Six Markets Model
Six (6) markets (area’s of your business) have been identified[1] to have a direct & significant impact on your business, this is referred to as the Six Market Model.
Relationship Marketing, at a macro level, recognizes that marketing must broaden its impact across a wider range of “market” relationships. These include the markets indicated in the diagram above. One of the basic difficulties we see with implementing and embracing Relationship Marketing as a total organization is that traditional organizations are functionally focused, not market focused. In other words they are compartmentalized around the short-run functions of production, finance, marketing, purchasing and so on. They are typically command driven and budget controlled. There is often a constrained (or corrupted) flow of information across functions.
In company’s who have embraced the Relationship marketing philosophy and are considered “Market facing” (as opposed to functionally focused) the attempt is made to draw staff together, sometimes in multi-disciplinary teams or networks that seek to marshal resources across functions. The functions still and always will exists, but they are now seen as “pools of resources” from which the market facing team draw from.
Everyone from your company is a representative of your company, whether a bookkeeper, a bean counter, a janitor, a receptionist, a CEO or Sales Manager, so why not allow them all to benefit from the resources and information they could easily have access to.
As it Relates to BCA
Your BCA Membership is an opportunity to strengthen those relationships that will directly and positively impact ALL SIX of these areas of your business.
If you just think customers and potential customers… you are completely missing the boat and missing all the tremendous values that await you.
The Customer Market (whether attracting new or retaining existing) is only one small part of the greater picture. Too often people get hyper focused on the Customer Market; Which ends up either backfiring on them because their selfish motives are transparent or it, more likely, leaves the five other areas vulnerable, thus a lack of growth in the company overall.
To best take advantage of your membership, be sure to keep a keen eye on all six areas.
[1]
Christopher, Payne and Ballantyne (1991) “Relationship Marketing: Bringing Quality, Customer Service and Marketing Together”, Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann