Assume that you are a consultant for an international management strategy consul
ID: 433015 • Letter: A
Question
Assume that you are a consultant for an international management strategy consulting firm. Your firm has been approached by Mr. Hans Wursching, CEO of TransSprech, A.G., a newly formed cellular phone service and phone provider based in Stuttgart, Germany. TransSprech has a satellite GSM network with complete coverage in Europe and the United States, as well as throughout most countries in the world. The company has established some semblance of a marketing and management strategy, and you have been asked to review the current strategy and help the company go to the next level by growing its sales.
You recently conducted the initial information-gathering meeting with Mr. Wursching, and received the following information:
? TransSprech maintains corporate offices in numerous cities around the world. However, its customer service outlets and retail sales are conducted through the company website, as well as through licensed electronic retailers. It does not maintain its own customer service or retail locations.
? Its target markets are both companies and individuals wanting cellular phone service with worldwide coverage and who are willing to pay a premium to get it. It already has about three thousand customers worldwide and is hoping to grow to ten thousand by year end.
? Corporate customers are more valuable customers because they are buying in larger volumes. Establishing a customer base is very important as this company attempts to establish itself.
? No sales force has been established. So far, the company has received many customers in response to its advertising.
? It offers individual customers four different cost plans with respect to the cellular service as well as five different phone options. However, corporate customers can negotiate variations within the established options.
? The phones themselves are similar to those used by TransSprech competitors but the satellite network providing the coverage is far more advanced.
? The company has retained a Berlin-based advertising and public relations agency to develop a worldwide advertising campaign. Print and TV advertisements have recently saturated the European market and will soon be shown in the US market. The company is currently running several promotions to get its product and name known; however, its long-term goal is to offer a premium, non-discounted product that is desired because of its value and quality, not low price.
? Because the company and its product are in the early stages of development, there have been technical problems, and the company has had to provide a great deal of service to its customers.
? Mr. Wursching understands that it costs more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones, so he would like to establish a customer relationship management plan at some point to improve customer loyalty and retention. He has a well-trained customer service operator staff in place.
Questions:
1.What is the company’s strategy with respect to each of the four elements of the marketing mix (product, distribution, price and promotion)?
2.Based on the current marketing strategy, should the company’s promotion mix focus be on personal selling or on advertising?
3.What further questions might you ask Mr. Wursching to help his company move toward a more relationship-based business? What recommendations would you like to offer to Mr. Wursching to make relationship-based selling a focal point of TransSprech’s organizational policy and culture?
Explanation / Answer
1) Product: the telephones themselves and the satellite system Distribution: online Price: premium non- marked down product Promotion: print and TV promotions.
Product: The current arrangement is to give universal PDA benefit over a GSM satellite system to clients around the world. The telephones themselves are like contending mobile phone providers, but the satellite administration is separated from those of contenders. Be that as it may, there have been a few "bugs" in the administration.
Price: To give the administration at a superior cost. There is some adaptability: the organization offers four diverse cost designs, and five telephone choices, and some space for corporate negotiations
. Promotion: The target client seems, by all accounts, to be organizations with workers who have visit global travel. Transparency is looking for corporate clients to accomplish higher deals volume. There is no business compel right now, however there has been a significant publicizing effort. The organization is putting forth basic rebates, yet might want to suspend them in the long run to comport with the top-notch value strategy.
Distribution: It offers specifically through its organization site and through authorized retailers. It doesn't have its own stores for client administration or retail.
2) Since the promoting technique has developed into a coordinated approach, I think individual offering is more imperative than publicizing. You can publicize all you need, yet without an individual contact.
In view of the data given and the expressed objectives of the organization's advancement blend ought to be a mix of individual offering and promoting. A few variables loan themselves to individual offering:
Relatively few number of clients
High purchasers' data needs
Relatively extensive corporate buys
High post purchase benefit required (particularly until the point that the bugs are worked out)
Relatively high item many-sided quality.
In any case, a few elements loan themselves to proceeding with some level of publicizing:
A "Force" advertising procedure by making brand mindfulness
Relatively expansive number of assets accessible for advancement (various value designs and telephone alternatives)
Geographically scattered clients Although the expenses per individual might be high for an individual offering approach, the monetary cost will likewise be high keeping in mind the end goal to lead a global print and publicizing media battle.
3) What are your objective clients? What have you done to target them and get them going to play a part with your organization? How have you made it realized that your item is unique/superior to contenders' items? Different suggestions I would make is locate an effective business model. Work out the wrinkles, actualize a CRM design, and get in contact with target clients.
Would you be able to give more insight about costs, telephone plans? Who IS the objective client? – estimate, statistic, geographic distribution. What different contenders give this universal administration?