Total Quality Marketing

Since the early 1980s, quality has been the buzz word par excellence of business philosophy and debate - books such as "In Search of Excellence", and the work generally of figures such as Tom Peters, Crosby and Moss-Kanter, all pioneered this theme as the keynote aspiration of modern business. Yet is quality just an aspiration, a concept more honoured in the breach than the observance, read about more than achieved? Certainly, some businesses do seem to have attained better standards of customer service, and work more efficiently as organizations; but the plain truth, however, is that most businesses still have a long way to go. "Total Quality Marketing" looks at one of the largest sectors of all - the world of sales and marketing. It argues that not only are awareness thresholds low in this sector, but the actual achievement of quality is lower still. Whether in terms of customer service or the ways marketing departments and companies work internally, there is scant regard for quality, but an undue respect for quantity. This contorts the way they perform, and, the author argues, jeopardizes their future.
Having assessed the current scene, the author puts forward a series of solutions relevant to every area of the sales and marketing mix. Topics covered include changes at board level, training, pay and motivation, recruitment, and corporate and departmental restructuring.