serviced. Customer service is defined here as the totality of all the
encounters between a supplier and a customer that together
combine to enhance the value of the ‘offer’ to that customer. In other
words, customer service is the result of the combined impact of all
the points of contact between the firm and its customers.
Customer service is increasingly seen as a powerful differentiator
in markets where the core product is essentially the same as com-
petitors’ offerings and where there are readily available alternative
sources of supply. Because customer service innovations can often
be adopted by competitors – note, for example, how most interna-
tional airlines rapidly adopt successful service innovations created
by their competitors – there is a significant advantage to be gained
from seeking out the precise requirements of individual customers
and then, wherever possible, personalizing and customizing the
service package. It should also be recognized that the concept of
proactive and customized service is as relevant to business-to-busi-
ness markets as it is to consumer markets; thus companies as
diverse as Procter & Gamble and Dow Chemicals seek to use differ-
ent channels and service packages to meet the needs of customers
with widely differing needs.
These three additional elements of the marketing mix should be
seen to be just as critical to sustained marketplace success as the
original ‘4Ps’. The challenge to marketing management is to
develop a framework in which they can be integrated and focused
around a relationship building strategy. Figure 6.2 shows the seven
elements of the expanded marketing mix.
What sort of relationships with what sort of customers?
It should be emphasized that the philosophy of relationship mar-
keting does not necessarily imply that the firm should seek high-
intensity, interactive relationships with all its customers. Equally, it
should not be assumed that all customers want or require that sort
of relationship.
There are two key determinants for the desirability of high-inten-
sity, one-to-one type relationships in a business context. The first is
customer profitability and the second is the opportunities that exist
410 Relationship Marketing