Promo

This week I attended the WNE College of Engineering’s Annual Spring Gathering and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.  The Western New England University College of Engineering Hall of Fame was established in 2002 to recognize graduates and individuals who have distinguished themselves by making a significant contribution to the engineering field and/or the University.  Dennis Lind ’80, Vice President of Design & Engineering and Integrated Facility Planning Strategies for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts® was inducted this year.  It has been three years since the last induction ceremony, but they have the spring gathering every year and this was the first one I’ve attended.  As a recent MSEM graduate, I was invited and curious. 

 

After meeting talking with a number of people, including Dennis, I was privately honored when the College of Engineering’s Dean, Dr. S. Hossein Cheraghi, asked me to join him at his table for dinner.  I ended up sitting next to University President Anthony Caprio.  There was some interesting dinner discussion about the planned speaker at the Law School, Lois Lehrer, a WNE Law School alumna who just a few hours before the dinner announced that she would not be speaking.  For those who don’t know, she works for the IRS and has faced some recent scrutiny for her role in one of the latest controversies.  In the words of Forrest Gump, “And that’s all I got to say about that.”     

As Dean Cherighi was giving his opening remarks (king of a State of the College address), I soon realized the real purpose for the invite.  He was explaining the growth of the College, including the new Ph.D. program in Engineering Management (with 11 current candidates), and then turned to me and said, “So, maybe, when you finish your MBA, you will come back.”  So this was a part the personal selling process for the Ph.D. program.  They are using relationship selling rather than traditional sales techniques.  I should have known because they had already generated and qualified the lead (me) when I attended the first information session that they advertised and held for the new program about a year and a half ago.  The invite was a way of approaching the customer (me) and probing my needs.  I am already pretty much convinced that I will end up applying.  Using the AIDA model, they already have my attention, interest and desire.  However, Im holding off on any action because it depends on what happens at work.  I’m up for a couple of other positions and my ability to commit to more school depends on which position I end up being offered.  So there would be no objections for the College to deal with, but then I will have to go into the personal selling with the wife.  When she has objections with something that I’m planning, she usually lets me know by saying something like, “Your third wife might like that.” J

Deciding how to promote your product or service depends on how familiar customers already are with what you are selling and how much of the market share is yours.  If you are a market leader, you want to use a “pull” strategy or get the customer to demand your product from the retailers.  If you are trying to penetrate or gain market share, you want to use a “push” strategy or get the retailers to help you gain customers.  Trade promotions are usually associated with “push” and consumer promotions with “pull” strategies.  Advertising strategies also depend on your place in the market.  If you are the market leader, it doesn’t really make any sense to use comparisons to another product because that would basically be giving you competitor free advertising.  You want to use comparison advertising when you are entering the market or trying to gain market share.  Market leaders want to use benefits advertising to emphasize product benefits and reminder advertising to maintain awareness and stimulate repurchase.  New or recently added competitor products want to use primary advertising to create awareness and stimulate demand.