Services Marketing - Winning and Creating Customers with Special Reference to ICICI Bank

“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.”

Every national economy nowadays is dependent upon service sector as a major component of contribution to its development and progress. Services sector contributes on an average more than 60 percent to the gross national product of the industrial economies, but they are also rapidly moving ahead in many other nations as well. Even in the least developed countries show a contribution of at least 45 percent of GDP from the services sector. In India the service sector has come up to play a pivotal role. During 2009–10, the service sector's contribution to India's GDP was approximately 57.2% as compared to 64% in the world economy. With the easy accessibility to internet, the number of services and the manner in which they are conveyed and delivered to the customers has drastically changed. This paper attempts to peep into the area of SERVICES MARKETING.

Not only the presentation of services has changed but the consumer behaviour and preferences have also undergone a dramatic change. The ever increasing number of credit card and mobile users has uplifted the marketing styles and strategies of the service industry. Nowadays service providers are on the lookout for various tools that can help them in analyzing customer behaviour and forecasting buyer patterns and buyer attitudes.

Concepts like “Customer Relationship Management” have gained immense popularity. The focus of the services is on building a customer and maintaining it. Service institutions try to come up with products which are more meaningful and vouch for greater customer commitment. Quality has become a major concern. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the Indian banking system is fundamental to building a customer-centric organization. CRM systems link customer data into a single and logical customer repository. CRM in banking is a key element that allows a bank to develop its customer base and sales capacity. The goal of CRM is to manage all aspects of customer interactions in a manner that enables banks to maximize profitability from every customer.