Chapter 10
Marketing planning Phase Four: resource allocation, monitoring and detailed planning (Part 2: price, place, people, processes and customer service)
Chapter 9 addressed the budget and the first two components of the first year detailed implementation programme for marketing planning – the service product plan and the communications (promotion) plan. In this chapter we look at the remaining elements of this final phase of the marketing planning process for services. We start by addressing the pricing plan and then consider the remaining four elements in the detailed implementation programme for services marketing planning: the place plan – getting the service to customers; the people element; the process element; and the customer service element of the marketing mix.
Mix element 3: The pricing plan
Pricing is addressed as a separate element of the marketing mix because this provides a sensible way for the complex issues relating to pricing to be considered. In fact, the company may choose not to have a separate plan for pricing, and subsume pricing decisions into the individual service/segment plans. Whether or not the pricing element appears as a separate plan, careful thought will have to be given to the pricing structure.
The pricing decision is important for two main reasons:
- It affects the margin through its impact on revenue.
- It affects the quantity sold through ...
