SERVICE MARKETING AND SALES AT VANDERLANDE INDUSTRIES

Vanderlande was founded in 1949 by Eddle Van der Lande as a family firm in Veghel. The
Netherlands, producing industrial machinery for textile companies. Later in 1980s, the company was
already a world-leading provider of automated solutions for logistics processes in warehousing, parcel
and postal sortation, and in baggage handling at airports. Within the decades the company had evolved
from a typical systems firm into a systems and service that focused on value-added business. In 2013, a
service was the most profitable unit within the entire company. The growth in the service business was
15 to 20%. Service marketing and sales were the two areas that called for the most attention. The
Mulder wanted the know how the SAM’s (Service Account Manager) pitch the service to the
customers and he teamed up the SAM’S and asked them to pitch about the service and later he realized
that every SAM’s pitch about service was different as they had a different way to pitch about service.
Even though the Vanderlande company had increasing growth in its both service and product sales
business but still the company had to adopt few concepts to develop and provide best value added
services to the customers for the customer retention. They are
A framework for developing effective service marketing strategies
Understanding customer needs, decision making and behavior in service encounter. The Vanderlande
company needs to understand the needs and desires of the customers before providing the any of the
service (that is what type of services are needed by the customers has to be understood). This will help
the company to satisfy the customers needs and can also retain them.
 Building the service model – The company has to build the service model in order to know how to
deliver the value to the customers to satisfy their actual desires of the customers. The firm can
provide self-service system, Honor system, personal service system, group service or managed
service.
 Managing the customer interface – The firm can provide customers with the solution for their
problems that is the firm can appoint or form a particular team in the company who can interact and
understand the problems and requirements of the customers so that the team can provide the
required solutions the customers.
 Implementing profitable service strategies – There are different ways and strategies that can be used
by the fir for profitable sales. One of the strategies is that the employees of the firm use their 90%
of time in understanding the needs and requirements o their customers and remaining 10% of their
time in closing the deal. One has to always remember that the better you understand the customers
the best will be the sales and profit.
People of the company
The people are one who interacts with the customers. The promise which is formed by the company
is delivered by the people of the company to the customers effectively.
 The firm has to recruit the people who are best and have the required qualifications which meet the
position of the job.
 Once the recruitment is done the new employees has to be trained for few weeks or months to
perform the work effectively and also provide the support system for them.
 Evaluate the performance of the employees using different strategies. Reward them if their
performance is best.
 The company can retain the people(that is employees) using the strategies like monetary and non
monetary rewards, allowing them to be a part of the higher level team discussions and also provide
an opportunity for the employees to present their ideas.
 By this the people of the company will be satisfied and will retain in the company and provide their
best efforts for the growth of the company.

New service innovation

Even though the company collaborates with other firms and provides the services to the existing
customers still the company has to innovate and provide the services which will differentiate them from
other firms.
Service innovation means changing the way you serve your customers to create greater value for them
and deliver more revenue for your organization.

New service development process

 Business strategy development
The company has to review its vision and mission to understand what they have to do further. The
firm has to seek to be innovative in nature and has to find the opportunities to innovative the
service. The analyzers of the firm have to maintain the stability and cost leadership strategy has to
be reviewed.
 New service strategy development
By understanding the new service development strategy, the firm will be in a better position where
they can come up the new ideas that can be formed into a better shape.
 Idea generation
There are many ways or methods through which new ideas can be generated that is by interacting
with others ( the employees of the same company, friends, colleague, public etc) or by the creative
techniques it is possible to come up with new ideas.

 Concept development and evaluation

Once the idea is generating it has to further develop into a concept that will have a complete
information (whether it is product oriented or service oriented, its objectives, pricing strategies etc).
Evaluation is done both by employees of the companies as well as by people. Once the concept is
developed it can be tested and evaluated by the employees to know whether it is good and favorable
and as far as to people if the concept satisfies they it is good for the firm.

 Business analysis
Further the concept has to be analyzed in both the terms that is marketing assessment as well as
financial assessment.
In Marketing assessment, the firm has to identify its target market, forecast the sales volume,
indicate the product or service positioning, what is the competitor reaction.
In Financial assessment the firm has to analyze sales volume and value, incremental fixed cost,
contribution and profitability of the new service.

 Implementation
Once the new service concept is succeeded through above mentioned stages now it can be
implemented effectively. It has certain stages where the concept has to go through in order for the
concept to be implemented.
o Service development and testing
o Marketing testing
o Commercialization
o Post-introduction evaluation
 Service development and testing
The new service which has been developed by the firm it has to be tested and the complete service
blueprint of the new service has to be present as service blueprint provides the firm the direction
how the services has to be delivered to the customers from the very beginning to the end.

 Marketing testing
The marketing test is done to know how the product service will be received on a wider scale.
Marketing test helps to ensure that the firm marketing strategy are sound, and it can provide the
valuable information on customer response.

 Commercialization
Now the new service is introduced in the market. The has two objectives when the new service is
introduced in the market that is built and maintain the acceptance of the new services among the
customers and other one is that the firm has to continuously monitor the new services when it is
introduced and if their any problem it has to be solved.

 Post introduction evaluation

Once the service is introduced it has to be monitored and evaluated continuously. The services has
to be reviewed and changes has to be done as it will satisfy the customers effectively.
 McDONALD’S ADVENTURE IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION
McDonald's Corporation is an American fast food company, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated
by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened
their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden
Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a
businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the
McDonald brothers. McDonald's had its original headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its
global headquarters to Chicago in June 2018.
McDonald's is the world's largest restaurant chain by revenue, serving over 69 million customers daily
in over 100 countries across 37,855 outlets as of 2018. Although McDonald's is best known for its
hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, they feature chicken products, breakfast items, soft drinks,
milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes and a negative backlash
because of the unhealthiness of their food, the company has added to its menu salads, fish, smoothies,
and fruit. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the
franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. According to two reports published in
2018, McDonald's is the world's second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind
Walmart with 2.3 million employees).
Diversification
To overcome this, they have decided to pursue on “DIVERSIFICATION” strategy. They have operated
competency centers in each country of their existence to evaluate possible options of diversification.
One such center in Switzerland had come up with the idea of Hotel Business, a person from hotel
background being the genius behind it. Finally, they had decided to come up with two hotels in Swiss.
The Zurich market, where McDonald’s opened their hotel, had already been well serviced by leading
hotel chains of the world such as Movenpick, the Accor Group etc, McDonald’s had their brand of
service “fast and friendly” in place, tried to prove their excellence in this hotel business.

UNIQUENESS OF THE GOLDEN ARCH

McDonald’s had their uniqueness with features. To name a few, luggage handling being provided by a
custom-made trolley, every operation being handled automatically by credits cards reducing the human
interface eventally reducing the time, and patented curved walls in the hotel rooms and a damn new
futuristic shower in the bathroom. These all features made the customers feel delighted.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
 Customers reactions after visiting and staying in the Golden Arch hotel, was not very pleasant.
Many visitors who came to the McDonald’s restaurant did not notice the signage of the hotel.
 So, not many customers were aware that the hotel was situated in that locality.
 Quite often, there were no front desk employees to receive the customers and they were unfriendly.
 The beds in the room which were electronically operated looked more like a hospital bed.
 The customers complained about the bar ambience as they felt it was very unwelcoming and quite
similar to a small city airport lounge.
 The rooms had wireless keyboards for the customers to access internet.

POINT OF PARTY (POP) AND POINT OF DIFFERENCE (POD)

 Using the brand resonance pyramid, it can be said that in order to create brand resonance with
customers.
 Brands need to deliver both functional performance and meaning and imagery that customers need.
 The functional performance and imagery is related to the point of parity and point of difference
established by the brand.

Golden Arch tried to differentiate themselves from others in design and use of technology.
In DESIGN
 They had a design of curved wall in rooms which they even got patented.
 There were movable beds in the rooms and a futuristic shower.
In TECHNOLOGY
 They had a keyboard in each to operate T.V and internet.
 Automation for check in and check out.
 Custom made trolley so that customers could carry their own luggage.

The concepts can that can be implied or used by company is that

1. SERVICE TRIANGLE
2. SERVQUAL MODEL
3. SERVICE RECOVERY
SERVICE TRIANGLE
The service triangle outlines all the relationships that exist between the company, the employees and
the customers. Furthermore, it also outlines the importance of systems in a services industry and how
these systems help achieve customer satisfaction.

The External Marketing relates to issues which a service organization addresses in order to set up
its customers expectations and promise them what is to be delivered.
 The Golden Arch firm has to address its issues so that it can meet its customer’s expectations.
 The McDonald’s restaurant do not have a proper the signage of the hotel. So, not many customers
were aware that the hotel was situated in that locality. The firm has not advertised about its
presence of hotel among the customers.
 This could be solved by promoting advertisements through TV, Pampltes, public Relation, and in
social media and in socializing events.

The Internal Marketing relates to meeting the needs of employees as that they can meet the needs
of their customers.
 The firm has to meet the needs of the employees of the organization to satisfy the customers needs.
 The Golden Arch Hotel has to train the employees how they should welcome and receive the
customers. Take care of the customers when they facing the problem while they are staying in the
hotels.
 The employees have to have the complete information about the hotel and what services they
provide to its customers.

Interactive Marketing is the conceptualization and implementation of a marketing policy that is

founded on direct interactive contact with the customer or the desired customer.
 Here the employees will deliver the services to the customers directly that is providing the room
keys to the customers and delivering the food which they order and also the room service.
 Providing the complementary services to the customers while they are staying the hotel.
 Finally taking the feedback from the customers as to know what services has to be improved and
innovated.
SERQUAL MODEL
 Tangibility: This dimension deals with modern looking equipments and visual appeals of the hotel.
Tangibility deals with the appearance of physical facilities, equipment and communication
materials. The Golden Arch Hotel has to have a modern looking equipment (Hotel’s physical
appearance, reception desk, pamphlets, paperwork etc).
 Reliability: This dimension has a direct positive effect on perceived service quality and customer
satisfaction. It deals with the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
The firm has to deliver the promised service to the customers if their customers have any problems
the firm has to take initiative to solve it.
 Responsiveness: It deals with the Willingness to help customers and provide prompt & accurate
service. Employees are liable and should show honesty with their customers.
 Assurance: It deals with the Knowledge and courtesy of employees and ability to inspire trust &
confidence. The employees of the firm have a full information about their work and what services
had to be provided to its customers.
 Empathy: It deals with the Caring and providing individualized attention to its customers. The
employees of the firm should be willing to solve the problems of the customers as it is their
responsibility.
SERVICE RECOVERY
Service recovery is a company's resolution of a problem from a dissatisfied customer, converting them
into a loyal customer. It is the action a service provider takes in response to service failure.
Service Failure of Golden Arch Hotel are
 Slow service
 Wrong Billing
 Conflicts with customers
The customers are dissatisfied with services which is provided by the Golden Arch Hotel as the
employees deliver the service very slowly to them and sometimes there are no employees to receive or
welcome the customers at entrance of the hotel. The bed of the room in the hotel is of no quality. More
over the employees do not provide the solutions to its customers for the problems that they face in the
hotel. The firm has promoted itself among the customers their best.
There are also service recovery process which can be used by the firm to recover the service failure and
satisfy the customers. Once the firm know where they are lacking or failed to provide the service the
firm can take the necessary actions to recover the service failure effectively.
Service Recovery;
 Quick service
 Discounts in Billing
 Smooth handling
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
The service blueprint of the Golden Arch hotel will help the firm to deliver the services to its customers
from the very beginning to till the end. A service blueprint is an operational planning tool that provides
guidance on how a service will be provided, specifying the physical evidence, staff actions, and support
systems/ infrastructure needed to deliver the service across its different channels.
The service Blueprint has five stages:
 Customer Action
 Front stage (visible contact employees) Actions
 Back stage (invisible contact employees) Actions
 Support process
 Physical evidence