Industrial Marketing Performance

Controlling and evaluating

Industrial marketing planning and

strategy formulation
*is a complex undertaking in that it entails coordinating many functions and tasks in response to
changes by customers, competitors, suppliers and other involved third parties.
Control and Evaluation defined-
The term control and evaluation are sometimes used synonymously; however, they are different
enough from a managerial perspective that their individual meanings should be clarified.
* Control- it implies keeping on track or on target and typically takes place while activities or programs
are in progress.
* Evaluation- is more diagnostic in nature and is concerned with reviewing results to determine how
well or poorly
Six Levels of Marketing Control and Evaluation
Level 1: Control and Evaluation of Overall Marketing Planning and Strategy
Overall marketing strategy or marketing plan is an industrial company’s basic approach to its
marketplace.
- involves identifying market opportunities, selecting the most profitable markets and determining how
the company should serve these selected markets in a manner most consistent with company
objectives.
Level 2: Control and Evaluation of Profit Centers or Business Unit Strategy
-this type of control and evaluation is becoming more common as industrial firms adopt
strategic planning and focus more on business units or profit centers than on individual products.
Level 3: Control and Evaluation of Specific Marketing Programs
- is a detailed, time-phase action sequence intended to guide and coordinate marketing activities
to meet market needs and reach marketing objectives most effectively.
Level 4: Control and Evaluation of Marketing Functions
-marketing activities or functions are carried out by departments such as sales, advertising, and
marketing research.

Level 5: Control and Evaluation of the Marketing Organization’s Individual Personnel

-individual members of the company’s marketing organization typically are assigned
responsibilities that are expected to contribute to the achievement of functional or program objectives.
Three types of standards that commonly used in individual performance:
*Hard standards, refer to precise numbers such as sales volume quotas or contribution to profit.
*Soft standards, involve factors such as personality, character initiative, judgement and organizing
ability.
*Task-specific standards, are directly related to short-term problems or projects.
Level 6: Control and Evaluation of Outside Marketing Organizations
-typical of this are manufacturer’s representatives, industrial distributors, sales agents, common
carriers, public warehouse, computer services organization and advertising agencies.

Mechanism for Marketing Control and Evaluation

*Schedules and Control charts
Schedules and control charts are useful for controlling functional activities and when tied to
responsibility centers, they can also be used to evaluate personnel.
They are also useful in monitoring overall marketing plans and programs where many separate
activities must be coordinated for optimum impact.
*Reports
Like other organizations, industrial companies use various reports to the progress and results among
employees.
1. Progress Reports.
2. Activity Reports.
3. Information Reports.
*Budgets
Budget control is most appropriate for levels of marketing activity involving functions and individuals.
*Sales and Cost Analysis
-used to discover weaknesses or unexpected patterns in marketing results.
*Variance Analysis
-which is an extension of sales and cost analysis, is the process of identifying those factors that cause
differences between actual costs or sales and targeted costs or sales.
*Performance Appraisals
In many industrial marketing companies, the performance of individual marketing personnel is
appraised annually by one or more superiors.
Three approaches used in performance appraisal:
1.Rating Systems-use to predetermined scales defining employee and job characteristics.
2.Open-ended Evaluations-in which supervisors are required to submit written evaluations.
3.Management by Objectives-in the MBO process, the employee and the supervisor jointly agree on the
employee’s goals for the period involved.
Profit Impact of Marketing Strategies, the Boston Consulting Group, and ADVISOR
Profit impact of Marketing Strategies or PIMS is an ongoing study of strategies that drive business
profitability, cash flows, and revenues and help companies gaining and sustaining competitive
advantage in the industry.
Boston Consulting Group is a global consulting firm that partners with leaders in business and society
to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities.
ADVISOR-can provide the marketing manager with three norm;
(1)marketing spending
(2)advertising spending
(3)the advertising to marketing ratio

Marketing Audits
-as a comprehensive, systematic, independent and periodic examination of a company’s or business
unit’s activities with a view.
The overall audit is often broken down into sub-audits:
-a marketing environment audit,
-a marketing strategy audit,
-a marketing organization audit,
-a marketing systems audit,
-a marketing productivity audit and;
-a marketing function audit.