MSG Team's other articles

10305 The Marketing Power of a Strong Product Value Proposition

The modern business world is dynamic and fast changing, and today’s consumer is smart, informed, and savvy. With an abundance of information available at the click of a button, they can see straight through flimsy marketing campaigns and overpriced duplicate products. A strong product value proposition that instantly communicates the unique and authentic value of […]

10971 The Responsibilities of the Shareholders

Any public limited or private limited company has shareholders who contribute capital towards the setting up and running of the company. While in the case of private limited companies, the shareholders are usually the promoters and a few close friends or family, the public limited companies have a large body of shareholders drawn from all […]

10717 Principle of Serviceability in Retail Store Design

People love shopping at International Retail Malls and Stores. Weekends are often spent with family and friends shopping and spending entire day out at the malls. The Stores are designed to attract, entertain and engage the consumers. Therefore the Stores are designed, keeping in mind the visibility aspect as well as ease of use for […]

10175 Limitations of Marketing Research

Following are the main limitations of Marketing Research: Marketing Research (MR) is not an exact science though it uses the techniques of science. Thus, the results and conclusions drawn upon by using MR are not very accurate. The results of Marketing Research (MR) are very vague as MR is carried out on consumers, suppliers, intermediaries, […]

12929 Corporate Reputation Management in the Post Truth Era and the Age of Fake News

What is Fake News and What is Post Truth We live in times that have been called the Era of Post Truth and the Age of Fake News where facts are facts only in the sense that they are believed by individuals alone and it does not matter whether such facts are made up, debunked […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Marketing is a subject that draws a lot of students who find it most interesting and challenging. No doubt marketing is a challenge. Students who study Philip Kotler will definitely become proficient with the basic foundations of marketing and concepts. However to be able to take up a marketing responsibility in an Organisation or to go one step further in the profession, there is yet another essential subject that one needs to master which is Relationship Marketing.

For any Organisation and more so for the Marketing person the customer is God. Many academicians have begun to define Marketing as the art of ‘Creating And Sustaining Network of Relationships’. This is apt for the modern day marketing function. The beginning and end of selling has to do with establishing and managing a relationship with the customer. Besides the Customer, there are several networks within the Organisation as well as outside the Organisation in the form of Suppliers, Vendors, Sales partners, sales channels, whole sellers and so on.

Organisations will need to choose their marketing and sales strategy based on the kind of product and the market that they are in. Companies like Boeing, Volvo and Ericson etc, engage actively in relationship management with the prospective buyers who may be Government Organizations as well as Defence Organisations to market their products and solutions. You can call their sales persons as relationship managers rather than sales managers. They operate in markets were the lead time for selling is very long. The marketing team has got to build the right contacts, position themselves right and build the relationship with the prospecting customer organizations for a number of years with no active selling happening in the near future.

The pre selling process can take several years and the sales contracts can be long drawn spreading over a number of years. Whether Boeing is selling planes to a country or Volvo is selling vehicles to Government and Defence sector is not a onetime transaction. Post sales service and maintenance also plays an important role to ensure future business. When in case of sales to Defence as well as Governments in international markets calls for dedicated and intelligent management of relationship at various levels involving political as well as other considerations.

The industry leaders form associations and groups with similar business interests and engage the Political leadership in helping open doors in international markets with other countries. When the President of a country travels to another country, the visit brings about opportunities for several business relationships including bi lateral trade relationships. The individual countries embassies as well as trade councils often engage in exchange of and trade promotions with other countries where the Governments of both countries are engaged in a favourable relationship.

A Marketing professional needs to recognise that he needs to first create a base and build a relationship with his markets and customer. It is the ongoing relationship that will open doors to and lead to opportunities for business. The more one invests in building the relationship with the proposed and existing customer, the more one gets to engage in business. Relationships build bridges and help prepare ground for long term associations. When in a relationship, Selling happens automatically.

If you look at a typical product selling environment where one is selling through an established channel, you can see the value of relationships in the existing sales cycle. It is the strength of the relationship that will determine how well the product is pushed in the market, how the retailer takes interest in selling the product and building the brand etc. It is based on the strength of the network and the relationship with the dealers and retailers that the marketing and sales managers are able to expand their markets.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

CRM as Relationship Marketing Tool

MSG Team

Relationship Marketing – Company and Marketing Perspective

MSG Team

The future of relationship marketing

MSG Team