After China's entry into WTO, the entry of foreign IT enterprises has caused profound changes in the service market of IT enterprises in China. More and more IT enterprises have realized the value of providing services to customers, and have carried out various explorations and practices. At the same time, China vigorously advocates and supports the construction of informatization and information industry, and the IT industry has gained a good external environment and development opportunities.
With the gradual expansion of the market scale of IT enterprises, the competition between IT enterprises and the service market is becoming increasingly fierce, and the traditional strategies to deal with the market are challenged. In order to improve market penetration and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, IT enterprises began to shift their focus to providing services to customers.
Although the change of internal and external environment has brought huge business opportunities for the development of IT enterprises, however. When providing services, many IT enterprises in our country often invest heavily, but they can't get the due return, and the quality of providing services has not been improved, or even declined. Part of the reason is that there are not enough related enterprises to provide IT enterprise services, and there is not a mature IT enterprise service market of sufficient scale, but the main reason is that IT enterprises do not attach importance to the real combination of IT and services when investing in IT and providing services.
To implement services, we must clearly see the changes in the whole market, especially IT enterprises that use IT technology to provide services to customers. Because of the rapid update of technology and products, the market they face is developing and changing at an alarming rate. Due to the lack of mature and effective theoretical methods and guidance for the service of IT enterprises in China, decision-making often lags behind the development of the market and fails to seize business opportunities in time. The reason is that there is no correct analysis of the market and customers. The object of IT enterprise service is customers, the content of service depends on customers' needs, and the implementation and quality of service comes from customers' evaluation. Therefore, to some extent, customers decide the fate of enterprises. In order to provide customers with high-quality, high-tech and satisfactory services to the greatest extent, the best way is to segment the market, select target customers and locate the target market, which is STP theory.
1, STP theory
STP theory consists of three parts: market segmentation, market objectives and market positioning. Select the target customers through market segmentation, and then determine the target market on this basis, and finally position the market.
1. 1. Market segmentation; Refers to the classification of customers according to certain characteristics, and the same wine cellar is called a subdivision. There are generally three criteria for subdivision: the type of service required by customers and the decision-making mode of the organization.
The following are several commonly used market segmentation methods:
(1) The geographical factor market segmentation method is to segment the market according to the geographical area where customers are located. Regional subdivision can actually provide IT services across regions, and the resulting regional market generally adopts channel management mode, and management institutions are set up in different regions to manage market development and management in this region. For example, it can be divided into southwest, north, east, northeast and northwest regions. Set up corresponding offices and branches. Internationally, Europe, Asia, North America and other intercontinental regions can be divided. Geographical subdivision will become an important basis for IT enterprises to carry out cross-regional IT services. For example, Hewlett-Packard Company is divided into Asia, North America, Europe and other regions in the world, Southeast Asia and East Asia in Asia, and North China, East China, Southwest China, Central China and other regional markets in China, and management agencies are set up in these regions.
(2) consumer behavior market segmentation method, which divides the market according to the behavioral characteristics of customer consumption. According to the nature of consumption, the market can be divided into two market segments: business-to-business (BtoB) or business-to-consumer service market (BtoC). For example, as an IT company, we can provide both ERP system for enterprises and family financial management system for individuals.
(3) The human factor market segmentation method is to segment the market according to the social characteristics of customers. Determine the target market according to human factors, and launch IT services without asking indiscriminately. For example, according to students and businessmen, we can divide handheld products into student computers and commercial computers.
(4) Interest factor market segmentation method is to define the real needs of customers and potential customers and what benefits they can enjoy after meeting these needs, and on this basis, divide customers into different market regions. From this, we can identify some industry markets, mainly those industry customers who need to provide TT services to speed up information construction and enhance value. Such as telecommunications, taxation, finance, education, insurance, transportation and other industries.
1.2. Market positioning: it is to evaluate the attractiveness of different market segments, select target customers and serve them accordingly.
Therefore, we can subdivide the market according to geographical area, consumption behavior, humanistic factors and interest factors to locate the target market, that is, target customers. For example, Lenovo Group provides regional special machines with different prices to different regions according to geographical regions and differences in living standards in different regions; According to the industry, Lenovo takes China Telecom, China Taxation and China Finance as its target customers, and divides computers into business computers and home computers according to human factors.
1.3. Market positioning: refers to the intervention of service organizations on selected target customers.
Market segmentation is a necessary part of implementing IT services, so market positioning will apply our IT services to selected target markets. At the same time, we should also realize that our target market may be constantly changing, and it is a rapidly changing market segment. Therefore, IT enterprises should have an ever-changing positioning plan when implementing the service strategy, instead of focusing on the existing market segments, they should plan ahead in the ever-changing market and strive to develop new markets.
Application of 2.2. STP theory
According to STP theory, what kind of strategic decisions and service behaviors should we adopt? Through the analysis of STP theory (market segmentation, target customer selection, market positioning), the decision of IT enterprises to implement service bundling has the following aspects:
(1) Which market segment should I choose?
The best way is to put resources into several market segments first, and then gradually expand the scope to other markets with the consolidation of these market segments. However, before making a decision, we should choose several schemes through careful investigation and choose the most suitable scheme by weighing each scheme.
(2) Do you need a different organization to serve the target customers?
Different market segments have different decision-making methods, so the team organizations and service methods that need our services are also different. At the top of the market, we need to hire senior and experienced negotiators; At the bottom of the market, professional and experienced service teams are needed. Individual members, such as CEO, CFO, etc. Who changed teams at the first level. We can sell our services to the same level staff in the client company.
Are you ready to make the necessary investment?
After entering a new market segment and selecting target customers, our IT enterprises are facing an insurmountable obstacle, that is, they need to invest a lot of money and time. This kind of investment is very necessary, which can make us establish our position in the new market, firmly grasp the target customers and ensure the future development of the whole organization.
(4) Do different market segments need different services?
Customers in every market segment need to feel that they can get the most satisfactory service, so the services we need to provide cannot be exactly the same. What we have to do is to make customers feel that they can get the maximum benefit from the services we provide, and we can get the maximum commercial profit.
(5) Can different market segments bear different service prices?
Different market segments will make different judgments on the same service, different market segments will put forward different demands for the same service for different reasons, and they will also have different views on the value, competition degree and opportunity cost of this service, which will have an impact on the price. This requires us to make an accurate judgment on the prices of various market segments in Germany, provide customers with the most products and services at the most suitable prices, and maximize profits.
Through the analysis of customers by applying STP theory, there are the following requirements for the service behavior of IT enterprises:
(1) Promise customers that the services provided will bring them different benefits.
Because of the same service, different customers expect different benefits.
(2) When providing services, different forms of communication are adopted for different customers.
For the same service, when facing different customers, the information positioning of the services provided should not be exactly the same.
(3) When promoting our services, we should consider using different media.
(4) We can provide different service support for different customers.
Different market segments need different services. The stronger the ability to interact with customers in various market segments, the stronger the ability to occupy market segments.