Personnel Differentiation

Companies can gain a strong competitive advantage through hiring and training better people than their competitors do. Singapore Airlines enjoys an excellent reputation largely because of the grace of its flight attendants, McDonald's people are courteous, IBM people are professional and knowledgeable, and Mark Warner's resort staff are friendly and upbeat. Marks & Spencer helps differentiate its stores by careful selection, training and looking after its staff.

Personnel differentiation requires that a company should select its customer-contact people carefully and train them well. These personnel must be competent -they must possess the required skills and knowledge. They need to be courteous, friendly and respectful. They must serve customers with consistency and accuracy. And they must make an effort to understand customers, to communicate dearly with them, and to respond quickly to customer requests and problems.

The Allied Breweries links staff needs to the market segments they serve. A segmentation study identified four pub segments in the United Kingdom (see Table 10.1) and the managers needed to run them. Local community pubs needed a good controller who was mature and experienced. He or she had to be 'one of the crowd', be involved in the local community and be an organizer of pub teams and other events. The personality of the manager is the key to success of broad-based locals. They need to maintain a high profile and set the mood of the pub and other staff. Young persons'circuit pubs need good organizers who are tolerant but firm. These places are very busy at peak times, so service standards have to be high and efficient. Users of quality traditional dry pubs expect attention to detail and high professional standards. Good food is important, so the manager's job is more complicated than for other pubs. The manager may not have a strong personality, but organizational and financial skills are important.

Continue reading here: Perceptual Mapping

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