ABSTRACT Motives are the drives, impulses, wishes or desires that initiate the sequence of activities known as behavior.

Behind any purchasing action, there are several factors, which are playing an influential role where that makes the customer to perform the task. This study examines key influential factors that motivated and moves the customer towards a purchase and determines the level of influence that each influential factor has contributed to the scenario. Focusing on the set-up in depth, the research explores the factors influencing customer buying motives, with special reference to Sri Lanka Telecom Broadband at micro level. The main objective of this study is to assess the degree of influence generated by influencing factors of customer buying motives. It is also intended to classify them based on their gravity at buying decisions. This will provide an insight and help future marketing activities of the company. In-depth discussion with internal product development and marketing groups of the company coupled with a comprehensive survey based on a questionnaire distributed among sample of broadband users at micro business and residential level has been used as the dominant research strategy. Results of the study reveals that Emotional factor is the dominant influential factor among others, with 4.0229 mean value whilst, purchase orientated (3.5720), result oriented (3.5500), profit or money oriented (3.2937) and experience oriented (2.9750) factors respectively, has taken the remaining positions in the influential order. The research reveals that the emotional factor should be given top most priority at each respective marketing attempt with the required attention to other factors accordingly.

INTRODUCTION Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides Telecommunication services to residential, corporate, and business customers in Sri Lanka. It is diversified in to several areas which include Fixed and wireless (CDMA) telephony, Broadband, IPTV, Mobile services, Domestic and international leased circuits, Frame relay, ISDN, Satellite uplink, Maritime transmission, Wi-Max services and Directory services. Currently it is the only service provider in the country to offer telephone, Internet and television services via one connection.

SLT group has a customer base of over four million including multinational corporations, large and small corporate, retail and domestic customers. Running with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion the company is making an important milestone in the journey towards its vision of all Sri Lankans being seamlessly connected with world class information, communication and entertainment services. Being the leading Telecommunication service provider in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Telecom launches its products to the local market gradually targeting different market segments Island wide. Though the massive customer awareness programs are coupled along with its products and services, the fixed line market faces intense competition from the mobile service providers while experiencing low response for its traditional core businesses. Even though a massive customer awareness programs are carried out different stages such as: preproduct launch, after commercialization and at the time of value added services are launched, it is vital to understand the effectiveness of those programs and campaigns, given objectives of such initiatives.

Problem Identification There are several causes which has encouraged this study such as: a. Inability to obtain anticipated customer responses after investing on those programs. b. Lack of understanding on forceful buying motives with regards to the companies sub brands. c. Gradual decline in the Broadband market share

Research Questions Main intention of this research study is to seek out answers for following research questions. What are the major factors that drives customer to purchase the Broadband product? What degrees of influence are made by these factors? Research Objectives to assess the variability of influence generated through influencing factors of customer buying motives with regards to the SLT Broadband and, to classify them considering most influence to least forceful.

Conceptual Framework There are several competitive classifications on buying motives applied by experts in the arena of marketing, in identifying the level of influence generated by the identified influential factors of customer buying motives. Among those, the classification of Gitomer, J has been selected as the most spirited categorization of customer buying motives in order to carry out the study in the most fruitful manner. Figure 1.1, depicts the conceptual framework used in this study.

Figure 1.1: Factors Influencing Customer Buying Motives

Factors Influencing Customer Buying Motives

Structure of the Study This paper consists five parts: the first section includes background to the study, problem identification, research questions and research objectives, and conceptual framework. The second part deals with review of literature and evolving concepts. The third section, of the study explains the methods of data collection along with the sampling techniques and statistical data analysis employed. The final part of this paper includes the analysis of data, findings, conclusion and recommendations.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE Analyzing customer buying motives has identified as a cornerstone of a successful marketing strategy. The factors which precipitate the buyer's motives and guide their final selection of the product can be perceived as best satisfying their purchasing need. While the perception of the buyer will mediate the information used and the interpretation put on it, all purchase decisions incorporate a mix of price, Technological, performance, personal and emotional factors. While one motive may dominate others, the availability of choice in the market place means that buyers will often be faced with two or more acceptable solutions to their purchase need, and so may appear to behave 'irrationally' in making their final selection. Therefore identifying and understanding the factors influencing the customer buying motives is a key concern in the development of effective marketing strategies. A motive is an internal energizing force that directs persons activities towards satisfying needs or achieving goals. Buyers actions are affected by a set of motives rather than by just one motive. Motives also affect the direction and intensity of behaviour, Pride and Ferrel, (2010). Furthermore, motives can be explained as drives, impulses, wishes or desires that initiate the sequence of activities known as behaviour, Udell, (2001) According to Udell, (2001), the importance of customer buying motives in the marketing success of a product was emphasized forty years ago in the pioneering work of researcher Melvin T. Copeland. In an attempt to present a classification of motives useful to business management, Copeland proposed separating them into two categories, rational and emotional: These motives have their origin in human instincts and emotions and represent impulse or unreasoning promptings to action. By going through the classifications of Copeland and other experts in the subject matter, Udell, (2001), has introduced a new classification of buying motives by dividing them in to two extremes, those which are operational and those which are sociopsychological. He further explains that the operational buying motives as those reasons for the purchase that are directly related to the anticipated performance of the product and sociopsychological motives as reasons for the purchase that are indirectly related to the anticipated performance of the product and directly related to the consumers social and psychological interpretation of the product.

Evolving Concepts Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Most large companies conduct researches on consumer buying decisions in great detail to answer questions about; what consumers buy? , where they buy? , how and how much they buy? , when they buy? and why they buy?. Though the questions are set and straight forward, learning about the whys of consumer buying behaviour is not as easy as the answers are often locked deep within the consumers mind. In some cases the customers themselves are not aware of what exactly influence their purchases. There the buying decisions are made at unconscious level which shows the vitality of a depth understanding prior to next step, Kotler and Armstrong, (2008). According to Kotler and Armstrong, (2008), customer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal, and psychological characteristics. The cultural factor exerts broad and deep influence on consumer behavior. The marketer needs to understand the role played by the buyers culture, sub culture and the social class. Social factors are being sub grouped as small groups, family and social roles and status. A buyers decision also influenced by personal characteristics such as age, lifecycle stage, occupation, economic situation, life style, personality and self concept. Psychological factors including motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes are also should be taken as key concerns. According to Gitomer, (2004), people dont like to be sold, but they love to buy. He argues that the least powerful way of completing a transaction is teaching sales people on how to sell, and by knowing or without knowing it has been practiced for the last 120 years. As per his classification, customer buying motives consists of; (a) Purchase Oriented, (b) Emotional - Oriented, (c) Experience Oriented, (d) Profit or Money Oriented and (e) Result Oriented factors. It is an undeniable rule that on the surface seems relatively simplistic, but when digging deeper, the complexity lies in uncovering the motive of why people buy. Uncovering buying motives goes against the strategy of selling. Selling implies informing the prospect of who you are, how great you are, what your product is, what your product does, and a myriad of features and benefits that most buyers are completely aware of. Uncovering buying motives is harder to do and requires a lot more work on the part of the salesperson, but if done properly will both double the sales and eliminate competitors. The fundamental principle is uncovering the prospects why. Why do they want this? Why do they need this? Why is it important that they buy it now? And assorted other emotional questions that create what is known as buyer urgency. Once the reasons for purchase decision has been understood carefully, then

are able to match those motives with value, believability and trust, Gitomer, (2004). He further explains the reasons for purchase decision such as: history, past experiences, expertise, wisdom, need, want, desire to solve or resolve, desire to recover, desire to change, desire to own, desire to win, passion, fear, greed, vanity, desire to impress, peace of mind, and desired outcome. People buy for their reasons, not the sellers. If that understanding is there, then their urgency to buy is become the sellers reality. Regardless of the prospects desire and motive to buy, reasons for selling should match the customers reasons for buying, in other words, motives, with regards to any successful marketing attempt. Along the process, Gitomer (2004), introduces a challenging way to perceive this comprehensive process. He comes with a concept that not to think of it as just a motive, but to think of it as money. Find the motive means find the money or at least the path that will leads to the desired destination. For the customer, its not what the seller want or need. Its what the customer feels safe buying and when he feels that it is the best time to buy. There is no any answer for urgency, especially when the sales person needs the sale but the customer is hesitating for no apparent reason. Its their motive, emotion and logical justification balanced with their tolerance for risk. RESEARCH METHOD Primary data collection method has been used in this study. An in-depth discussion carried out with the SLT internal product development and marketing groups as well as a comprehensive survey was carried out based on the targeted customer segments in the country. As SLT holds a massive customer base Island wide as well as the company provides a range of products and services it has been decided to narrow down the research to a single product that is SLT Broadband. A broad discussion was carried out with the SLT internal staff in order to identify the set internal considerations and assessments on customer behaviour and buying motives in the target market. The understanding gained from the above mentioned discussions and the parameter illustrated in the Figure 1.1, were used to develop the questionnaire for the survey. Sample Selection As SLT targets a huge broadband market, the most convenient and productive method of sampling is non-probability sampling. Hence, the sampling method used for this research is purposive sampling. Mainly sampling is been focused on micro level business customers along with the residential customers in professional and none-professional categories, where there is a huge competitive and potential

market exists in all over the country. Though the business customer segment consist of very large, large, medium, small and micro categories it has been decided to narrow down the sample to the micro level business customers as other customer segments are very well looked after by an appointed marketing manager. Therefore the impact of awareness campaigns to those higher levels is lesser, compared with the micro business segment. And also the impact of micro level business customers to the business environment and position is considerably higher where the respective segment size is comparably huge. The respective sample has been selected by covering different areas in Colombo district, so the sample represents different views and believes where it will be a plus point in evaluating the final results of the research. When working on a highly competitive situation as current, it is a crucial factor to find out the most to least influential factors with regards to the customer buying motives prior reaching the targeted customer segments in a more effective manner. For gathering the customer information the SLT directory was the selected resource of data. While selecting the sample, judgmental sampling has also been merged into the purposive sampling method where necessary. From the areas which were covered by the broadband product, the targeted segments have been selected as it contains different interest groups. Business customer (Micro level) and residential customer (Professional / None Professional) segments were considered as major two categories. Among the broadband coverage areas, the above mentioned sample has been drawn out purposively where it consists of it consists of 50 heads from business customers and 50 heads from residential customers. An internal discussion carried out with heads of product planning and marketing units at Sri Lanka Telecom this ensured a considerably accurate representation of internal views towards the factors influencing customer buying motives with special reference to SLT Broadband at micro level. Data Analysis Te qualitative approach has been dominant tool used with a practical classification considering most to least force and also which is applicable to the real time environment. Therefore, each and every measurement variable has been evaluated through five point lickert scale system (1 to 5, where 5 = Strongly positive position and 1 = Strongly negative position) along with in depth analysis using mean, standard deviation, one-way ANOVA test and Tukey test. When there are more than two groups for the analysis, the most appropriate way to do the analysis is to use a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)

to evaluate whether there is any evidence that the means of the populations differ, which will lead further to investigate that which of the means represent the difference, Crichton (1990). Tukey's multiple comparison test is one of several tests that can be used to determine which means amongst a set of means differ from the rest. The test compares the difference between each pair of means with appropriate adjustment for the multiple testing. The results are presented as a matrix showing the result for each pair, either as a P-value or as a confidence interval. These respective tests, assumes that the data from the different groups come from populations where the observations have a normal distribution and the standard deviation is the same for each group, Crichton, (1990). The study also covers a comprehensive percentage analysis on identified key areas under each factor to elaborate the scenario in a very much descriptive manner. DISCUSSION This section reveals the variability of influence generated through influencing factors of customer buying motives with regards to the SLT Broadband with the views of the participants of the conducted survey. During the analysis, the outcomes of the questionnaire (Refer Appendix A: Questionnaire) is being analyzed with the aid of statistical methodologies tables and graphs, in finding out the most appropriate and reliable answers for the research questions identified.

Descriptive Analysis In order to identify the situation more clearly, the total research questionnaire (Refer Appendix A: Questionnaire) will be evaluated using five measurement variables (Influential factors) identified. The depth analysis on the respective variables and identifying the positive and negative relationships among those will lead to discover the most reliable classification of factors considering most to least force, which is more practical indeed.

Profit or Money - Oriented Factor A set of straight and hidden questions has been prepared to identify the influence generated via profit or money oriented factor and have been surveyed among the targeted customer sample of hundred heads. While examining the results found out for each of the question raised for this respective measurement variable, profit or money - oriented factor, it can be clearly seen that the profit or money -

oriented factor has a comparably lesser effect towards the customer buying motives. Here for all the questions provided under this category, the mean responses floating around the lickert scale value Three. This depicts that people are somewhat neutral on this respective category compared with the other factors. And also when analyzing the standard deviation, it shows that the answers given by the selected sample was very much similar as almost all the observations are being clustered around the mean, although they represent different customer groups. Below table depicts the above discussed scenario. Table 4.1: Analysis on Profit or Money Oriented Factor Question Mean Standard Deviation Broadband price range matches to the ability of expense Service bought is worth for the money Way of grading the Broadband package which is using at the moment Ever think of upgrading the existing package for a better package Price of the product is a limiting factor for you to go for an upgrade Willingness to pay any amount for the Broadband package, if it is worth for money and if it makes your tasks easy Dependability of the Broadband package bought, for day today activities without any hesitation of malfunctioning Broadband product makes life easy and saved time 3.300 3.270 3.440 2.680 3.7700 1.040 1.053 1.057 1.180 0.9729

3.370

1.331

3.2000

0.9101

3.320

1.205

The majority of the responses (63.9%) are for values Three and Four and when summing up, the outcome tends to move towards the neutral side.

Figure 4.1: Analysis on Profit or Money Oriented Factor

Purchase - Oriented Factor A set of questions has been prepared to identify the level of influence generated through the purchase oriented factor towards the customer buying motives. The following statistics shows the results found out for each of the question raised for this respective measurement variable. Table 4.2: Analysis on Purchase Oriented Factor Question Mean Standard Deviation Type of reason forced to buy a Broadband connection Got the connection at correct time How soon it was to make the decision to buy the product Were there any influencers that pushed to purchase the Broadband connection Do the awareness campaigns, seasonal or special promotions have pushed for the purchase 4.080 3.6500 3.6200 1.134 0.9468 0.8620

3.120

1.174

3.390

1.154

Here through the analysis it can be observed that the purchase oriented factor has a comparably higher effect towards the customer buying motives. Here for all the questions provided under this category, the mean response floating around the lickert scale values Three and Four. This depicts that people are somewhat positive on this respective category compared with the other factors. Further the standard deviations under this respective category are also comparably low and almost all the observations are being clustered around the mean. This shows that the answers given by the selected sample was very much similar with different customer representation. The below graph depicts the above explained scenario in a very much descriptive manner. The majority of the responses are for values Four and Three and when summing up, the outcome tends to move towards the positive side.
Figure4. 2: Analysis on Purchase Oriented Factor

Emotional - Oriented Factor The conducted survey has analyzed the influence generated via the emotional - oriented factor also in order to identify the factors influencing customer buying motives, in a way that leads to come up with a reliable classification. The following statistics shows the results found out for each of the question raised for this respective measurement variable.

Through the analysis it can be observed very clearly that the emotional oriented factor has the comparably highest effect towards the customer buying motives. Here for all the questions provided under this category, the mean responses floating around the lickert scale value Four in a tight way (Refer: Table 4.3). This depicts that people are almost positive on this respective category compared with the other factors. Further the standard deviations under this respective category are also very much low and almost all the observations are being clustered around the mean in a strong manner. This shows that the answers given by the selected sample was very much similar and they are highly aggressive on the emotional oriented factor even with a sample of different customer representation. Table 4.3: Analysis on Emotional Oriented Factor Question Mean Standard Deviation What motivates to make the purchase What type of image that was in the mind about the Broadband product before the purchase Broadband Technology will provide a better learning experience It is a necessary requirement for everyone to have a Broadband connection nearby Will it be a plus point for a person to have a Broadband connection to meet the ever-changing demand in the market Broadband product has changed the lifestyle to some extent Broadband has helped to build up the personality via opening the doors to international level 4.180 1.175

4.0400

0.9312

4.0400

0.8867

3.990

1.030

4.2700

0.7086

3.7900

0.9979

3.8500

0.9143

From the total responses 72.5% are for values Four and Three and when summing up, the outcome tends to move towards the strongly positive side. The graph included underneath elaborates the explained scenario.

Figure 4.3: Analysis on Emotional Oriented Factor

Experience - Oriented Factor A set of questions has been prepared to identify the level of influence generated through the experience oriented factor towards the customer buying motives. The following statistics shows the results found out for each of the question raised for this respective measurement variable. The analysis reveals that the purchase oriented factor has a comparably lower effect towards the customer buying motives. Here for all the questions provided under this category, the mean responses floating around the lickert scale value Two and Three. This depicts that people are somewhat negative on this respective category compared with the other factors. And also when analyzing the standard deviation, it shows that the answers given by the selected sample was very much similar as almost all the observations are being clustered around the mean even with the representation of different customer groups. Table 4.4: Analysis on Experience Oriented Factor Question Mean Standard Deviation Relevant social class represent in the society Does the Broadband product has awarded a brand-new experience Does the family members uses the service regularly 3.050 1.290 3.010 3.220 1.030 1.115

Does the neighbors/friends/relatives are using the Broadband service Does the neighbors/friends/relatives are having the better package of the Broadband product Does the family members has influenced to upgrade the product due to their individual requirements or due to social influence Respond positively to the requests of the family members, regardless of the money incurred for upgrades Broadband has become a cultural requirement of the modern society

3.150

1.038

2.7800

0.8713

2.390

1.230

2.770

1.171

3.430

1.027

From the total responses 50.7% are for values Two and Three and when summing up, the outcome tends to move towards the negative side. Below graph visualize the explained scenario in a very much explanatory manner.

Figure 4.4: Analysis on Experience Oriented Factor

Result - Oriented Factor A set of questions has been prepared to identify the level of influence generated through the result oriented factor towards the customer buying motives. According to the statistical findings the purchase result oriented factor has a comparably higher effect towards the customer buying motives. Here for all the questions provided under this category, the mean responses floating around the lickert scale value Three showing very much closer value range for value Four. This depicts that people are somewhat positive on this respective category compared with the other factors. Further the standard deviations under this respective category are also very much low and therefore it can be clearly stated that almost all the observations are being clustered around the mean. Table 4.5: Analysis on Result Oriented Factor Question Satisfied with the after sales service provided by the company Recommend the SLT Broadband product to some other party without any hesitation Ever feel like shifting from SLT fixed Broadband to Mobile Broadband What makes the attachment to the product in any above situation Trust the Sri Lanka Telecom as a company and trust the service they provide If, came to know that, there are some faults in the Broadband product, will there be another chance to rectify them If a new fixed Broadband player comes to the market with a set of attractive packages, then what will be the reaction Sri Lanka Telecom as a company Mean 3.2000 Standard Deviation 0.9640

3.310

1.116

3.390

1.197

3.190

1.203

3.8600

0.7250

3.7400

0.9059

3.710

1.038

3.8900

0.8027

Sri Lanka Telecom Broadband as a product/service

3.6600

0.8901

Figure 4.5, further describes the scenario, where it makes clear that when summing up the outcome, it tends to move towards the positive side.

Figure 4.5: Analysis on Result Oriented Factor

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The conducted survey was a successful attempt in finding out the factors influencing customer buying motives with special reference to SLT Broadband at micro level. Through the response obtained for the questionnaire (Refer Appendix A: Questionnaire), it has been observed the level of influence generated through each factor along with a thorough understanding on related background information in a very broad manner. Following depicts the summary of the data analysis of the conducted research study. In order to identify the analysis in a very broad manner the data has been organized in a way such that they represent the answers for the research questions of the respective study. When summing up the answers for the research question one for this respective study, that is; what are the major influencing factors that move the customer to purchase the Broadband product? What can be the best representation of factors, considering most to least influence? ; the research itself directs the analysis towards below conclusions Below graph depicts the summation of the results analyzed separately in the previous chapter, when analyzing the five factors as a whole. There it shows clearly that the emotional - oriented factor dominates the buying motives in a massive way where the purchase oriented factor follows the same

by getting the second position in the influential flow. Result - oriented factor, profit or money - oriented factor and the experience - oriented factor holds the next immediate positions in the influential order respectively.
Figure 5.1: Factors influencing customer buying motives Classification summary

The above classification further supported by the below statistical representations.

Table 5.1: Descriptive Statistics Variable Profit or Money Oriented Factor Purchase Oriented Factor Emotional Oriented Factor Experience Oriented Factor Result Oriented Factor 3.5720 4.0229 2.9750 3.5500 1.1042 0.9670 1.1395 1.0251 Mean 3.2937 Standard Deviation 1.1321

According to the above statistics generated via a depth analysis using a five point lickert scale, the study discloses the most influential factor as the Emotional factor with 4.0229 mean value. Respectively, Purchase oriented (3.5720), Result oriented (3.5500), Profit or Money oriented (3.2937) and Experience oriented (2.9750) factors has taken the remaining positions in the influential order. The research reveals that the Emotional factor should be given high priority at each respective marketing attempt with the required attention to other factors accordingly. In-order to establish the above findings in a more statistically reliable way the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test has been applied to the scenario. It allows in determining if one identified factor, has a significant effect on customer buying motives across any of the other factor under the study. Table 5.2: One-way ANOVA test One-way ANOVA: Response versus Factor Source Factor Error Total DF 4 3695 3699 SS 445.59 4268.26 4713.85 MS 111.40 1.16 F 96.44 P 0.000

A significantly low p-value of 0 with a 95% confidence interval resulting from a one-way ANOVA test indicates that the factors influencing customer buying motives are differentially expressed though the test does not specifically indicate which pair of factors exhibits the statistical differences. Furthermore the resulted p-value 0 indicates the significant difference between the factors influencing customer buying motives. As there is a significant difference, it is very much crucial to identify that between which factors the difference exists. There the Tukey test plays the major role in analysing the data accordingly. Below tables depicts that which means are significantly different from one another. All pair wise comparisons have been carried out with the 95% simultaneous confidence intervals

Table 5.3: Tukey test Emotional factor Factor = Emotional subtracted from Factor Experience Profit or Money Purchase Result Lower -1.200 -0.881 -0.623 -0.621 Center -1.048 -0.729 -0.451 -0.473 Upper -0.896 -0.577 -0.279 -0.325

Statistical theorems explain that if the confidence interval doesn't contain 0, then there is a significant difference between the factors. Accordingly, the first confidence interval goes from -1.200 to -0.896, so there's no 0 in this range for the experience factor compared with the emotional factor. As all the other confidence intervals also does not holds 0 at the respective intervals, it can be precisely stated that there is a significant difference between each factor towards the Emotional - oriented factor. T able 5.4: Tukey test Experience factor Factor = Experience subtracted from: Factor Profit or Money Purchase Result Lower 0.172 0.430 0.432 Center 0.319 0.597 0.575 Upper 0.465 0.764 0.718

The first confidence interval goes from 0.172 to 0.465, so there's no 0 in this range for the profit or money oriented factor compared with the experience factor. As all the other confidence intervals also does not holds 0 at the respective intervals, it can be precisely stated that there is a significant difference between each factor towards the Experience - Oriented factor.

Table 5.5: Tukey test Profit or money factor Factor = Profit or Money subtracted from: Factor Purchase Result Lower 0.111 0.114 Center 0.278 0.256 Upper 0.445 0.399

The first confidence interval goes from 0.111 to 0.445, so there's no 0 in this range for the purchase factor compared with the profit or money oriented factor. As the other confidence interval also does not holds 0 at the respective intervals, it can be clearly stated that there is a significant difference between purchase and result oriented factor towards the Profit or money - Oriented factor. Table 5.6: Tukey test Purchase factor Factor = Purchase subtracted from: Factor Result Lower -0.186 Center -0.022 Upper 0.142

The confidence interval goes from -0.186 to -0.022, so this interval does cover 0 for the result factor compared with the purchase oriented factor. Therefore it can be quite correctly stated that there is no any significant difference between result oriented factors towards the Purchase - Oriented factor. When extrapolating the data analyzed, the path is very much clear to come up with general conclusions with regards to the factors influencing customer buying motives with special reference to the Sri Lanka Telecom Broadband at micro level. Therefore the respective analysis of the sample data has led the study towards making inferences about the whole applicable population in a very much precise manner. Below graph depicts the best representation of factors, considering most to least influence generated through each identified influential factor.

Figure 5.2: Factors influencing customer buying motives Classification of factors considering most to least force

Most Influential

When summing up the answers for the research question two for this respective study, below includes the recommendations that can be recommended to help guide and refine the future marketing attempts to be align with the influencing factors for customer buying motives. The conducted study has unlocked a series of valuable concepts to be practiced by the Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, in each single activity carried out. SLT should concern more on its awareness mechanisms to be aligned with the factors influencing customer buying motives, by putting required attention to the level of influence generated by each factor. SLT should concern more on grabbing the hearts and minds of the existing as well as potential customer segments by taking the opportunity to the maximum, with the thorough background knowhow. Along the way SLT should work more on identifying ways and means for improving its processes and related activities in order to be reached by the end customer in the most influential way. The company should plan and implement competitive, effective, reliable as well as practical awareness mechanisms according to the best representation of the influential factors identified, considering most to least force. When summarizing all five influential factors, it has been understood that along with the competitive as well as cutting edge awareness mechanisms the factors influencing customer buying

motives should also needed to be blended. It has been analyzed such that the company would be able to go for big targets with the mix of those two aspects.

Conclusion and Recommendations Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides Telecommunication services to residential, corporate, and business customers in Sri Lanka. The company practices massive customer awareness programs, coupled along with the newly introducing products and packages as well as introducing value added services and new modifications to the existing products as the leading Telecommunication service provider in Sri Lanka. Therefore the company has identified the vitality of having a better understanding on the customer buying motives with regards to the influence generated via each factor, In order to better streamline its marketing attempts, in facing its rival activities at any given moment. Most developing countries like Sri Lanka have many opportunities as well as need to undergo many difficulties on conducting effective awareness campaigns due to a bunch of reasons. When considering the Telecommunication business arena, it is a challenging factor to identify the factors influencing customer buying motives carefully and to be more effective in awareness methodologies and to be align with the identified factors, while thriving for hard targets. Therefore a company like Sri Lanka Telecom needs to put so much energy on keeping and improving the level of its marketing attempts while facing any type of opportunities or obstacles. This respective research evaluates factors influencing customer buying motives individually and has come up with a classification considering most to least force. While conducting the research study different factors of customer buying motives have been observed carefully, and through the observations following key areas can be recommended to be implemented at the company premises in the future, targeting more effectiveness in its future marketing attempts and more market share to the company. As the leading Telecommunication Company in the country Sri Lanka Telecom PLC should, a. Understand the personnel priorities and concerns of the targeted end customers and address accordingly

b. Be more customized in awareness methodologies and be align with the customer buying motives in each attempt c. Identify the competitor movements in their marketing endeavors and be proactive wherever necessary d. Maintain comprehensive repository of market intelligence e. Plan for awareness campaigns through getting forecasted market information via comprehensive researches It was a great experience to go through factors influencing customer buying motives with regards to a business entity while that entity is running on a very competitive environment. Each and every chapter in this analysis report explains the entire set of information gathered and analyzed inorder to identify the best classification of the factors influencing the customer buying motives as well as to make comprehensive understanding of those factors. Company resource personals, survey representatives, company documents, lectures, articles, related books and last but no means least the Internet was a huge back for conducting the respective research study without facing to any major limitations. From the beginning to the end, the total experience was invaluable as the conducted research was very informative as well as provided many opportunities to take clear decisions and also to come up with the best as well as the most reliable classification, which has been proved statistically. The respective research was conducted in an unbiased manner; therefore any interested party can depend on the decisions and predictions made in the research report. In concluding this document it can be clearly stated that the conducted research study on the factors influencing customer buying motives with special reference to SLT Broadband at micro level, was a great experience and a great milestone.

REFERENCES www.google.com www.yahoo.com www.scribd.com

ABBREVIATIONS

ADSL ANOVA CDMA ICT ISDN IP IPTV MPLS NGN PLC SLT TDM VPN VoIP Wi-Max

- Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line - ANalysis Of Variance - Code Division Multiple Access - Information and Communication Technologies - Integrated Services Digital Network - Internet Protocol - Internet Protocol Television - Multi Protocol Label Switching - Next Generation Networking - Public Limited Company - Sri Lanka Telecom - Time-Division Multiplexing - Virtual Private Network - Voice Over Internet Protocol - Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access