Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e- Implementing and
Controlling Marketing
Plans: Evolution and
Revolution
Text © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002558 Chapter 19
Firms that are successful with quality programs usually go to the effort to clearly
specify and write out exactly what tasks need to be done, how, and by whom. This
may seem unnecessary. After all, most people know, in general, what they’re sup-
posed to do. However, if the tasks are clearly specified, it’s easier to see what criteria
should be used to measure performance.
Once criteria are established, there needs to be some basis on which to evaluate
the job being done. In our restaurant example, one part of the job specification for
the cashier is to process credit card payments. In that case, relevant criteria might
include the amount of time that it takes and the number of people waiting in line
to pay. If the restaurant manager had seen a record of how long it was taking to
process credit cards, she would have known that for many customers it was taking
too long. Without the measure, the precise nature of the problem was hidden.
That takes us to the issue of benchmarking—picking a basis of comparison for
evaluating how well a job is being done. For example, consider a case in which a
firm asks each of its customers to rate their satisfaction with the sales rep with whom
they work. Then the company might benchmark each sales rep against other sales
reps on the basis of average customer satisfaction. But if the firm’s sales reps as a
group are weak, that isn’t a sensible approach. The ones that stink the least would
look good on a relative basis. Many firms try to benchmark against some external
standard. For example, a sales manager might want to benchmark against a com-
petitor’s sales reps. Or better, the manager might identify firms in which sales reps
earn superlative customer satisfaction ratings, regardless of their industry, and bench-
mark against them. That approach can also reveal job specifications—things that
should be done—that the sales manager had not considered or measured in the first
place. For example, salespeople at Saturn dealers earn high customer satisfaction rat-
ings. Office Max doesn’t sell cars, but it might benchmark against Saturn’s sales reps
to find ways to improve its office equipment sales effort.While the cost of poor quality is lost customers, keep in mind that the type of
quality efforts we’ve been discussing also result in costs. It takes time and energy to
keep records, analyze the details of implementation efforts, and search for ways to
reduce whatever type of defects might appear. It’s important to find the right bal-
ance between quality in the implementation effort and what it costs to achieve it.Getting a return on
quality is important
Getting every customer’s order
exactly correct is a challenge, but
it’s a basic ingredient of high-
quality service for a drive-through
restaurant. To improve order
accuracy, McDonald’s has added
computerized displays so the
customer can confirm the order.
With tires, quality means safety
and durability, so Goodyear has
continued to improve these
features with its new design for
the Aquatred tire.
Specify jobs and
benchmark
performance