summary of the 7p's

all the 7p's of marketing mix are very important for a business to flourish. but most manufacturers take one to be more important than others. i have clearly explained the 7p's and to my own understanding the product is the most important of all, because if a producer does not think of a product to make he will not put all the other p's to consideration. first direct believes more in marketing.

(the 7p's)physical evidence

physical Evidence is the element of the service mix which allows the consumer to make judgments on the organisation products and service. the physical evidence of the marketing mix refers to the tangible expression of a product and how it is purchased and used by the customer. tangible form example: train tickets, bank statements etc... first direct provide its customer with a good service, they use real people for their customer services not machine, and they do it to their best. customers drop comments on their web telling others how good they were to them. thats a very good feed back from customers and that alone covers their physical evidence, althoug physical evidence is not very important to them since they operate only on internent and telephones. when talking of the physical evidence you consider:

1. place of availability: where the service is for the customer to reach out, how available it is for the customer.


2. facilities: permanent or temporary commercial or industrial property such as building, plant, or structure, built or established for the performance of one or more specifi activity or fuction.


3. ambience: it consists of the mood, quality, and also atmosphere of the business.


4. layout: how planned the business is to run and how it goes.

The 7p's( process)

the methods of providing a service to reach its customers.its essential to have a thorough knowledge on whether the services are helpful to the customers, if they are provided in time, if the customers are informed in hand about the services and many such things. its covers how customers are handled from the first point to the last point. process is very important to first direct since they are just based on internet and telephones, they have a well planned process of how the customers get their service, check their accounts, deposit their money and withdraw.
process covers:

• procedures: the Fixed, step-by-step sequence of activities or course of action (with definite start and end points) that must be followed in the same order to correctly perform a task.inorder for a service to be properly carried out all procedures must be carried out effectively. they plan the steps they will carry out so as to satisfy their customers needs, they know what should be done and when it should be done.
• controls: activities involved in ensuring a process is predictable,stable, and consistently operating at the target level of performance with only normal variation. first direct make sure they have good telephone systems and good internet services so they can attend to their customers better and effectively.
• accesibility:how a consumer can obtain a good or service at the time it is needed. first direct gives good accesibilty to its customers , they give their customers a good telephone service and take all the comment they drop to their website are all taken into consideration.
• information flows: the movement of service information from point of origin to the target. they ensure that customers get the right information and from the rigth source.
• payments: the money the consumer pays to be provided with the service.
• bookings: a consumer concluded arrangement with a goods or services supplier.
• speed and timing of delivery: how fast the service reaches the customer or the goods. first direct ensures that their customers are satisfied once they lay out what they want and what they want them to do. they allow customers get to them immediately their number is dialled.

the 7ps(people)

People refer to the customers, employees, management and everybody else involved in it. It is essential for everyone to realize that the reputation of the brand that you are involved with is in the people’s hands. first direct need its people in order for them to be sucessful, they need the people to cash in money and people to be at the customer service 24 hours. they are very good at taking care of people( their customer) in january they won an award for insitute of customer service (ics) satisfaction award.

1. people deliver service: example an employee who works in first direct bank giving information to its customers, theyby delivering the service to the customers who call to get information of the bank.
2. people promote and sell product: first direct sell the products to customers, and convince them to even but more. products like : mortgages, insurances etc.
3. service quality is a key source of customers retention and brand differeintation: if a customer gets a good quality service he will want to get more of it because it good . first direct wants tomake sure that their customers are satisfied, and want others to invest and bank with them.
4. hence skills manner and appearance are important especially in the marketing services.

the 7ps( place)

It refers to the place where the customers can buy the product and how the product reaches out to that place. This is done through different channels, like Internet, wholesalers and retailers. they are factors to be considered when talking about a place for a business. first direct dont have a place like a building to get to them but they made it easier for their customer to get to them. by reaching to them at home, where you work, on the road, on the bus , even in a hole. they reach their customers through their phones and internet.

1. choice of channels and outlets: channels and outlets are ways a produce distributes his goods to reach the customers. you should have a good choice of channels to distribute your goods to the customers. so that it can reach them on time. first direct dont have lots of channels to reach their customers. once a customer calls or go to the internet to get to them he/she speaks to a person who will help get their transactions done.
2. channel of distribution: they are all the organisations through which a product must pass between its point of production and consumption" example: from the producer to whole saler then retailer and the final consumer. how the goods reach its customer is very important, for quick sale. that is an easy part for first direct because customers dont have to travell to get them once you call or go online in the internet to drop a comment or what you want to be done for you it gets done fast.
3. market coverage: its the number of active retail and / or wholesale outlets that sell a specific firms brand in a given market. first direct dont have a retail and whole sale outlets they provide their services throug the internet and through telephone calls.
   
4. channel variety:its about using different places to sell a product to get to its customers. first direct are internet and telephone based they dont have any channel variety they just made it easier for customers by calling them or going to the internet.
5. dealer support: with the help of dealer support the goods get to the customers. the dealers can be an individual or a firm, they buy goods from the producer for wholesale or retailing. first direct dont need a dealer suport because they have a direct way of geting to its customers.
6. long and short channels: the time the product gets to its customer. its either long like when it passes though the wholesaler, retailer then the final consumer, or when it passes from the producer to retailer then the final consumar, or from producer to consumer. first direct have a very short channels of how its services gets to its customers.
7. role of the intermediary: the intermediary can be a firm or a person who acts as a mediator on a link between parties to a business deals. example of intermediary are brokers, banks etc. first direct dont have an intermediary,because they are also one.
8. physical distribution/logistics:
   

the 7ps( promotion)

It includes the various ways of communicating to the customers of what the company has to offer. It is about communicating about the benefits of using a particular product or service rather than just talking about its features. first direct promotes its service by putting up adverts a very unique one in black and white, they have adverts on the internet on their websites, they have adverts in the malls and also on the train stations. they also give their customers £100 when you switch banking from another bank to bank with them.

1. advertising: it is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services. when people know about a particul product or service they get aware of its use and importance and buy them. first direct advertise their bank on the internet, television, underground, and malls too.



2. personal selling: its a persuasive communication between a representative of the company and one or more prospective customers, designed to influence the person's or group's of people to purchase the product. first direct does not do personal selling because they are just internet and telephone based . so personal seling is not their thing.



3. sales promotion: its a promotional methods using special short-term techniques to persuade members of a target market to respond or undertake certain activity example;(lower purchase price, money), ( something more for the same price).


4. public relations/ publicty: is the practice of managing the communication between an organization and its public. Public relations gains an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items and the companies dont have to pay any amount of money for its publicity. first direct has a good publicity because of the awards they have won and their unique advert all in black and white.


5. sponsorship:Sponsorship is a business relationship between a provider of funds, resources or services and an individual, event or organisation which offers in return rights and association that may be used for commercial advantage in return for the sponsorship investments. first direct are not involve in any form of sponsorship.


6. direct marketing: its a sales method by which advertisers approach potential customers directly with products or services. the most common one is telephone sales.first direct is a telephone and internet banking and direct banking is what they do more.

advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations. sponsorship, direct marketing. there are all total marketing communications programme known as "promotional mix".

The 7p's( price)

price is the amount of money the consumers have to pay to puschase the product. when setting a price for a product they are things to be considered:

1. the basic price: the basic prie is the amount receivable by the producer from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service.the basic price should be reasonable so that a customer can afford to pay for the goods or service.
   


2. discounts: the product or service should give its customers discounts especially when they purchase large amount of the product or service.


3. pricing policy: pricing poliy is a standard proedure used by a firm to set whole sale and retail pries for its produt or servies.
   
   the pricing policy of the products should be resonable enough for the wholesaler and the retailer so that it can be sold to the customer in a price they can afford.


4. price variations: the same goods, made by different producer and sold in different prices.


5. price discrimination: it has to with the selling of goods to different customer at different product. sometimes depending on their order of the goods or their geographical location.


6. trade-in-terms


7. payment terms: its the conditions under which a seller will make a sale. the terms specify when the customer has to pay for the goods or service he wants.


8. credit terms: its a Standard or negotiated terms (offered by a seller to a buyer (customer) the credit term controls: (1) the monthly and total credit amount, (2) maximum time allowed for repayment, (3) discount for cash or early payment, and (4) the amount or rate of late payment penalty. its helps customer who dont have enough money to purchase the goods they want.