Assessment Task 1:

Q1

Following is the list of authoritative sources:

• at trade fairs

• online, through websites, blogs and social media

• in industry publications

• in newspapers, radio and television

• Through media releases.

Sales data is very essential in understanding the performance of company i.e. how the services and
products are in line up. Moreover this sales data also gives us the good picture of where the business is
standing and the daily basis sales strategy. This data can provide us following information:

• Top of the list products.

• Product that receives less attention in market.

• People who buy specific products in bulk.

• Most valuable products in terms of sales.

• Least valuable products in terms of sales.

Q2

The 5 difference between the product and service:

Following are five (5) types of important information that should be available on products and services
provided by an organization:

• Company logo and made in.

• Company and manufacturing plant address.

• Key ingredients or items from which that product is made of.

 • Information about how to use.

• Warnings.

Q3

Following policies and procedures that the customer service representative must follow when providing
advice or recommendations about products and services:
• Provide evidence to back-up your research and compile a report of your recommendations

• It is important to make your information verifiable as questions may be asked of you that
you will need to answer.

• Present your findings clearly, in a professionally formatted document, that follows your
organization’s requirements

• Separate elements of information into clear sections with headings that indicate the content

• Make all text consistent in font and size, and in use of bold, italics and color.

Q4

Following are the three (3) organizational promotional activities:

• Local or national radio advertising

• Press advertisements

• Press releases

• Billboard/display posters

• Canvassing

Promotional activities generate interest in an organization’s products or services. Choose the

appropriate strategy for your promotions and make sure the promotions convey the truth and are
not misleading to consumers.

Q5

Online Surveys are used to know the customer requirement, so make sure we only ask questions that
help you meet your goals, write thoughtful open-ended questions and avoid leading or loaded questions.

We can also get the feedback from our customers on social media because people are mostly interested
in online marketing these days. Keeping that fact in mind, several companies like Instagram, Facebook
etc. have made special polling tools in which we can engage people and get the customer feedback on
anything instead of juts focusing on the comment section.
Q6

Collecting and analyzing customer feedback is important as it helps us not only get to know

our customers better but also increase their engagement and loyalty, as well as acquire new customers.

Following are the steps to analyze the customer’s feedback:

 Read the response and categorize them and add factors to it like product choice, price etc.
 After categorizing them, apply tick mark to each comment that lies in the specific category.
 Sometimes customer gives multiple responses, so divide them and apply tick mark to every part
separately.
 Use excel to record the positive and negative remarks of customers by using the tick mark
technique.

Q7

Compiling a list of the promotional activities and strategies and placing them in order of usefulness to
your organization may be helpful, especially with regard to cost-effectiveness and the possible number
of customers reached. You can then consult this list when your work group is considering new
promotional strategies. Be prepared to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

Also, make sure you know whether your organization has a marketing strategy in its business plan, and
your organization’s policies and procedures for approving marketing strategies.

Following are the sources of evidence to make recommendations:

• Analyzing customer complaints

• Interviewing manufacturers

• Reviewing courier/ delivery services

• Analyzing customer surveys

Assessment Task 2:

Task 1.1

The best authoritative information sources to evaluate item’s reliability and validity:

• Cansterblue.com is the website for getting the reliable reviews of customers about the Beko’s
products like washing machine, refrigerators, oven etc. all of their product has a rating of 4.8-
4.9/5.0.

• Appliancesonline.co.au is the reliable website for the products of Sony, TCL etc. to be reviewed.
Sony and TCL products like LED, speakers etc. have got 4/5 star ratings.
 • Consumeraffairs.com is also very good and reliable website to review the Hitachi and other
brand’s products. People share their personal experience on Hitachi appliances and most of
them give 4/5 ratings to their most of products like inverters, refrigerators etc.

• Techrepublic.com is another source for checking the reliability of IT products like laptops, Ipads,
printers etc. of DELL, Apple, HP etc. all of them are highly popular among the customers while
HP has some critical review to.

• GSMarena.com is also very helpful to get information, ratings and reviews about mobile phones
of every brand like Apple, Samsung, Huawei etc. all of the customer reviews are genuine and
authentic.

Task 1.2

I choose the washing machine in the main category of home appliances. Following are the
characteristics that should be known before:

• Is it a semi-automatic or fully-automatic machine?

• Spin cycle?

• Size, efficiency and load capacity?

• Does it have a dryer?

• Material of the drum?

• Is it a front loaded or top loaded?

Task 1.3

Following are the product related information that should be documented about the washing machine:

• Is it a semi-automatic or fully-automatic machine? This will depend on customer needs and budget
restrictions.
• Different type of machines provides different types of washing modes for different types of clothes
like woo wash etc.
• Spin cycle is another important aspect since every clothe needs different spin cycle rate which is
usually denoted as rpm (revolution per minute).
• Every customer looks for efficient machine which eventually helps him in long run in terms of water
and power.
• Customer also check the size of machine depending upon the space he has. Front loaded machines
are in mostly square shape while top loaded are some where narrower.
• Load capacity. If customer have a large family he will want a washing machine which can take larger
loads, as opposed to a person with a small family or a single person.
• Those customers who are job based and don’t have enough time for these daily home working, they
also prefer machine with dryer compartment.
• Depending upon the budget of the customer, some variety can also be provided in terms of the
material of the drum of the machine. Some basic materials are enamel, SS, plastic and if we talk
about more expensive then steel is the best option.
• Is it a front loaded or top loaded? Some customers like top loaded while some front one so it needs
to be addressed.

Task 1.4:

Following are the 5 ways to help employees:

• A team should be given a separate platform where they can only focus on products parts along
the supervision of expert.
• Call the actual design engineer who design all the parts of product especially power switch to
work with the employee for the assistance.
• Ask the manufacturer’s for the history of previous generated problems in power switch.
• Provide the employee all kind of design software and design reports where they could learn
about the power switch schematics and details.
• Make a survey in which the form is filled by those customers who experience the problem in
product and ask them how they use the product and what are their conditions.

Task 2.1:

• Warranty of above-mentioned parts will be followed as per warranty terms that written on
product warranty card.
• In order to return the item, it must be unused and in the same condition that a consumer
received it. The item must be in the original packaging.
• Company not responsible if faults caused by operations or modifications to the product carried
out by an unauthorized person and no compensation will be provided.
• Company not responsible if fault or loss from work to be done with ladders, trucks, scaffolding
or other lifting systems or equipment.
• Company not responsible if faults due to customer misuse and/or improper use.
• Company not responsible if product is checked / repaired or any part replaced through unofficial
service center or local mechanic.

Task 2.2, 2.3, 2.4:

Recommendations Evidence Source Benefit to the company

Provide live usage of products/
services by inviting the Analyzing customer complaints Improved customer service.
customers
Develop new circuitry for the Contingency planning for future
power switch manufacturing problems
Interviewing manufacturers
Keeping a file on the services A better, more efficient
and costs for new technology manufacturing process
Improve packaging of product Reviewing courier/delivery Less return of products
to avoid damage services
 Improve and update guidelines
that how the product should be Analyzing customer surveys.
used

Product: Beko Washing Machine WM01

Fault: Error in Power Switch

Task 3.1

Roleplay:

BDM: Hi everyone. I welcome you all to this meeting about our product’s problem that occur
few days earlier. We are really concern about the solution of this problem as soon as
possible. Also we will discuss our promotional strategies so that we can gain back the
lost interest of our beloved customers and also attract other new customers.

BDM: So let’s start our meeting. First of all I would like SP1 to share with us what would be
your recommendation to solve this riddle?

SP1: hello everyone, I have done quite a bit of a research about the problem that occurs in
the power switch of washing machine. It is un-usual to happen but sometimes
electronics act very delicately. After doing all of my research, I would suggest that we
should call a customer survey in which we can ask the customers that how they use the
product? Whether it was dipped in water accidentally or the fault come due to the
electric shock? Only then we can truly understand the problem.

BDM: it is a very good recommendation. Ok SP2 what do you have in your mind?

SP2: As our products are famous for years and most of our customer are satisfied from our
brand reputation, and also we haven’t encountered any such problem in many years so I
thought it would be a good option to arrange an event in any famous marketing place
like Mall etc. where we invite our customers that has experienced this fault and show
them the demonstration of usage and features of our product. In this way we can also
attract other new customers to our product.

BDM: This is also a very good option. Ok one more last recommendation, SP3 what do you
suggest?

SP3: in my opinion, we should consult the designer of the power switch since in our previous
model, there were no such problems that would occur, but as we introduce new
technology and new power switch, there might be a chance that some bugs may come
in the design that are causing this failure. So its better we should re design our product
before we lose our other old customers as well as new one. And also if there is any issue
present, then we should do some arrangement for them.

BDM: Ok. All of these recommendations are very valuable. I would recommend that we should
we go with SP3’s idea of re checking our design first and our guidelines and make sure
 that our product is well up to date and has no flaw in it and then we can go with SP1 and
SP2’s recommendations.

BDM: I think it is decided how we can rectify our fault in power switch. SP3, it is your duty to
call the designer of our product and make sure that he check each and every aspect for
the sustainable and durable design. Another thing I would like to discuss that how we
can promote our products? Can you provide me any methods for this?

SP2: as I have mentioned earlier it would be very helpful if we can arrange an event in a huge
marketing place where we can attract new customers and also provide them live
experience of our products and also give them promotional offers to.

SP1: I would recommend that we should advertise our products on our official website. Also
we should do banners, newspaper and Tv commercial advertisements for those people
who are not very fond of coming to malls and other marketing places.

SP3: I have also noticed that we should also advertise on social media like Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram since people are very active on these platforms and also the mode of
advertisement are changed these days from the traditional techniques to these new
ones. There will be a huge community we can target on these sites.

BDM: ok I would recommend that we should primarily consider the SP3 idea of advertisement
since most of the families especially house wives, they don’t have time to visit places or
watching tv or reading newspaper but yes they would preferably using their mobile
phones and eventually social media. So it is a better way to attract them.

BDM: SP3, ca you tell what would be the cost of it?

SP3: It would cost us about 400$ to run our ads on these social media sites and target them.

BDM: ok. And what would be the cost of other modes of advertisement?

SP2: If we organize public event and surveys, it would roughly cost us around 2500$.

SP1: Including tv commercials, newspaper and official website, it would cost us about 1400$.

BDM: Ok. I will keep in mind all of these modes also and I will recommend them on later stage.

BDM: I think we have covered our agenda and hopefully we will overcome this challenging
situation since it is a team effort always. Thankyou everyone for your advices and efforts
you have done for this situation. I will call all of you if I need any other advice.

Task 3.2

a)

Product = Washing Machine

The Target audience Families, House Wives, Self-dependent people

The exact customer requirement from buying the • Is it a semi-automatic or fully-automatic
product machine?
• Spin cycle?
 • Size, efficiency and load capacity?
• Does it have a dryer?
• Material of the drum?
• Is it a front loaded or top loaded?
• Warranty years?
• Improved efficiency
• Low Sound, improved user experience
Benefits or competitive advantage to the
• New model in the market
organization
• Brand reputation since 1932
• Old customers

b)

Beko Washing Machine WM01– “Fresh clothes, fresh life”

Task 3.3 (Appendix 3)

Budget plan:

Product name: Washing Machine WM01

Project total=

Campaign type Qty Project Subtotal

Banners 25 400$
Ads 30 400$
Newspaper 15 250$
Public Event 4 2000$
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram 100 400$
Website 1 350$
Surveys 3 500$
Sales Campaign 6 800$
Total 5400$

Task 3.4 (Appendix 4)

• What were your expectations? Are they satisfied?

• Are there any features or services missing?

• Based on a scale of 0-10, how will you suggest such product to your friends and family?

• Based on a scale of 0-10, share the experience of visiting the retail store or their official website?

• How well the staff of the company were on your visit? Based on a scale of 0-10, share your
opinion.
Task 3.5

• Pre Testing:

The pre-testing evaluation technique allows a company's marketing department to determine

the effectiveness of a promotional strategy.

E.g. simulation is one of the best way to foresight the customer responses in the pre testing
phase i.e. customer’s demands, requirement etc. can be easily checked through this
technique.

• Concurrent Testing

When sales of any product are in progress, concurrent testing is one of the best way to check
the running promotional technique. This kind of assessment runs usually on a monthly basis.

E.g. this technique will gives us the number of customers that has involved in the specific
product’s purchase. If the number is greater than the target then the promotional technique is
good, otherwise it needs to be changed to increase the sales.

• Post Testing

After the promotion time period is over, then comes the post testing which gives the clear
picture of the company whether they are able to achieve the specific target or not.

E.g. some of the most usable techniques that are the part of post testing are personal
interviews, calls, questionnaires filling etc.

• Previously Recorded Data

Another way to study and analyze the promotional technique of a company is with the help of
old stored data of promotions, that allows a company to assess how competitive brands
responded to a promotional activity and use it as a benchmark for its similar products.

E.g. it may have recorded consumer and retailer participation data as well as activities from
competitors which can be used effectively.