of people with the right mix of skills and personalities to see the project to its end.

(Launching the Project)Implementing the Project Plan.

The success of any project plan depends on the people who implement the project. Everyone must familiarise themselves with their key tasks, responsibilities and skills involved and you the manager must be ready to lead the project team successfully.

Ask Yourself the Following Questions.

1 Am I willing to stay with the project until it is completed?

2 Am I interested in developing and leading people and help them to become leaders.

3 Do I have a genuine interest in the success of the project?

4 Can I delegate objectives as well as tasks to the team?

Do I put customers first; Can I manage and adapt to change; Am I a good communicator; Do I have the necessary leadership skills; Do I have effective negotiating skills?

Starting the Project Actively and Enthusiastically

Just before you start the project you must gather your team together for a full initiation session to let them know exactly what the project is all about. Explain what the targets and constraints are, let everyone know how they will benefit from the project and establish the ground rules for sharing information and decision-making.

Allow for two-way communication so that staff can ask questions for clarification so that by the end everyone knows understands what needs to be done and feel motivated to achieve the objectives of the project. Invite your sponsor to the initiation session to address the team and express belief and commitment to the project. It is a good idea to name all the stakeholders so that everyone knows who they are and ask them to endorse the project by adding their signatures to the document and write-up a jargon-free start-up report.

Structuring the Start-Up Report

PARTS OF THE REPORT	FACTORS TO INCLUDE
Vision statement explaining the overall aim of the project.	Explain why the project has been initiated and what it will achieve, spell out the benefits to the team and organisation as a whole.
Targets: give a summary of indicators, current performance, and target figures.	Explain how success will be measured and the expected business results of the project.
Point out special events or achievements (milestones) that will mark progress of the project along the way.	Summarise stages to show what will be achieved to demonstrate progress logically indicating measurable results.
List potential risks and additional opportunities to be gained by the organisation.	Explain what should be avoided by team members in their work and highlight areas of improvement to get better benefits.
Provide a directory of Stakeholders involved in the project to give it credibility (Gravitas).	Name (Name-drop) other interested parties to increase credibility, name-drop customers and what they expect from the project.

Leading the Project Effectively

There are several types of leadership styles and you will need to know them all and use them at different stages of the project. While you can have a preferred leadership style the predominant style you will adopt should depend on the organisation, the nature and stage of the, the

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