7.4 The elements of the marketing mix
7.3.5 Physical evidence
The importance of physical evidence has already been emphasised in several sections of the marketing mix (e.g. product, price and promotion). All schools emphasise physical evidence in their promotional material. Such items as:
• "The award-winning gardens of Cowan House" (Cowan House, no date).
• "Sixteen hectares of immaculate sports-fields and tree-shaded lawns of Epworth"
(Epworth, no date).
• "One of the most beautiful estates in the world, and remains one of the school's greatest assets" (Hilton College, no date).
The above bear evidence to the importance of the physical facility of the different schools. As Vining (2000, p.27) emphasises a quality look suggests a quality school. In addition to the above all the schools use a range of other criteria as proof of the quality of the service provided. This proof includes:
• For senior schools the Matric pass rate and the number of students with university entrance.
• For primary schools the number of students who gain scholarships to senior schools.
• For all schools the number of national and provincial sports representatives.
All the above are supposed to act as proof as to the quality of the intangible service offered by the different institutions.
7.3.6 Process
The schools interviewed indicated that the processes used within the school, whether it is teaching or administration, had to be effective and efficient. Where technology could add value it was used, but processes were not seen as giving an institution any specific advantage over similar competitors.
The term process was too narrowly defined in the interview, as the question was phrased as "do you use technology to give your school an advantage over competitors?" However the process actually is "the actual procedures, mechanisms, and flows of activities by which the service is delivered" (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000, p.20) and has a much wider scope than technology. This became apparent when discussing the teaching of abstract concepts in mathematics at Cowan House. Mr. Emmerson mentioned they try as far as possible to support the abstract concepts with more concrete evidence - this can be regarded as a process, although it may not be related to technology.
7.3.7 People
As Dow (no date, cited in Kotler, 1991, p.453) states the four Ps of service marketing are "people, people, people and people". These are "all human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyer's perceptions; namely, the firm's personnel, the customer, and other customers in the service environment" (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000, p. 19). The interaction between the learner and staff is the core service that is being offered by a school and is "the moment of truth" (Carlzon, 1987, cited in McColl et al, 1998, p.212).
As McColl et al, (1998, p.213) state quality control may become a problem as it is not only dependant on the person delivering the service (the teacher), but also on the person receiving the service (the learner). Lovelock (1996, p. 17) states "managing these service encounters - especially those between customers and service providers - to create a satisfactory experience is a
challenging task", but a vital one in a service industry. Although not asked in the interview, it would be interesting to know how the schools in question control the quality of education. Hilton College do have the learners assessing teachers as part of the appraisal system while Epworth and Cowan House appear to have feedback from parents. As Hunter (2002, p. 144) states a
"performance management helps managers to focus on the tasks or aspects of their job which is critical for them to achieve high levels of performance, provides a systemic basis for identifying and solving related problems and encourages the development of people in the organisation". An effective performance management system would be important for all the schools to obtain the performance that is vital in service organisations.
The three schools involved the staff in marketing the schools, and in this regard "much effort is often placed on selling the values and objectives of an organisation to its employees" (McColl et al, p.31). All the schools spent time training and selling the values and objectives of the school to its staff. The aim is to ensure "communications from the company (school) to the employee (teacher) are accurate, complete and consistent with what the customer is hearing or seeing"
(Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000, p. 404).
All the schools thought that the staff were a differentiating factor. This ranged from some of the staff being truly exceptional, to some schools indicating that they only employ the best staff.
Only one of the schools concerned monitors staff attitudes on a regular basis. As Vining (2000, p. 27) emphasises "it is the people in your organisation who provide you with your greatest competitive advantage ... there needs to be a forum within a school to discuss dissatisfaction".
As "in the new economies of service, frontline workers and customers need to be the centre of management concern" (Heskett et al, 1994, p.582) it is essential that staff attitudes are established and the staff are motivated. This is especially important as "the occupational role of the teacher is constantly being increased in quantity and difficulty" (Reynolds et al, 2002, p. 289).
From the interviews it became apparent that the type of customer a school had was important to the school. This did not only relate to the ability of the customer to perform (and thus provide physical evidence if the success of the institution), but also to the perceived characteristics of
customers from certain geographical areas. Two of the schools would not actively recruit from certain areas, as they thought that the learners from these areas would not adapt to the ethos of the school. However, the customer cannot really be thought of as part of the marketing mix, as essentially the customer is not controlled by the school.