Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e
- Implementing and
Controlling Marketing
Plans: Evolution and
Revolution
Text © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002Implementing and Controlling Marketing Plans: Evolution and Revolution 559Marketing managers who lose sight of that balance have often created quality
programs that cost more than they’re worth. It’s easy to fall into the trap of run-
ning up unnecessary coststrying to improve some facet of implementation that really
isn’t that important to customer satisfaction or customer retention. When that hap-
pens, customers may still be satisfied, but the firm can’t make a profit because of the
extra costs. In other words, there isn’t a financial return on the money spent to
improve the quality of the implementation effort. Remember that getting everyone
to work together to satisfy customers should be the route to profits. If the firm is
spending money on quality efforts that don’t really provide the customer with supe-
rior value—that cost more to provide than customers will ultimately be willing to
pay—then someone has lost sight of the marketing concept.
As this suggests, TQM is not a cure-all. Further, it is not the only method for
improving marketing implementation, but it is an important approach. Some firms
don’t yet use TQM; they may be missing an opportunity. Other firms apply some
quality methods but act like they are the private property of a handful of “quality
specialists” who want to control things. That’s not good either. Everyone must own
a TQM effort and keep a balanced view of how it improves customer satisfaction
and what it costs.
As more marketing managers see the benefits of TQM, it will become a more
important part of marketing thinking, especially marketing implementation. And
when managers really understand implementation, they can do a better job devel-
oping strategies and plans in the first place.^7Control Provides Feedback to Improve Plans and Implementation
We’ve said that computers and other types of information technology are
speeding up the flow of feedback and prompting a revolution by allowing managers
to improve plans and implementation quickly and continuously. On the other hand,
the basic questions that a modern marketing manager wants to answer to make
better implementation and strategy decisions are pretty similar to what they’ve
always been.
A good manager wants to know which products’ sales are highest and why, which
products are profitable, what is selling where, and how much the marketing process
is costing. Managers need to know what’s happening, in detail, to improve the bot-
tom line.
Unfortunately, traditional accounting reports are usually too general to be much
help in answering these questions. A company may be showing a profit, while
80 percent of its business comes from only 20 percent of its products—or customers.
The other 80 percent may be unprofitable. But without special analyses, managers
won’t know it. This 80/20 relationship is fairly common—and it is often referred
to as the 80/20 rule.
What happened with Ben & Jerry’s Peace Pops premium ice-cream bars is a good
example. The initial plan called for intensive distribution of boxes of Peace Pops in
supermarket freezer cases—to compete with competitors like Dove Bar and Häagen-
Dazs. But after six months total sales were 50 percent lower than expected. However,
detailed sales analysis by package and channel revealed a bright spot: Individual
Peace Pops were selling very well in local delis. After further work to better
understand the reasons for this focused success, Ben & Jerry’s marketing people real-
ized that most of their target customers saw the premium-price Peace Pop as an
impulse product rather than as a staple they were willing to heap into a shopping
cart. So Ben & Jerry’s revised the strategy to better reach impulse buyers at con-
venience stores. Within a year, the revised strategy worked. Sales increasedKeeping a firmer hand
on the controls