ASPECTS OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPLIED IN ...

Annals of the University “Constantin Brâncuşi”of Tg-Jiu, No. 1/2008, Volume 2,
ISSN: 1842-4856
along with mass-market efficiencies from selling to millions of customers — the power of masscustomisation.
It employs modern information technology — from relational databases, to data
warehousing, to data mining, to computer telephony integration, to internet delivery channels — to
unlock customer profitability.
Sophisticated segmentation and analysis technologies, comprehensive customer interaction data,
multi-channel communications and one-to-one interactions are used to market customised products
and services to ever more precise segments.
Permission marketing techniques
Permission marketing is the new science of extracting permission from prospects, which
leads to attention, which leads to brand building, which ultimately may lead to purchase.
There are five basic rules of permission:
1. Permission must be granted; it cannot be presumed. Buying a mailing label for a direct
marketing campaign is not permission- it's spam, and it will likely be ignored.
2. Consumers only grant permission if they perceive that there's something in it for them. And
you've got only about 2 seconds to communicate what that something is.
3. Once you get permission, you must take care of it. If you cross a boundary or do something
that offends the consumer, he can instantly revoke the permission.
4. You can't transfer permission from marketer to marketer. Remember, if you're dating
someone, you can't just give someone else authority to go on the date in your place.
5. Measuring permission is the first step to forging a strong relationship. If you track
permission levels instead of reach or hits, you're far more likely to build this incredibly
valuable
Here are some questions to help evaluate your performance on the permission marketing scale:
• Does every single marketing piece you create invite consumers to contact you to begin
dating?
• Is a top-level executive in charge of your active permission database? If not, you're not
serious about the effort.
• Are there programs in place to turn strangers into friends?
• Is there a curriculum you can easily walk someone through to learn about your products?
• After someone becomes a customer, does your company actively work to expand the
permission and make each customer more profitable?
Permission marketing, or “opt in” as it’s sometimes called, is about one thing: getting the okay from
individuals to market to them. The rationale is that, since marketing is inherently intrusive and
invasive, marketers should be required to get permission first. Consumers are more prickly than
ever about intrusions and privacy, so securing permission is in the best interest of marketers as well.
Still, for all the talk, there is virtually nothing about permission marketing that’s different
from traditional marketing. Just like traditional marketing, permission marketing presumes that all
power rests with marketers and that all interactions are one way. Permission is just a gate that
consumers can open or not open. Once opened, however, marketing is the same old hard sell, the
same old saturation, and the same old intrusiveness—just now with permission. The emotional
resonance is no better because the character of the marketing is no different. The overall
relationship is no better because marketers still have all the control. The form of the interaction is
unchanged because the one-way flow remains in place. Opt in is said to be different from opt out
because marketers have to ask for permission instead of consumers having to ask for relief. But in
428