You are on page 1of 17

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT: MARKETING EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW & REPORT EMBA 216 MARKETING MANAGEMENT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

SALAH HASSAN ROBERT PAUL ELLENTUCK

COPYRIGHT 2010, 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ROBERT PAUL ELLENTUCK

THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER EXPRESSLY PROHIBITS ANY AND ALL COPYING, FAXING, SCANNING, XEROXING, REPRODUCING, TRANSMISSION, DISSEMINATION, FORWARDING, PRINTING, SUBMISSION (EITHER ELECTRONICALLY OR OF A SCANNED OR OTHERWISE REPRODUCED COPY, OR OF THE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, A COPY OF THE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, OR OF A PORTION OF THE ORIGINAL OR COPIED COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL), OR ANY AND ALL OTHER ACTIONS: ELECTRONIC OR OTHERWISE, OF ANY PORTION OF THIS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL OR THE ENTIRE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, WHICH MAY IN ANY WAY VIOLATE THE RIGHTS OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER. SUCH PROHIBITION INCLUDES THE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, A PORTION OF THE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, A PORTION OF THE COPIED COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, AN ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, OR ANY OTHER POTENTIAL VERSION OF THE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL (WHETHER THE TECHNOLOGY EXISTS AS OF THE COPYRIGHT DATE, OR IS YET TO BE INVENTED). THIS PROHIBITION EXPLICITLY EXTENDS TO ALL OF THE ABOVE ACTIONS, BUT IS IN NO WAY LIMITED TO THEM. ANY USE OF THE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, IN ANY MANNER, CAN ONLY BE WITH THE PRIOR CONSENT AND AUTHORIZATION THAT IS BOTH WRITTEN AND EXECUTED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER AND THE OTHER PARTY, RELATING SPECIFICALLY TO THIS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. THIS COPYRIGHT, AND ALL OF THE PROTECTIONS THAT IT AFFORDS THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER EXPLICITLY EXTEND TO ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, IMAGE, FILE, DATA, OR ANY OTHER ATTACHMENT IN ANY FORM, ELECTRONIC, PRINTED, OR IN ANY OTHER FORMAT, THAT ARE ATTACHED TO THIS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IN ANY MANNER OR FORM, AND TO WHICH THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER HOLDS OR IS ELIGIBLE, UNDER THE WIDEST POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION, TO HOLD A COPYRIGHT TO. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS RIGHTS SHALL BE AS BROAD AS THE LAW ALLOWS, AND IN NO WAY SHALL BE LIMITED BY THE RIGHT OR RESTRICTION NOT BEING STATED. THE COPYRIGHT SHALL ALSO EXTEND TO ALL FUTURE PROTECTIONS UNDER THE LAW, AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE. THE FAILURE TO MENTION A PROTECTION OF ANY CURRENT OR FUTURE COPYRIGHT LAW SHALL NOT IN ANY WAY INDICATE THAT THE LAW DOES NOT APPLY IN FULL TO THE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. IF ANY PORTION OF THIS DOCUMENT OR COPYRIGHT IS NOT DEEMED TO APPLY, AT ANY TIME, FOR ANY REASON, THAT SHALL IN NO WAY LIMIT ANY AND ALL OTHER PROTECTIONS THAT THE COPYRIGHT GRANTS, NOR SHALL IT LIMIT FUTURE PROTECTIONS FROM APPLYING AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE. THIS COPYRIGHT IS IN NO WAY INTENDED TO INFRINGE ON THE RIGHTS OF ANY OTHER PARTY.

AMY WASHINGTON, CEO OF LENDVIEWER NOTES FROM INTERVIEW Background of Company and Industry? The Company was founded by Mrs. Washington's father in 1973. It was named LendViewer because her father thought they would never have to sell anything else. The primary product is LendViewer brand compact shelving which allows customers to store larger quantities of documents, supplies, and/or specimens in a limited space. The main clients are large law firms, the Smithsonian Institution, businesses with storage need for supplies, and the military. They have 17 competitors, but they typically sell more in one year than all their competitors combined based on GSA figures quoted by Mrs. Washington. LendViewer is typically at top of pricing for the customer, and the company has specific "rules of engagement" for the way in which they have sales people approach clients. She explained that these rules are very different than their competitors approach. LendViewer salespeople will display differences in shelving, tracks, and lighting that pushes up cost, but which clearly differentiates the quality of their product. Salespeople bring samples of shelving, tracks, and lighting to the customer. Company is currently faced with situation that their core product, the LendViewer brand, is at top or even down side of its lifecycle and they need to come up with innovative ways to present products and introduce new products. LendViewer is coming to a point in product lifecycle when it is becoming a commodity and everyone has one. At that point clients are unwilling to pay more for the product, so company is constantly trying to decide what to do to innovate new products that customers need. She added that a growing portion of sales are value added services to clients. This includes simply moving files to new shelves, but also scanning files into DataConnect computer system, placing files in folders that can be tracked by DataConnect computer system, entering tracking information into DataConnect computer system, and then placing folders on the newly installed shelves. She stressed that while a client may have a fixed budget for the product (shelving) there is typically no limit on what they will pay for the value added service that is provided. Characteristics of the Organization? Marketing (including sales), Operations, and Finance and Administration. The company currently has fifty employees. This includes 12 full-time, factory-trained installation staffers and a Computer Aided Design department. Background/Career profile of CEO? Mrs. Washington started at the company in High School. She made drawings with mechanical pencils, stuffed envelopes, and made sales calls. She has worked at company since college ascending to the CEO position. Level of Marketing Experience? Mrs. Washington has been selling since high school. She maintains a significant client base of large firms and public organizations that she still sells to. She wants to spend all her time on high level networking, ending all selling. Her goal is to spend more time with the Board of Trade as it will benefit the company in the long term. She also wants to spend more marketing time going to job sites, meeting with bankers, construction companies, and real estate companies. Mrs. Washington wants to devote her time to what she views as "C Level Marketing". Skills needed for job? Mrs. Washington feels the skills needed for her job are as a visionary, not being detail oriented. She focuses on high level planning, not detail planning. She feels she needs to be able to cast that vision out to people she works with, for example to direct and motivate sales staff. She says the other skills she needs are being open, having high integrity, having high energy, and having the ability to communicate. Difficult and enjoyable aspects of job? The enjoyable aspects of the job are keeping the company growing, changing, and evolving to get to where it needs to be to respond to changes in how clients are purchasing, filling client needs and working to change client's office environments. The difficult aspects of the job are keeping up with the many details, though she has a support staff to assist with this. Organization Chart of the Company? Mrs. Washington has provided an organization chart of LendViewer, Inc., it is attached as a word document, before the endnotes. Mrs. Washington indicated that she created the chart herself, and that making charts was not one of her strong suits. Types of brands managed? LendViewer is their original brand and makes up the bulk of their business. A new brand is Washington Sorter - It is millwork casework quality and compares to product that is built specially for client by a woodworker. Washington Sorter also make furniture and imitation marble flooring out of recycled linoleum. Washington Sorter is Green Guard Certified, making it very attractive to architects constructing LEED certified buildings and renovations. They have developed the UWR storage system to store weapons in a lockable movable manner for the military, police, and government agencies. DataConnect software which stores electronic files and monitors locations of a clients files and specimens. These are a small example of products managed, and dont include services which are a value added aspect of most products they sell. How do you meet customer satisfaction? Spend adequate time meeting with client face to face and finding out exactly what they need. For example, with Smithsonian clients they would go in and measure size of "specimens" to ensure that the shelving will be large enough and strong enough to accommodate them. Physically measure the number of folders, physically measure microfiche, measure the weapons. Understand the what is going to be stored, and then understanding how it is going to be used throughout its lifecycle. Frequently solutions requires research as they don't have a ready answer to the client's needs. One client is reformatting floor plan and eliminating file cabinets, and requiring all papers be stored in high density shelving. They measured every folder, determined the number of shelves that will be needed, and then provided floor plans to architects depicting the LendViewer shelving. Mrs. Washington follows up at completion of all jobs on the last day of project with email, asking "did we meet your expectations?", and "were you satisfied?." If client was she shares email with entire team who worked on project. If they weren't satisfied she personally acts to immediately fix problem even if it means taking a loss on project Mrs. Washington stated that she always strives to be customer centric in order to meet customer satisfaction. How do you define marketing? "Good question, marketing is such a broad term." "Not directly related to a specific sales encounter." "We have sales people who are responsible for customers and a specific sales encounter". "Marketing is everything we do that is not related to a product".

"Drivers, Installers, Website, Trade Shows, answer phone, everything about how you present yourself every time in every way is marketing". "Notes to thank customers for orders, which includes card is marketing". "Bottles of water which are presented to architects, leave cookies and cards with architects, all part of marketing". "Give pictures frames to anyone who comes into office for presentation is marketing". "Email newsletter once a month is marketing". "Once it becomes a project it is no longer marketing it is sales". "Lunch and Learns for Architects where they lecture on all their products, and provide Architect's with various informational brochures and other marketing tools (water bottles, cookies, picture frames) is a marketing activity. Marketing Manager normally gets name of at least 1 project from such a luncheon, with is immediately transferred to sales department." Architects get a containing education credit for such a luncheon. Do you define selling differently? Yes. "Everything directly related to a specific sales encounter." "Once the marketing activity has led to a specific customer/product encounter then it is selling." Characteristics of a good marketing plan? Consistency in message, consistency in image, accuracy in image. Knowing audience. Knowing what they need . Knowing how to fill that need. When they put out a bid or produce a new website need to be consistent across board. Even though the marketing department is not large, the use of various people throughout organization, and their brainstorming over new ideas such as new technology helps them to get things done in development of new marketing. These people are invested in the company, and make changes that are necessary to get things done. How do they make marketing decisions? Committed to increased marketing recently as they have decided to change direction of company away from foundation of shelving to new products being introduced, she looks at value and expected impact and balances that with the investment. Joining Board of Trade and ALA has resulted in firm sending more people to networking events. Golf tournaments, salesmen spend 6 hours with a potential customer. They are realigning marketing and attending fewer trade shows which they consider trick or treat events (people come by for give a ways). They find especially in down economy that networking events are more effective, more expensive but lead to marketing to an executive level of client. Lunch and Learns for Architect's, allow them to present the new product they have developed such as the green Washington Sorter shelving system (made from recycled materials), office furniture (from recycled materials) and a marble floor (which is made from recycled linoleum) expanding their market. Everything focused on green now. Necessary for many buildings. Many architects have become very focused on LEED. Making marketing green for Architect's because they demand it. Try to stay abreast of audience through trade shows, conventions, professional associations, emails, give a ways, and web site. What is the difference between a buyer and consumer of your products? The consumer is end user, person who will sit in room with shelving or furniture. Buyer, is person at higher level, not called buyer, may be influencer or architect, general contractor. End user doesn't purchase, but definitely exists. In Smithsonian Mrs. Washington never works with consumer she works with the technical representative of the project, or the design and construction people, never the curator (consumer). The consumer is rarely the purchaser, and the consumers are largely inaccessible to LendViewer. Is marketing the responsibility of every executive in the organization? No! May even take some marketing responsibilities from sales executives if not following proper format for proposals, etc. Marketing limited to small group at executive level. A few VP's. Can't have every executive doing Marketing or you'll never get it done. She wants to avoid decision by committee. Listen to a select group of VP's, but only use ideas that she and Marketing Manager think are good. In theory might be a good idea, but in practice difficult to attain. What is the difference between management responsibility to marketing and responsiveness to marketing? Marketing is always proactive, if we are in a reactive position we haven't done our job from a marketing perspective. Drawing the distinction of sales, sometimes sales can be reactive. Marketing is planned, carried out, and executed. We are always ahead of the game rather than reacting to something that has happened. Do your customer relations influence your decisions and roles within the company? Definitely. If we have a clash in personalities between customers and sales (or anyone else in company), we will put someone else there. Our customers view of what we do definitely dictates what and how we do it. For example, two years ago we spent a long time looking at our customers view of how we manage a project after we receive an order, through service, warranty, and then maintenance. A period of 3 months to a year. We felt we had glitches in how we managed the process and that there were gaps in our implementation. We spent months reengineering the entire process to meet customer satisfaction. Security issues within customers are also a significant impact on decisions and roles with company. We serve Smithsonian, ATF, MPD, etc. and all our employees now need stringent background checks if they are going to be in a customer's facility. Would look bad for company if they gave client list of names of people who would be in their facility and only 8 out of 10 passed clients background check. We have numerous clients we outfit with UWR weapons storage units in DC post 9/11 and every employee involved must pass all background checks. In addition, many ideas come from customer for new services and products. That is how we originally developed DataConnect and UWR weapons storage system What are challenges and opportunities facing CEO? Challenge is that they have to determine how their products can be procured effectively, knowing that their product is never going to be the low cost bid, ongoing challenge. Opportunity is that it is up to us to do a better job with each and every project that we have to be selling and diversify firm to be more than one product. Adding services in to sale is a substantial opportunity. Services are something that clients don't often put a price tag on. Taking it from point A, changing it, and putting it in point B. Saves clients lots of time, and allows LendViewer to win business regardless of price. Another opportunity is the change in technology. 10 years ago almost everything stored in high density filing system was paper. Today it includes millions of dollars in weapons racks, storage for gun sights, ammunition, and medical supplies. Challenge as there is that there less and less paper stored the company has to determine what the next thing they are going to store as a company. Every government building they service today requires UWR weapons storage racks,

completely different than a decade ago. For DC police they created a specialized locker for officers to store uniforms, up to100 pounds of gear, with gun safes, and tied into the HVAC system for real ventilation for hundreds of officers. Each locker is thousands of dollars. The world is changing the way that business is done. How do you address customer complaints? Salesperson first, then customer service; Mrs. Washington will call all complaints to be proactive and see what is going on. Everyone goes out of way to make sure that client is happy and everyone is empowered to do whatever is needed to correct a problem, regardless of cost. Lower level employees do not need to get authorization to make repair or spend money to make client happy. She is willing to take a loss on a job and will do whatever it takes to make a job right. Regardless of cost. This is especially true in software division, where most competitors do exactly the opposite and leave customers with problems, Mrs. Washington will resolve all issues. Last problem she can think of was when a customer had her reuse existing product (not made by LendViewer) as part of new installation, and it didn't work, and it wasn't their fault. and she went out and fixed it and made sure customer was happy when it wasn't even their product that had problem, but they were trying to make it work to satisfy customer. She has empowered all employees to do whatever is necessary to resolve a customer's complaints regardless of cost, and she is willing to take a loss to make someone happy on a job. Everyone has power to spend whatever it takes to make it right. She empowers employees at all levels to solve customer problems. They have customer satisfaction process including a checklist in the field to make sure everything is done correctly, and a follow up by a customer service representative to make sure that the customer is completely satisfied. This way they find out if something is wrong before the customer even complains. Are customers your organizing principle? "Absolutely". "Our sole goal is to meet our customers' needs and get them the products they need". We work with clients to design new products when we become aware that a need exists. A new focal point is determining what the customer is going to need in the future, so that they can provide products and services the customer needs in the future. Customers needs are changing with time, and LendViewer will be there with the products to fill their needs. Commonalities between marketing and selling? The tools that are designed on the marketing side, informational brochures, are used by the sales people in their work to facilitate their sales, have sales staff direct customers to website, have sales staff talk about full breadth of services the company provides. Commonality is that sales staff should use everything the firm has to offer them from a marketing perspective. The way a salesperson goes to market, when they are working with a customer, their goals and objectives are different, than if there is no specific project for them to sell on, then they are marketing to that customer. Methods are different but the tools are the same. What are the customer needs as they apply to the product? LendViewer stores and houses things for customers, whether it be paper or guns, we meet their storage needs. Or helps them save money by taking up less space. For example the Smithsonian is moving all of their collections out of downtown in order to devote those facilitates to people and viewing. The Smithsonian went to congress to build their new structures in Suitland, MD. They only received half of what they asked for. It forced the Smithsonian to reevaluate how they planned to house the collection, and instead of having rows of shelving with an aisle between each one, LendViewer designed a system where they only had one aisle for 40 rows of shelves of tanks. They were able to construct a building that was half as large as originally designed. Construction costs are less, long term maintenance is significantly less, and the building upkeep is less. Do you consider yourself product centric or customer centric? "Customer centric. Absolutely!" Everything is about customer. Even the sales people approach a customer with the goal of "how can we help you with what you are trying to accomplish"? "We don't want sales staff selling products, we want them helping customers to solve problems." On a recent project when they proposed installation of their shelving units, St. Elizabeth's required that they provide a large package of products as part of a single bid. The bulk of the products were unrelated to what LendViewer sold, but in order to meet the customer's needs they agreed to provide the entire package of items. The customer wanted one central procurement, and LendViewer agreed, providing more than $250,000 in items that were unrelated to their product lines in order to win the contract. Most effective marketing tools? Depends on the buyer. Networking events, lunches for architects, Board of Trade, certain trade shows give them access to people deciding on which product to purchase. Audience varies greatly, and approaches differ for each group. How do identify target markets? Consider more of a sales topic that a marketing topic. Sales staff is assigned a territory. Geographic and types of firms. Go to Small Business Administration or Chamber of Commerce and get lists of companies, Washington Business Journal. All BRAC markets are target markets for calling, as they have allocated funds, and limited time to spend funds. Once salesperson has created list the company has one employee who cold calls from that list all the time for prospects. Trade shows target specific markets such as the military. They target all architects as they play such a significant role in selecting their product. AMY WASHINGTON, CEO OF LENDVIEWER ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEW INTRODUCTION: Interview was conducted with Amy Washington, CEO of LendViewer, Inc. I interviewed her and two of her marketing managers, Cindy Matter, Marketing Manager of LendViewer, Inc. and Tim Burton, Marketing Manager of DataConnect. The interview with Mrs. Washington was by far the most interesting as I spent over two hours speaking with her. Mrs. Washington sat in on the two interviews with marketing managers even though I asked to interview them independently, and she agreed. She largely dominated those two interviews. The above notes from the interview with Mrs. Washington are a summary of her answers to my questions. I edited it down as much as possible, but did not wish to lose the overwhelming flavor of the interview that Mrs. Washington, while a busy CEO, with

the demanding role of running two companies, with multiple product lines, with over fifty employees, and with a Marketing Manager for each of her brands, was a micromanager and played a key role in all decisions, including marketing decisions. Her involvement in all aspects of the company is best demonstrated that she still has individual sales clients, firms and institutions that she has sold to for years (probably decades), long before she took over her leading role in the company. While her firm is in many ways customer centric, and she repeatedly said that they were customer centric, her hands on involvement and unwillingness to share control is preventing the customer from experiencing her entire organization, and from the entire firm developing true customer centricity. She needs to allow the organization to develop more fully to meet the needs of the customer and become truly customer centric. BACKGROUND: Amy Washington serves as CEO of LendViewer, Inc. and DataConnect, Inc., companies she is attempting to rebrand as LendViewerDataConnect without alienating any of her key clients, who may think of her as only marketing one specific product the LendViewer brand. She shared with me the story that when she had the receptionist answer the phone as "SSI", during a test period, it led to great confusion amongst the callers, so strong is the LendViewer brand. She indicated that answering the phone as "LendViewerDataConnect" has not led to such confusion amongst callers, most likely as it keeps the name they are all familiar with. Clearly the firm has built an extremely strong brand over the years, a brand that adds value to the firms products. i Mrs. Washington went on to tell me that when her firm bids on a project they "normally come in as the highest bid, at which point the sales staff differentiates that our products are superior to that of our competitors and worth the extra investment." The sales staff is carefully trained in differentiating the product, and carries with them sales cases with models of the parts of the product which are different, including the tracks the shelves move on and the lighting systems. This is different than the competition. Mrs. Washington has been CEO of LendViewer, Inc. and CEO of DataConnect, Inc. since 1984. Our interview focused almost exclusively on LendViewer, Inc. The company provides high density shelving and storage for users such as the Smithsonian, large law firms, government agencies, the military and any user with the need to store large quantities of documents, supplies, or weapons. They are constantly adding new products and have recently added UMR lockable, movable weapons storage unit, designed in conjunction with the military and now used extensively by government agencies that have a need to store weapons in the post 9/11 environment. They also have introduced the Washington Sorter shelving unit which is equivalent in quality to custom millwork, but made of recycled materials and suitable for LEED projects. The Washington Sorter line is far more extensive than the LendViewer line and includes furniture, also made of recycled materials, appropriate for a law library or a reception area, and imitation marble flooring made of recycled linoleum. These new lines greatly expand their market, and reflect Mrs. Washington's continuing efforts to provide products that fill her clients needs. Mrs. Washington stated that their core product, LendViewer, had approximately 17 competitors, but that her firm sold more units in a year than all of her competitors combined (according to GSA figures that Mrs. Washington quoted). The biggest challenge facing the firm was that the LendViewer product had reached the level of commodity for most buyers, meaning that they already had such storage, and were unwilling to pay more for additional storage. Hence, her emphasis on adding new products such as the Washington Sorter, the UMR weapons storage lockers, and the DataConnect software. All of these products were developed based upon a need by a client, which Mrs. Washington indicated was a guiding principle of the firm, to find out what a client's needs were, not necessarily what particular product they wanted, and fill that need. She added that a growing portion of sales are value added services to clients. This includes simply moving files to new shelves, but also scanning files into DataConnect computer system, placing files in folders that can be tracked by DataConnect computer system, entering tracking information into DataConnect computer system, and then placing folders on the newly installed shelves. She stressed that while a client may have a fixed budget for the product (shelving) there is typically no limit on what they will pay for the value added service that is provided. This is a growing area of providing services in addition to providing product for the firm, and is based on filling the customers' needs. MARKETING EXPERIENCE: Mrs. Washington has been involved in selling her firms product since she was in high school, and joined the company upon graduation from college. It was a requirement when she joined the company that she joined as a salesperson, and she has been involved in marketing since assuming the CEO position. Her marketing experience is entirely focused on her firm's products, and she is currently evolving her role from serving her existing sales clients to

engaging in what she called "C Level" marketing exclusively. She wishes to focus her time on her membership in the Washington Board of Trade, meeting with General Contractors, Building Owners, Real Estate Developers and Bankers. She indicated that she would leave marketing to Architects, (an excellent source of referrals) to Cindy Matter, the Marketing Manager of LendViewer, Inc. She did not discuss marketing as it related to DataConnect, but from my discussion with Tim Butler, the DataConnect Marketing Manager, he clearly handled the marketing of that product. SKILLS NEEDED: Mrs. Washington indicated that the skills needed for the job were the skills a CEO would need for her job. She said that she needs to be a visionary, not detail oriented. She needs to be focused on high level planning, not detail planning. She feels she needs to be able to cast that vision out to people she works with, for example to direct and motivate her sales staff. She says the other skills she needs are being open, having high integrity, having high energy, and having the ability to communicate. DIFFICULT AND ENJOYABLE ASPECTS OF JOB: The enjoyable aspects of the job that Mrs. Washington communicated are keeping the company growing, changing, and evolving to get to where it needs to be to respond to changes in how clients are purchasing and filling client needs and working to change their office environment. "Most importantly it was to evolve the company to meet the client's evolving purchasing needs." The difficult aspects of the job that Mrs. Washington communicated are keeping up with the many details that the job requires, and meeting the constantly evolving needs of the customers. In addition, keeping the sales team constantly motivated and the marketing team constantly innovating were expressed as difficult parts of the job. ORGANIZATON CHART: The attached organization chart (see chart on last page of this document, preceding Endnotes) of the company is interesting, in that the marketing manager position for LendViewer is difficult to distinguish if it is equal to the other top level management positions, as one would expect in a truly customer centric organization. The DataConnect marketing manager is in such a position, but Mrs. Washington indicated that she was not skilled with creating charts and it is possible that she placed Mr. Butler in that position simply to represent him on the same organization chart as LendViewer for my benefit. I was provided a separate printed chart for DataConnect, Inc. From the structure of the organization chart it appears that LendViewer is not truly customer centric, and that the marketing department does not sit in an equal position to the other departmental level's, but instead is simply a portion of the sales department. BRANDS: The types of brands managed within the LendViewer organization include the LendViewer brand of high density shelving; the Washington Sorter brand of millwork quality shelving, furniture, and imitation marble flooring (all made of recycled components and suitable for LEED certified buildings); the UWR storage system to store weapons in a lockable movable manner for the military, police, and government agencies; and the DataConnect software which stores documents and monitors locations of a clients files and specimens. These are a small example of brands managed, and dont include services which are a value added aspect of most products they sell. There website gives an insight into the number of brands they now offer to meet customer needs. Mrs. Washington indicated that services can be the most profitable portion of a sale as a client will have a fixed budget for a construction portion of their shelving, but will not have a limit for the relocation and refilling of files and the entering of the files into the DataConnect computer system. Most importantly, while the firm is known for its LendViewer and other storage products, when a salesperson meets with a client they do not ask "what product do you need", instead they ask "what problem can I help solve". This allows the firm to sell not only their brands, but the services they offer as well, and is a customer centric approach to meeting the customers' needs. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: Mrs. Washington says that all members of her firm constantly strive to meet customer satisfaction. She will typically spend as much time as is required meeting with client face to face and finding out exactly what they need in winning a contract. For example, with their Smithsonian clients they would go in and measure the size of the "specimen", whether it is a mummy or a fish tank, to ensure that the shelving will be large enough and strong enough to accommodate the specimens or tanks. The same applies for a law firm where she will physically measure the number of folders, a library where she will physically measure books and microfiche, or the Marine Corp. where she will physically measure the weapons. She always wants to understand in advance exactly what is going to be stored, and then she wants to understand how it is going to be used throughout its lifecycle. Frequently solutions to any storage problem require research as they don't have a ready answer to the client's needs available. In more than one situation they have developed new products or unique uses of existing products when the client presented a unique need. She currently has a client who is reformatting their entire floor plan and eliminating file cabinets at individual work stations to save space, and instead will be requiring all papers to be stored every night in high density shelving. Mrs. Washington and her staff will measure every folder, determine

the number of shelves that will be needed, and then provide floor plans to the architects that they can include in for construction. Not only will the client require fewer floors in the building saving money, but there will be additional open space in the office which will allow more light into space. While this is a customer centric approach to serving her clients, for Mrs. Washington to spend time measuring "specimens" on a sales call takes time away from her ability to engage in C Level Marketing which she feels is necessary for the future of the company. Mrs. Washington has a sales department which needs to be allowed to meet the client's needs, and fully develop as an organization that is customer centric while she focuses on building the company for the long term. In order to insure that the customer is satisfied in every job performed Mrs. Washington follows up with the client at completion of the job, on the last day, with an email asking if her firm has met their expectations and were they satisfied?. If client was satisfied and expectations met she shares email with the entire team who worked on the project. If they weren't satisfied or their expectations weren't met Mrs. Washington can personally act to immediately fix the problem even if it means taking a loss on project. While this is a customer centric approach to service, it takes away from Mrs. Washington's ability to focus on the C Level marketing which she has indicated is crucial to the company's future. This is another situation, where the customer service department, sales manager or marketing manager could be following up with the client, and allowing their departments to mature into true customer centric organizations. Mrs. Washington stated at this point "that she always strives to be customer centric in order to meet satisfaction". When asked to expand on this statement, if there was anything she hadn't already said, she simply said that they do whatever it takes to insure that the client receives the best product for their need and that they are happy with the way it is installed in their facility. DEFINE MARKETING AND SELLING: Mrs. Washington and LendViewer do meet the definition of marketing as presented in class. There is "an integration of organizational efforts to create and sustain a positive customer experience."ii Her example of researching what the client needs, or personally measuring a clients storage needs, and making sure the client receives exactly what they want, and then following up in every case is customer centric. The customer centric approach is reinforced by her empowering every employee to do whatever is necessary to resolve a customer's complaint, and the example of her fixing something that wasn't even manufactured by her firm to satisfy a customer further reinforces this. As previously stated, her personal focus on service takes away from her ability to focus on what she has identified as critical for the company, and does not allow the sales and service departments to develop into truly customer centric organizations. She should be allowing sales and service to follow up with clients so they can develop as an organization and become truly customer centric.. When I asked Mrs. Washington how she defined Marketing she responded, "Good question, marketing is such a broad term." She continued with the answer "Anything not directly related to a specific sales encounter." "We have sales people who are responsible for customers and a specific sales encounter". "Marketing is everything we do that is not related to a product". "Marketing is everything activity that gets her firm to a specific sales encounter". "Marketing includes the firms Drivers, Installers, Website, Trade Shows, how they answer phone, everything about how you present yourself every time in every way is marketing". "Notes to thank customers for orders, which includes card is marketing". "Bottles of water which are presented to architects, leaving cookies and cards with architects, are all part of marketing". "Giving pictures frames to anyone who comes into office for a presentation". "Email newsletter once a month is marketing." Mrs. Washington included as marketing the logos on all her trucks and vans, and the fact that her drivers give a small logoed gift to every elevator operator and loading dock operator they come in contact with. These things are certainly not going to lead to sales, or even raise brand awareness amongst consumers or buyers, but when they go to install a shelving system in a new building her trucks will unload first, and her materials will go up first in the elevator. This will allow her staff to finish more quickly, and make a better impression on the architect, the client, and/or the building owner. Mrs. Washington continued, "Once it becomes a project it is no longer marketing it is sales". Anything having to do with a specific project is immediately handed to the sales staff. Additional marketing activities that the Marketing Manager conducts are "Lunch and Learns" for Architects where they lecture on all their products, and provide Architect's with various information brochures and other marketing tools (water bottles, cookies, picture frames). Architects love these because they get a continuing education credit, and all of LendViewer's marketing material is available electronically for an architect to include in their presentations with the architects logo inserted on it. The Marketing Manager normally is able to get the name of at least one project from such a luncheon, which is immediately transferred to sales department.

Mrs. Washington's definition of marketing shares many commonalities with the definition provided in class, yet there are clear differences. iii She defines marketing as broadly as a truck drivers interaction with a loading dock operator, to a luncheon with an architect. There is definitely a strategic aspect, and customer centricity is in many aspects a core organization value. iv Marketing at its core to Mrs. Washington is creating a unified image, projecting it, and in many cases networking to project that image as much as possible. Marketing for Mrs. Washington is based on relationships, and is clearly more long term oriented than short term.v This is best exemplified that she is beginning to devote her time exclusively to C Level Networking, and moving away from any kind of selling or contact with clients except to insure that they are satisfied. Her view of marketing is also exemplified toward service, she told me that when a salesperson meets with a client they ask what problem can I solve, not what product can I sell, and they are always positioned to add services in addition to product.vi The clear distinction from what was learned in class is that everyone in the organization is not responsive to marketing, instead it is limited to small group of Vice Presidents, though the final decisions on marketing are made by Mrs. Washington and her Marketing Manager.vii She stated that you can't have marketing by committee. While not entirely true, the marketing decisions are a product of the marketing department, which is an example of marketing in the past. viii This further exemplifies the fact that she is retaining control over as much as possible at her company, and not allowing it fully develop into the customer centric organization that she desires. Allowing Marketing to be a role of every executive would be truly customer centric. Mrs. Washington does fulfill the answer to "What is Marketing?" from class, marketing is definitely an overall holistic approach dominated by the customer/client orientation and it is based on determining needs of clients and satisfying them.ix The best examples of this are finding out what a client's needs are and developing products to meet those needs, and having sales staff ask "what is the problem that I can solve for you?". Instead of saying to a client, this is the product that I have to sell to you. When asked if she defined sales differently she answered immediately "Yes". Selling is "everything directly related to a specific sales encounter." "Once the marketing activity has led to a specific customer/product encounter then it is selling." I found it very revealing that marketing was given such a detailed answer, and selling was given such a brief one, especially since Mrs. Washington started selling for the company in high school, and continues to do so today. MARKETING PLAN: According to Mrs. Washington the most important characteristics of good marketing plan are consistency in message, consistency in image, and accuracy in image. Mrs. Washington said it is always critical to know your audience, know what they need, and know how to fill that need. When they put out a bid or produce a new website need to be consistent across board. Mrs. Washington raised the example of the old marketing manager who had placed her personal cell phone on the labels on several hundred cases of bottled water. The marketing manager left the firm and took the cell phone with her. Those bottles of water are useless as a marketing tool because they lack the element of consistency, and can't be given to a potential client who might call the number on the label. Mrs. Washington says that even though the marketing department is not large, the use of various people throughout organization, and their brainstorming over new ideas such as new technology helps them to get things done in development of new marketing. These people are invested in the company, and make changes that are necessary to get things done. This is contradicted when Mrs. Washington later says you can't market by committee, and that while she and marketing manager may listen to ideas, they will decide on which ideas are worth implementing. She seems to be customer centric, saying marketing is spread throughout parts of organization, but in reality she keeps marketing decisions closely held. BUYER VS. CONSUMER: I was surprised when Mrs. Washington answered that there was a difference between a buyer and consumer of her products, as I did not believe it would apply to this type of product. I did not think that such a distinction would apply when the purchaser from LendViewer, Inc. was the final owner. To Mrs. Washington the consumer is end user, the person who will sit in room with shelving or furniture. The curator who will have the specimens on shelving in their office. The buyer, is the person at higher level, maybe not called buyer, maybe called the influencer or the architect, or the general contractor. The end user/consumer doesn't purchase, but definitely exists. In the Smithsonian, Mrs. Washington never works with consumer, instead she works with the technical representative of the project, or the design and construction people, never the curator (consumer). The consumer is rarely the purchaser, and the consumer are largely (or entirely) inaccessible to Mrs. Washington and her firm.

MARKETING RESPONSIBILITY: When Mrs. Washington was asked if marketing was the responsibility of every executive in the organization she replied emphatically "No!". She went on to say that in certain circumstances she may even take some marketing responsibilities away from executives if they are not following proper format for proposals or other marketing presentations. Mrs. Washington keeps marketing limited to small group at the executive level, only a few vicepresidents have any marketing responsibility. In Mrs. Washington's words, you "can't have every executive doing Marketing or you'll never get it done." Mrs. Washington was quite emphatic that she wanted to avoid decision by committee. She is willing to listen to a select group of vice-president's, but she is only willing to use ideas that she and Marketing Manager think are good. In her words "in theory might be a good idea, but in practice it is difficult to attain". This is example of her micromanaging the company. Listening to others input, but not necessarily willing to utilize it or put it into action. Again this demonstrates that she is customer centric to some degree in marketing, but in reality she is making the decisions and refusing to share the power. She is not developing the organization to the level that she needs to be truly customer centric, and allow her to focus on her own stated goals of C Level Marketing for the company. RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPONSIVENESS TO MARKETING: The difference to Mrs. Washington between management responsibility to marketing and responsiveness to marketing is that marketing is always proactive. If her firm is in a reactive position they haven't done their job from a marketing perspective. She did draw the distinction of sales, which can sometimes be reactive. To Mrs. Washington marketing is planned, carried out, and executed. "We are always ahead of the game rather than reacting to something that has happened." CUSTOMER RELATIONS: When I asked Mrs. Washington if her customer relations influence her decisions and roles within the company she replied with an emphatic, "definitely". She went on to say that if there is a clash in personalities between customers and sales (or anyone else in company), she will put someone else into that relationship. Her customers view of what she does definitely dictates what and how she does it. "For example, two years ago we spent a long time looking at our customers view of how we manage a project after we receive an order, through service, warranty, and then maintenance. A period of 3 months to a year. We felt we had glitches in how we managed the process and that there were gaps in our implementation. We spent months reengineering the entire process to meet customer satisfaction." This is another example of her customer centric model that pervades her business as demonstrated by reengineering the entire sales delivery process to remove potential problems and kinks, to improve the firms relationship with their customers. She was not responding to a customer complaint, but proactively moving to reengineer the entire system before a customer complained. Mrs. Washington added that in the present environment security issues within customers are also a significant impact on decisions and roles within company. She said that her firm serves the Smithsonian, ATF, MPD, etc. and all our employees now need stringent background checks if they are going to be in a customer's facility. She asked, "How would it look for the company if they gave a client a list of names of people who would be in their facility and only 8 out of 10 passed the clients background check. We have numerous clients we outfit with UWR gun storage units in DC post 9/11 and every employee involved must pass all background checks. It would reflect very badly on company for an employee to fail a background check." She added that in addition, many ideas come from customer for new services and products. That is how she originally developed DataConnect and the UWR locking gun storage units. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES: When asked what the challenges and opportunities that were facing her, Mrs. Washington said that the main challenge is she has to determine how their products can be procured effectively, knowing that their product is never going to be the low cost bid, it is an ongoing challenge. She continued that "the opportunity is that it is up to us to do a better job with each and every project that we have to be selling and diversify to more than one product. Especially adding services in. Services are something that clients don't often put a price tag on. Taking it from point A, changing it, entering it into a computer, placing in a new file, and putting it in point B. Saves clients lots of time, and allows LendViewer to win business regardless of price." This is very interesting that regardless of the budget for the physical shelving, cabinets, and whatever the customers cap on the cost of the project, Mrs. Washington has learned that customers will put no limit on the cost of the added service of taking files from shelf, putting them into new folders that can be tracked by DataConnect, entering information into DataConnect, and then putting the file on the new shelf.

10

She added that another opportunity for the firm is the change in technology. "10 years ago almost everything stored in high density filing system was paper. Today it includes millions of dollars in weapons racks, storage for gun sights, ammunition, and medical supplies. Challenge as there is less and less paper to store they have to determine what the next thing they are going to store as a company. Every government building they service today requires UWR weapons racks, completely different than a decade ago." For DC police they created a specialized locker for officers to store uniforms, up to 100 pounds of gear, with gun safes, and tied into the HVAC system for real ventilation for hundreds of officers. Each locker sells for thousands of dollars. She added, "the world is changing the way that business is done." This creation of new products based on the customers need, working with the customer, rather than telling the customer what is available, is another example of the firms customer centricity. They are constantly working to provide new services that the customer needs, which will open up new markets for the company. CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS: Mrs. Washington said that the process for handling customer complaints was the salesperson first and then customer service; Mrs. Washington said she called every client with a complaint to be proactive and see what is going on. She wants to know what the problem is, make sure it is already corrected, and make sure it is not repeated. Everyone in firm goes out of their way to make sure that client is happy, and she has empowered everyone in firm to do whatever is needed to correct a problem, regardless of cost. Lower level employees do not need to get authorization to make a repair or spend money to make client happy. She is willing to take a loss on a job and will do whatever it takes to make a job right. Regardless of cost. This is especially true in software division, where most competitors do exactly the opposite and leave customers with problems, Mrs. Washington will resolve all issues. Clearly, customer satisfaction is key to firm. While this is a great example of customer centricity and being totally focused on customer satisfaction, the fact that the CEO is calling every customer who complains is clearly taking her away from her desire to focus on C Level Marketing and is not allowing the company to develop the other departments to effectively deal with customer problems. The last problem that the firm had that she could think of was when a customer had her reuse existing product (not made by LendViewer) as part of new installation, and it didn't work, and it wasn't their fault. and she went out and fixed it and made sure customer was happy at her own cost, when it wasn't even their product that had problem, but they were trying to make it work to satisfy customer. Again, the happiness of customer is fundamental, and sounds a little like Nordstrom's. She has also implemented a customer satisfaction process including a checklist in the field to make sure everything is done correctly the first time, and a follow up by a customer service representative to make sure that the customer is completely satisfied. This way they find out if something is wrong before the customer even complains. While Mrs. Washington's resolution of a problem is not truly Customer Centric as defined in class, the company is still divided into different divisions and problems go from sales, to customer service, to Mrs. Washington they are Customer Centric in the sense that each department has full authority to resolve the problem.x The fact that Mrs. Washington will call the client before the problem lands on her desk to make sure that the problem has been resolved is, as stated previously, an example of Mrs. Washington not allowing the other divisions to develop fully, and ends up taking away time from what she has indicated is her goal of focusing exclusively on C Level Marketing. Also, the company checks to insure that the client is satisfied before they normally have the opportunity to complain, and they can then act to resolve problem. ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE: Mrs. Washington stated that customers are "absolutely" the firms organizing principle. She went on to say that "our sole goal is to meet our customers' needs and get them the products they need. We work with clients to design new products when we become aware that a need exists. A new focal point is determining what the customer is going to need in the future, so that they can provide products and services the customer needs in the future. Customers needs are changing with time, and LendViewer will be there with the products to fill their needs." Clearly the firm is focused on meeting customer needs and solving customer problems. A significant part of solving customers needs is LendViewer's identification of their clients' needs for additional services linked to the products the firm sells. Not only does a client need new LendViewer shelving, but they also need the DataConnect software system, they need the files scanned into DataConnect, they need the files placed in DataConnect trackable folders, and the new folders placed on the new LendViewer shelving.

11

COMMONALITIES OF MARKETING AND SELLING: Mrs. Washington said that the only commonality between marketing and selling is that the tools that are designed on the marketing side, such as informational brochures, are used by the sales people in their work to facilitate their sales. Also she has the sales staff direct customers to websites, and she always have sales staff talk about full breadth of services the company provides rather than a particular product. "The commonality is that sales should use everything the firm has to offer them from a marketing perspective. The ways a salesperson goes to market, when they are working with a customer, their goals and objectives are different, than if there is no specific project for them to sell on, then they are marketing to that customer. Methods are different but the tools are the same." CUSTOMER NEEDS: The customer needs as they apply to the product are that LendViewer stores and houses things for customers, whether it be paper or guns, she meets their storage needs. She also helps them save money by taking up less space for storage. Mrs. Washington provided the following example "the Smithsonian is moving all of their collections out of downtown in order to devote those facilitates to people and viewing. The Smithsonian went to Congress to build their new structures in Suitland, MD. The Smithsonian only received half of what they asked for from Congress. It forced the Smithsonian to reevaluate how they planned to house the collection, and instead of having rows of shelving with an aisle between each one, we designed a system where they only had one aisle for 40 rows of shelves of tanks. They were able to construct a building that was half as large as originally designed. Construction costs are less, long term maintenance is significantly less, and the building upkeep is less." She was able to provide the Smithsonian with a way to meet their need to store more, and save money. PRODUCT OR CUSTOMER CENTRIC: Mrs. Washington stated, when asked, that her firm was customer centric. She said, "Absolutely! Everything is about the customer. Even the sales people approach a customer with the goal of 'how can we help you with what you are trying to accomplish'? 'We don't want sales staff selling products, we want them helping customers and solving problems.'" In addition to solving problems, the firm focuses, as previously discussed, on selling services to a customer rather than an individual product. On a recent project when they proposed installation of their shelving units, St. Elizabeth's required that they provide a large package of products as part of a single bid. The bulk of the products were unrelated to what LendViewer sold, but in order to meet the customer's needs they agreed to provide the entire package of items. The customer wanted one central procurement, and LendViewer agreed, providing more than $250,000 in items that were unrelated to their product lines in order to win the contract. They were able to successfully provide these products through their network of warehouses and delivery trucks in the region. MOST EFFECTIVE MARKETING TOOL: According to Mrs. Washington the most effective marketing tool depends on the buyer. Networking events, lunches for architects, Board of Trade, certain trade shows give them access to people deciding on which product to purchase. Audience varies greatly, and approaches differ for each group. TARGET MARKETS: Mrs. Washington considers how do identify target markets as more of a sales topic that a marketing topic. Sales staff are assigned a territory. Geographic and types of firms. The sales staff then goes to the Small Business Administration or Chamber of Commerce and get lists of companies, the Washington Business Journal, etc. All BRAC markets are target markets for calling, as they have allocated funds, and limited time to spend funds. Once salesperson has created list the company has one employee who cold calls from that list all the time for prospects. Trade shows target specific markets such as the military or real estate developers. The firm targets all architects as they play such a significant role in selecting the firm's product for their clients. From my discussion with her it seemed clear that target markets evolve based on her relationships with existing clients. The Washington Sorter product evolved as she learned from clients that they wanted a higher end product, equivalent to that custom built by a wood worker, that was suitable for LEED projects. The target market for this was essentially high end with a green focus, and was developed from customer demand. Hence the target market of green projects developed. The target market for locking movable gun storage units evolved from their long relationship with the military, but the market evolved into almost any government building in the Washington, DC region in the post 9/11 environment. The same happened with DataConnect, their clients told them a need for a product existed, and they developed the product. They then had a large target market of potential users for the product, essentially any firm with files or documents that needed electronic storage or tracking of documents.

12

There is some, but limited segmentation of the customer base. Certain types of customers, such as a law firm, are only going to be interested in the high density storage for files, furniture, and possibly the software that they produce. Other users such as the military may only be interested in movable gun racks. Other users such as government agencies may need high density storage for files and storage for weapons. Mrs. Washington indicated during the interview that her sales people do not offer a particular product to a prospect, but instead solicit what the clients problems are and then offer a way or ways to solve the problem, eventually offering the client both products and services. The market segments that the firm pursues vary greatly. The LendViewer product is marketed to architects, law firms, government, museums, the military, medical facilities, and any institution with a storage need. Their weapons storage locker is marketed to the military and any government agency that stores weapons in their facility. The Washington Sorter is targeted to firms seeking a custom built look in their storage products, but one which is also green, and works in LEED certified projects, it is targeted to the same groups as LendViewer. Mrs. Washington and LendViewer have created a value proposition that while their product is the most expensive on the market, it is also the best, and they are able to distinguish the products attributes from the competition.xi They follow up the value proposition with the best service, empowering all employees to resolve complaints, and having recently reengineered their entire sales through delivery/installation through customer service process to remove potential problems within the system. Mrs. Washington demonstrated her commitment to the customer with the example of how she was willing to repair a competitors products in order to keep the customer satisfied. TARGET MARKET PERSONAS: In order to develop a framework for developing target-market persona that captures the essence of target marketing I would begin with interviewing all purchasers, plus individuals that rejected the product and purchased a competitors. I would consider the following tools in developing a target-market persona: 1) Focus groups. Use the general demographic of your customers, bring in groups of 10-15 people in that demographic and conduct a study. xii 2) Surveys. Find a way to implement surveys of your buyers. You want to survey not only people that buy but also the ones that dont.xiii 3) Research. Buy research that tells you about the demographics and buying tendencies of your customers. It is not free but is often quite valuable.xiv In addition I would evaluate all the "data that the company possessed about all purchasers historically. I would analyze this data demographically, geographically and psychographically. In addition, I would gather information from user observation, contextual inquiries, interviews, diary studies, and any existing knowledge not previously studied".xv I would base the persona on the above "user research, base it primarily on qualitative research, focus it on the users' goals, base is on common behavior patterns, make it specific to my design context or problem and have it come to life".xvi I would create the persona from a "persona hypothesis, user research, identification of behavioral variables/attributes, persona scales, choose personas, write personas, and then communicate personas".xvii I would then choose the personas by determining a list of potential personas based on common behavioral patterns, then I would engage in a sanity check, "Do they make sense? Do they reflect what we've seen? Are there too many to be useful? Will they help us make design decisions?"xviii I would then write the personas by "drafting the persona characteristics & goals for each persona, check persona set, write the persona descriptions, and choose primary, secondary, etc. persona(s)".xix I would have Mrs. Washington target market personas on markets she wants to hold on to and those she indicates she wants to grab. For example, for the BRAC market I would create a persona called Militaria, for this persona I would target products such as LendViewer shelving and gun storage lockers. For the Architect market I would create a persona called Greenbuild, and for this persona I would target the Washington Sorter line of products. For the Smithsonian market I would create a persona called Museum and target it with the LendViewer line. For libraries I would create a persona called Archivist and I would target it with the LendViewer line of products and possibly the Washington Sorter line of products. For Law Firms I would create a persona called Counsel and I would target it with the Washington Sorter line of products.

13

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION & LIFETIME VALUE: In order to develop a framework that captures the concepts of customer satisfaction & lifetime value I would begin by measuring all purchasers satisfaction, their feelings of pleasure or disappointment that result from comparing the LendViewer product perceived performance to expectations. "If the performance falls short of expectations, the customer is dissatisfied. If performance matches expectations, the customer is satisfied, if it exceeds expectation, the customer is highly satisfied or delighted."
xxi xx

I would continue to measure satisfaction through surveys, analysis of the customer


xxii xxiii

loss rate, use of mystery shoppers, and by the monitoring of competitive performance. stream of future profits expected over the customer's lifetime purchases." relationships.
xxvi xxiv

Long term customer profitability is captured in the concept of customer lifetime value. selling, and servicing that customer's account, applying the appropriate discount rate. customer loyalty.
xxvii xxv

"Customer Lifetime Value describes the net present value of the

The company must subtract from its expected revenues the expected costs of attracting, To maximize customer value I would focus on cultivating long-term customer

To maximize value I would have LendViewer carefully manage detailed information about individual customers and all customer contacts to maximize In addition LendViewer could identify its prospects and customers, differentiate customers in terms of their needs and their value to the company,
xxviii

interact with individual customers to improve their knowledge about their individual needs and to build stronger relationships, and customize products, services, and messages to each customer. I believe that LendViewer already captures the concept of customer satisfaction and lifetime value. Not only do they keep clients for years, or decades, their customers come back to them when they have a new project and need a new storage solution met. By reengineering the delivery, installation, maintenance, and warranty process LendViewer will further enhancing customer satisfaction and lifetime value. LendViewer's sales people do this proactively when they ask a customer, what problem can I solve, instead of what product can I sell you. By solving problems they provide customer satisfaction from the day they install the product and deliver the services, and this helps to provide the lifetime value. The CEO reinforces this by following up at the completion of a projection to ensure the customer is satisfied. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, while LendViewer is a fascinating example of a company that leads its market due to its sales and marketing, there is a great deal more that could be done to make it a truly customer centric organization and to allow it to reach the level that Mrs. Washington aspires for it to attain. She is unwilling to let go of many of the things that go on it the company, by hanging on at so many levels she is unwilling to share control. Everyone is able to essentially get a piece of her and her time, this is something that she needs to learn to delegate. Mrs. Washington's micromanaging of every aspect of the company, while helping the company to maintain its current market position, is keeping her from pursuing the role that she states is necessary for the long term success of the company. The firms growth as a customer centric organization is held back by the fact that customers are unable to experience the entire organization, and that she needs to allow the entire organization to develop more fully, free of her control. She needs to allow the organization as a whole to grow, especially the marketing and sales departments, so she can focus on her often stated goal of focus on C Level Marketing. This goal is referenced as being necessary to move the company forward and secure its future. The question arises is it a truly customer centric organization if customer centricity only exists in the selling and service of the product, and the remainder of the organization does not develop into a customer centric one. It is important to note that the company has developed into a solution based provider, rather than a product based provider. This shows that the firm has recognized where real value can be achieved from its sales. Instead of selling a single shelving unit, they are able to sell the software that goes along with it, as well as all the services involved in utilizing the software, the required new folder system, and moving the product from the old shelving into the new folders, and into the new shelves. They have identified that while a firm may have a cap on what they physically spend on shelving, no such cap exists on the services that go along with making the new shelving work. Mrs. Washington know where the sweet spots are to expand overall sales of her product/services. The interview does make clear the need for a more seasoned marketing team to be groomed and take over many of her responsibilities. This will give Mrs. Washington the time that she needs to commit to the C Level Marketing she repeatedly told me was necessary for the future of the company. The company is so much about Mrs. Washington that it isn't allowed to be truly customer centric, and this is preventing it from moving in the direction that she wants it to move.

14

15

Board of Directors

Chief Executive Officer, Amy Washington

General Manager, Karl Warner

Sales and Sales Support

Operations

Finance and Administration

Infolinx Marketing Manager, Tim Butler


Controller,

Sales Manager Rob Duda Sales Staff 10 Existing Salespeople Assistant Operations Managers, 2 New Salespeople Kenny Jones & Keith O/Brien Marketing Manager Cindy Matter Operations Manager, John Thereault

Mitch Segal

Accounting, A/R and A/P Edith Goldman,

Installation Scheduling, Scott Rives Service Team Manager, Ron Joswick, Jose (Joe) Umali Information Technology, Cliff Peterson Human Resources, Mitch Segal

AutoCAD/ Configura Manager, Desiree Chavez

Lead Management Donna Bocage

Warehouse Manager, Harley Divelbliss

Order Processing & Invoicing Project Closeout OP, Mike Paris Scott Rives Sales Assistants Assistant 1 New Position Assisting Project Closeout and 16 Scheduling

i Hassan, Salah

(2009) Best Practices in Marketing. (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. iii Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. iv Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. v Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. vi Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. vii Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. viii Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. ix Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. x Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. xi Hassan, Salah (2009) Best Practices in Marketing. xii Howlett, Greg. "Developing Personas to Boost Your Retailing Success." Marketing Pilgrim. 13 November 2007. <http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/11/developing-personasto-boost-your-retail-success.html>. xiii Howlett, Greg. "Developing Personas to Boost Your Retailing Success." Marketing Pilgrim. 13 November 2007. <http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/11/developing-personasto-boost-your-retail-success.html>. xiv Howlett, Greg. "Developing Personas to Boost Your Retailing Success." Marketing Pilgrim. 13 November 2007. <http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/11/developing-personasto-boost-your-retail-success.html>. xv Hassan, Salah (2009) Managing Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty. xvi Hassan, Salah (2009) Managing Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty. xvii Hassan, Salah (2009) Managing Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty. xviii Hassan, Salah (2009) Managing Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty. xix Hassan, Salah (2009) Managing Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty. xx Hassan, Salah (2009) Managing Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty. xxi Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. A Framework For Marketing Management. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, New xxii Hassan, Salah (2009) Managing Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty. xxiii Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. A Framework For Marketing Management. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, New xxiv Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. A Framework For Marketing Management. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, New xxv Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. A Framework For Marketing Management. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, New xxvi Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. A Framework For Marketing Management. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, New xxvii Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. A Framework For Marketing Management. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, New xxviii Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. A Framework For Marketing Management. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, New
ii Hassan, Salah

Marketing Pilgrim, Web. 4 Oct 2009. Marketing Pilgrim, Web. 4 Oct 2009. Marketing Pilgrim, Web. 4 Oct 2009.

Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

17

You might also like