While the concept of 4Ps of the Marketing Mix applies to physical goods, the concept of 7Ps of the Marketing Mix applies to marketing of services. 7Ps of the Marketing Mix of services is comprised of Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Process, People and Physical Evidence.
Let’s take a look in details at People, one of three additional Ps in the marketing of services.
What is mean by People in Marketing Mix?
People mean all employees in the firm who can heavily influence the marketing of a product either positively or negatively.
All humans who play a role in service delivery and who influence the perceptions of customers:
- Service delivery employees (front-line staff).
- The general staff of the service company.
- The current customer receiving the service.
- The other customers who are present in the service delivery process.
Why are people important in a business?
It is people involved in the provision of services which rely on willingness of all employees.
For example, hotels staff helps tourists enjoy their holidays, teachers deliver education to students in the best possible way, flight attendants try to make the flight a pleasant experience for passengers, etc.
Excellent employees are necessary for developing and maintaining effective long-term relationships with customers keeping them satisfied. Skillful and knowledgeable workforce provides competitive advantage which is crucial in achieving marketing objectives. Most importantly, people should act ethically and efficiently solve customers’ problems.
Consistency of services is important service-orientated businesses considering that many factors can affect employee motivation and attitudes which can change day by day.
Hence, to find and maintain highly-skilled employees, it is crucial to establish quality recruitment, training and appraisal processes.
How to measure effectiveness of People?
The effectiveness of People in marketing of a service can be measured in a number of ways. The P of People mainly boils down to:
1. Appearance and body language
Appearance of staff is typically conveyed through clothing and the body language. Companies wish to portray themselves as being as professional as possible. Formal clothes, or even company uniforms, are often required to be worn by employees in many occupations such as airlines, banks, amusement parks, restaurants, etc. Dress code is mainly based on the corporate culture. Formal and serious image will be created through conservative attire while informal and easygoing image will be portrayed through casual attire. Workers are also often required to greet customers with a friendly smile, a bow or a handshake.
2. Aptitudes and attitudes
Aptitudes mean having sufficient knowledge. Attitudes simply mean behavior. Correct aptitudes and appropriate attitudes can have tremendous effects on the business and its reputation through positive or negative word of mouth marketing. Managers will often ask several questions to verify capabilities of their workers and pay attention to the daily actions of their staff. Staff may be assessed by the following:
- Whether staff has sufficient product knowledge.
- Whether customers have knowledge about their most loyal customers.
- Whether they are proactive (e.g. attentive to the needs of their clients).
- Whether they are caring, courteous and confident.
When both factors are positive, it is very likely that customers will be happy with the people providing the service. On another hand, when one or both factors are negative, it is very likely that customers will be dissatisfied with the service being delivered.
3. Feedback
Feedback can be delivered during receiving the service or after the service has been provided by people who work in the firm. It can be given in the form of positive comments either oral or written as well as negative complaints. Comments and complaints can be made by various stakeholder groups. Customers can also give their own suggestions through suggestion schemes.Feedback is useful as it can provide useful information regarding the effectiveness of people in delivering good customer service. Consequently, this can lead to further improvements in the marketing of services. Companies should always act appropriately upon the feedback to get better in the future.
4. Efficiency
Efficiency of people in the business providing services can be expressed through serving customers fast without making careless mistakes. A business should avoid long waiting times prior to serving customers while staff should not keep customers waiting when it is their turn to receive the service. Being efficient will help the business to gain a better reputation and improve corporate image. To do that, training programs can be offered to ensure employees are efficient in their jobs. Inefficiencies leading to poor customer service and inefficiencies will make it more difficult for the business to market its services in the future.
All in all, people represent the business mainly through their appearance, body language and communication. They should proudly represent corporate culture of the business and be culturally sensitive. Cultural differences can directly impact on how employees interact with customers.
In the end, it is the human beings who provide long-lasting image of the company to the customers. Successful service can have profound effects on the business through positive word of mouth marketing.
