EFFECTIVENESS OF PERSONAL SELLING IN THE MARKETING OF CAPITAL GOODS
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EFFECTIVENESS OF PERSONAL SELLING IN THE MARKETING OF CAPITAL GOODS
ABSTRACT
This study focuses on the effectiveness of personal selling while marketing capital items. It goes on to illustrate some of the procedures involved in personal selling and how they might be integrated for greater efficiency.
The company employed in this study was Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company; its employees and business customers were studied to determine the efficiency of personal selling in product promotion. The primary goal was to discover, among other things, the following.
– Personal selling’s effectiveness at raising awareness.
– How personal selling affects repeat purchases.
– How an ANAMMCO product demonstration piques the customer’s curiosity.
– Determine whether ANAMMCO’s consumer patronage is strong or low in comparison to personal selling.
– To determine whether ANANNCO’s ratio of sales expenses to sales volume is excessive or low.
– To investigate the performance of ANAMMCO salespeople and how it affects the company’s profits.
The study’s population consisted of ANAMMCO management/staff and their business customers in the Enugu metropolitan area.
Because it was not possible to research the total population in Enugu city, the sample size was determined using Topman’s formula.
A questionnaire was utilised to obtain information from respondents. These data were thoroughly analysed and interpreted using tables, and Chi-Square statistics were employed to evaluate the four hypotheses.
Based on the analysis, the following conclusions were reached.
– That ANAMMCO salespeople are performing well in raising awareness for their products.
– That the salespeople are not trailing behind in capturing the prospects’ interest.
– That the company’s profit margin is good but does not meet expectations.
– The customer’s patronage level needs to be increased.
– The salesforce is not motivated enough.
Based on these findings, the researcher made recommendations for how to tackle some of the company’s challenges. Such as developing the following strategies to increase client patronage.
– Use brochures or advertisements to provide more product information and advice for care and maintenance.
– Ensure good service and prompt follow-up on complaints to give post-purchase support.
– Follow up with direct contacts after the purchase to check that the consumer understands how to utilise the goods and that they are satisfied.
– Increase consumer participation with their brand by emphasising a specific product attribute.
– Improving salesforce motivation.
It is highly thought that if the aforesaid actions are implemented, the company will be on the path to efficiency.Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
For more than a decade and a half, Anambra Motor Company (ANAMMCO), which specialises in products such as cars, trucks, buses, and social Benz vehicles such as tippers, lorries, tankers, Jeeps, and a variety of others, has kept the nation on track in terms of technological development.
Using significant indigenous components, these vehicles are created to be nothing short of replicas of perfection and longevity.
At its inception, MB AMAMMCO was merely a motor assembly plant that was primarily intended to create trucks for the Nigerian market. However, the organisation’s current condition has transformed dramatically, from a mere assembly plant to a manufacturing company.
The plant has expanded its product line to encompass the entire line of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles in order to accelerate the country’s industrialization. It not only manufactures trucks such as the L800, L1418, and ACTROS, but it has also expanded into the design, fabrication, production, and sale of buses and other utility vehicles.
Its product line includes MBO 800, MBO 1418, MBO 1721, MBO 400 Marcopolo/Busscar, firefighting vehicles, ambulances, mobile clinics, refuse collectors and a variety of other specialised vehicles.
Unaffected by the ever-present availability of genuine spare parts and the efficiency of their sales service, which is a key feature of any personal selling effort, MB ANAMMCO has not only kept the nation moving but has also served as a baron in the ongoing struggle to establish an indigenous auto industry.
The firm is a joint venture between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Daimler Chrysler AG. It is a franchising company that was established on July 8, 1980, and began official production in January 1981 after being mandated by the original owner of the Mercedes Benz Trade Mark.
According to its preamble, Mercedes Benz ANAMMCO was founded with its cooperative headquarters in Emene Industrial Layout P.M.B 2523 in Enugu State.
However, the aforementioned corporation, having reached the pinnacle of manufacturing and after-sales services in the automotive industry, chose to spread its sales offices across practically all states in Nigeria.
Primarily as a result of increased demand for its products, and this positive experience is primarily due to the spread of word of mouth to others who have not yet discovered the wonders of the company’s products, particularly in the areas of efficiency, durability, prestige, comfort, and a variety of other factors.
This word-of-mouth confession made by both current and previous customers of the firm’s product is a contributing factor to the company’s increase in production capacity in previous years, as well as the creation of spaces for the absorption of more workers in the divergent department,
thereby helping to reduce the high rate of social menace that would have been associated with the mass unemployment situation. Thus, several persons, notably the enlightened, have expressed gratitude to ANAMMCO for its admirable role in the continuous advancement of our economy through its past yet high productive attainment.
However, the senior assistant manager in charge of franchise and marketing development has not failed to acknowledge the effectiveness of numerous promotional approaches in achieving the prior goal.
According to him, promotional tools are critical in the selling of capital (industrial) goods. This is obvious since customers of such products want both current information and after-sales services, as well as terms connected to the purchase and usage of industrial (capital) goods.
However, the aforementioned company, which had previously reached a pinnacle in the motor manufacturing industry, has declared that its sales volume and market share are declining.
The current situation has thrown the management of the aforementioned company into disarray, as a significant portion of their market share has been captured by other competitors in the same industry.
An insider claims that a lot of recent developments have contributed to this terrible feeling. Some of these developments include:
The ever-increasing number of enterprises currently active in the manufacture and sale of various cars, trucks, and so on, as well as the expansion and effective use of various promotional methods.
According to his contention, there were previously relatively few firms in the motor industry, which tends to reduce the level of competition among the few producers; he also stipulated that in such a situation, a specific firm will generate a reliable volume with minimal promotional efforts, which was the position of ANAMMCO at the time.
He backed up his claims by revealing that an increase in the number of companies in a specific field is correlated with an increase in technological breakthroughs and innovations, as well as fierce rivalry, all of which are combined with effective use of promotional methods.
Prior to this experience of reduced sales volume and profitability, the company’s management used a combination of advertising, publicity, sales promotion, and personal selling to relate to and persuade both current and potential customers to use the company’s products on a regular basis.
However, ANAMMCO’s management is not sceptical of the wonders of personal selling in capital goods marketing, and believes that such a promotional instrument can only justify its wonders in capital goods marketing if it works. To this aim, management wants to know if its sales staff is effective or not. This is the study’s central focus.
1.1 Background of the Study
Selling has been a common commercial practice for thousands of years. The first peddlers were dealers who had some ownership stake in the items they sold after producing or importing them. In many situations, these individuals saw selling as a secondary occupation.
Selling later became a distinct company function. Peddlers in the 18th century sold to farmers and immigrants across the huge North American continent. In the nineteenth century,
salesmen known as drummers sold to both consumers and marketing intermediaries. These early merchants occasionally utilised questionable ales methods and strategies, and they cultivated negative reputations for themselves and their businesses.
However, selling has evolved significantly since its inception. Today’s salesperson is often a professional, unlike the fast-talking, joke-telling, back-slapping caricatures depicted in several novels and comic strips.
Professors Ingram and Lafoge (1995:108) define sales professionalism as “a customer-oriented approach that employs truthful, non-manipulative tactics to satisfy the long-term needs of both the customer and the selling firm.”
Professional salespeople are problem solvers who prioritise meeting the needs of consumers before, during, and after the sale. They are knowledgeable about their company’s products or services, as well as those of their competitors and clients’ enterprises.
Personal selling is currently a vital, active, and dynamic practice. It is an interpersonal persuasion method that aims to influence a specific person’s decision. It is critical to order ingredients and make them available to the executive in charge of determining the promotional mix.
It entails a face-to-face interaction between the seller or his/her representative and the prospective customer, as the case may be. Personal selling is a very effective promotional tactic in the industrial (capital) goods market. Sales forces accomplish this goal in a variety of ways.
According to Rogers (1992:401) sales management, personal selling has become one of the most important promotional methods in marketing. He backed up the above proposal by stating that after all of the theorists and planners have had their say and the problems with production, finances, and labour have been overcome, someone must go out and knock on someone’s door and sell.
This discovery appears to be acceptable because a product cannot be produced in Enugu and is not available in a location like Lagos, where such a thing is in high demand.
This is the significance of the sales assertion that salespeople must not relent in their prospecting efforts; instead, they should study the demands of consumers while still satisfying them and maximising profit objectives.
A rigorous examination of the preceding statement demonstrates the significance of human selling efficacy in the marketing of capital goods. A product may be of the highest quality,
but it is useless until it reaches the hands of prospective consumers; and the most appropriate method for getting things from the manufacturing arena to the hands of possible purchasers is through personal selling.
It is important to recognise at this point that personal selling is nothing short of a Herculean task. This is because the salesman has little or no time for rest, owing to his or her involvement in home tasks and, at times, sales calls that may never result in a sale.
According to “stakeholder alignment,” salespeople strive to become partners with their consumers. He continued by stating that approach and focusing more on the customer’s profit needs.
What someone sells determines how they sell. In this sense, a skilled salesperson should be able to correctly recognise the persuasive message that is appropriate for a certain sales situation.
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