This thesis centers on the impact of advertising on the sales volume of a product. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization or its product to a target audience through a mass / broadcast medium by an identified sponsor. This work will shed light on how advertising can really affect a consumer's buying decisions in a growing economy like that of Nigeria.
This thesis centers on the impact of advertising on the sales volume of a product. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization or its product to a target audience through a mass / broadcast medium by an identified sponsor. This work will shed light on how advertising can really affect a consumer's buying decisions in a growing economy like that of Nigeria.
This thesis centers on the impact of advertising on the sales volume of a product. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization or its product to a target audience through a mass / broadcast medium by an identified sponsor. This work will shed light on how advertising can really affect a consumer's buying decisions in a growing economy like that of Nigeria.
professionals with the special reference age group of 20-30 years in Indore
Submitted to the Sapient I nstitute of Management Studies, I ndore
As a partial fulfillment For the completion of Master of Business Administration For Semester 3rd
Guided By: Submitted By: Prof. Arpit Loya Garima Jakhetiya Roll No. 12940712
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C O N T E N T S
Particular Page No. INTRODUCTION 2 - 5 LITERATURE REVIEW 5 - 7 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 7 - 7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7 - 7 HYPOTHESIS 8 - 8 LIMITATIONS 8 - 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 9 - 9
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INTRODUCTION
Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization or its product to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium by an identified sponsor. It should be observed that for any promotional activity to be called advertisement it must be paid for. In the real sense, it is the method used by companies for creating awareness of their products, as well as making new products known to the new and potential consumers. This thesis however, centers on the impact of advertising on the sales volume of a product. This work will shed light on how advertising can really affect a consumers buying decisions in a growing economy like that of Nigeria and how successful advertising can keep businesses going even in the midst a tough competition. More so, advertising as a promotional tool also tends to remind, reassure and influence the decisions of the consumers because an advertisement itself enlightens, educates, and persuades consumers on their acceptability of the product offering. Advertisement in such a media as print (newspaper, magazines, billboards, flyers) or broadcast (radio, television) typically consist of pictures, headlines, information about the product and occasionally a response coupon. Broadcast advertisement on the other hand consists of an audio or video narrative that can range from 15seconds spots to longer segments known as infomercials, which generally last 30 to 60 minutes. (Busari 2002) Advertisements can also be seen on the seats of grocery carts, on the wall of airport walkways, on the sides of buses, airplane and train. Advertisements are usually placed anywhere an audience can easily and/or frequently a access visual and/or video.
PERSONAL SELLING Personal presentation by the firms sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships. Personal selling is paid personal communication that attempts to inform customers and persuade them to purchase products or services. A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. Signaling completion of the prospective stage, it is the beginning of an engagement between customer and vendor or the extension of that engagement. The seller or salesperson the provider of the goods or services completes a sale in response to an acquisition or to an appropriation
or to a request. There follows the passing of title (property or ownership) in the item, and the application and due settlement of a price, the obligation for which arises due to the seller's requirement to (3)
pass ownership. Ideally, a seller agrees upon a price at which he willingly parts with ownership of or any claim upon the item. The purchaser, though a party to the sale does not execute the sale, only the seller does that. To be precise the sale completes prior to the payment and gives rise to the obligation of payment. If the seller completes the first two above stages (consent and passing ownership) of the sale prior to settlement of the price, the sale remains valid and gives rise to an obligation to pay.
THE PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING STEPS 1) Prospecting: Prospecting refers to identifying and developing a list of potential clients. Sales people can seek the names of prospects from a variety of sources including trade shows, commercially-available databases or mail lists, company sales records and in-house databases, website registrations, public records, referrals, directories and a wide variety of other sources. Prospecting activities should be structured so that they identify only potential clients who fit the profile and are able, willing and authorized to buy the product or service. This activity is greatly enhanced today using websites with specially-coded pages optimized with key words so that prospects may easily find you when they search the web for certain key words related to your offering. Once prospecting is underway, it then is up to the sales professional to qualify those prospects to further identify likely customers and screen out poor leads. Modern websites can go along way in not only identifying potential prospects but also starting this qualification process. 2) Pre-approach: Before engaging in the actual personal selling process, sales professionals first analyze all the information they have available to them about a prospect to understand as much about the prospect as possible. During the Pre-approach phase of the personal selling process, sales professionals try to understand the prospect's current needs, current use of brands and feelings about all available brands, as well as identify key decision makers, review account histories (if any), assess product needs, plan/create a sales presentation to address the identified and likely concerns of the prospect, and set call objectives. The sales professional also develops a preliminary overall strategy for the sales process during this phase, keeping in mind that the strategy may have to be refined as he or she learns more about the prospect.
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3) Approach: The approach is the actual contact the sales professional has with the prospect. This is the point of the selling process where the sales professional meets and greets the prospect, provides an introduction, establishes rapport that sets the foundation of the relationship, and asks open-ended questions to learn more about the prospect and his or her needs. 4) Making the Presentation: During the presentation portion of the selling process, the sales professional tells that product "story" in a way that speaks directly to the identified needs and wants of the prospect. A highly customized presentation is the key component of this step. At this point in the process, prospects are often allowed to hold and/or inspect the product and the sales professional may also actually demonstrate the product. Audio visual presentations and/or slide presentations may be incorporated at this stage and this is usually when sales brochures or booklets are presented to the prospect. Sales professionals should strive to let the prospect do most of the talking during the presentation and address the needs of the prospect as fully as possible by showing that he or she truly understands and cares about the needs of the prospect. 5) Overcoming Objections: Professional sales people seek out prospects' objections in order to try to address and overcome them. When prospects offer objections, it often signals that they need and want to hear more in order to make a fully-informed decision. If objections are not uncovered and identified, then sales professionals cannot effectively manage them. Uncovering objections, asking clarifying questions, and overcoming objections is a critical part of training for professional sellers and is a skill area that must be continually developed because there will always be objections. Trust me when I tell you that as soon as a sales professional finds a way to successfully handle "all" his or her prospects' objections, some prospect will find a new, unanticipated objection-- if for no other reason than to test the mettle of the sales person. 6) Closing the Sale: Although technically "closing" a sale happens when products or services are delivered to the customer's satisfaction and payment is received, for the purposes of our discussion I will define closing as asking for the order and adequately addressing any final objections or obstacles. There are many closing techniques as well as many ways to ask trial closing questions. A trail question might take the form of, "Now that I've addressed your concerns, what other questions do you have that might impact your (5)
decision to purchase?" Closing does not always mean that the sales professional literally asks for the order, it could be asking the prospect how many they would like, what color they would prefer, when they would like to take delivery, etc. Too many sales professions are either weak or too aggressive when it comes to closing. If you are closing a sale, be sure to ask for the order. If the prospect gives an answer other than "yes", it may be a good opportunity to identify new objections and continue selling. 7) Follow-up: Follow-up is an often overlooked but important part of the selling process. After an order is received, it is in the best interest of everyone involved for the sales person to follow-up with the prospect to make sure the product was received in the proper condition, at the right time, installed properly, proper training delivered, and that the entire process was acceptable to the customer. This is a critical step in creating customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships with customers. If the customer experienced any problems whatsoever, the sales professional can intervene and become a customer advocate to ensure 100% satisfaction. Diligent follow-up can also lead to uncovering new needs, additional purchases, and also referrals and testimonials which can be used as sales tools.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
The various researches conducted in this field are as follows:- CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SELLING Achumba, (2000) describes personal selling as an oral presentation in a conversation with one or more buyers for the purpose of making sales. The New Zealand Qualification Authority, (2008) defined personal selling as retail and wholesale sales activities in which a salesperson actively presents products to customers in seeking to make a sale. It could also be said to mean the presentation of goods and services before the customers and convincing or persuading them to buy the products or services. Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) posits that personal selling is the personal communication between a firms sales force and customers for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationship. Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) and Kotler and Keller, (2009) submitted that personal selling is one of the oldest profession in the world. In fact, its development could be linked to the period of trade by barter, when people exchanges goods for other goods (Osuagwu, 2002). Personal selling is a marketing process with which consumers are personally persuaded to buy goods and services. In fact the most powerful element in the promotion mix is a salesmanship, a term used to denote personal selling in the past. Personal selling is the process whereby the seller or his representative ascertains and activates the needs or wants of the buyer and satisfies the same to the mutual advantage of both buyer and seller. The American Marketing Associations (AMA) defines the term salesmanship as the personal or impersonal process of assisting and/or persuading a prospective customer to buy a commodity or service to act/favourly upon an idea that has commercial significance to the seller. Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) posits that personal selling is the personal communication between a firms sales force and customers for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationship. Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) and Kotler and Keller, (2009) submitted that personal selling is one of the oldest profession in the world. In fact, its development could be linked to the period of trade by barter, when people exchanges goods for other goods. Personal selling is a unique element of marketing communication. Unlike advertising and sales promotion which main focus are to create awareness about the existence of a product or service and provide information as to the (7)
features of the products, its availability and price on a mass basis, personal selling is an individualistic approach that is designed to meet specific need of prospects. It is usually directed to specific market segments. It goes beyond the fundamental role of marketing communication, it plays significant role in the entire exchange process. That is, participating in the activities of each of the other elements of marketing mix, especially distribution (place).
ABSTRACT Research into the ethics of personal selling and sales management has continued to increase in volume and importance. Because there is now a diversity of opinions and findings in this literature, an assessment of the status of existing knowledge is needed to provide focus and clarity. There have been no comprehensive reviews of the studies of ethics and salespeople, sales managers or sales management, despite recent attention from researchers, practitioners and the general public. The purpose of this review is to comment upon the more significant research in the sales ethics field with the objective of providing insight into the extent and direction of this knowledge, to evaluate the basis upon which it is founded, and to suggest areas of exploration that may be useful for increasing our understanding of it.
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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
In a growing economy such as India, it is often very difficult to have a regular and consistent increase in the sales volume of a product because of the political and socio-economic instability in the country which directly affect the standard of living and the purchasing power of the consumers. This thesis is based on the drive to know the effect of advertising on the sales volume of a product in a company and how this sales volume can keep the company going in business. The main purpose of this study is to determine the role of personal selling in enhancing clients satisfaction and to show the effectiveness of personal selling as a promotional tool for services.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN A structured questionnaire will be used for the collection of the required data. The questionnaire will be divided into different sections.
DATA COLLECTION METHOD The Questionnaire will be filled by Professionals.
THE SAMPLE SIZE Structured questionnaires will be distributed in Indore city to those who are in the age of 20-30 years.
HYPOTHESIS This study will judge the impact of personal selling on professionals in their busy schedule. The result will give them satisfaction.
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LIMITATIONS The data will be collected only in Indore city. Research will be completed only by working Youth. Research will work on the special age group (20-30).
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books C.R. Kothari Research Methods for Business Students, Third edition. Pearson Education India 01-Sep-2003 - 522 pages. Gary Dessler Human Resource Management: International Edition, Pearson Education December 2004. Achumba, (2000)
The New Zealand Qualification Authority, (2008) Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) and Kotler and Keller, (2009)
Journals Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences (JETEMS) 3 (2): 147-152 Scholar link Research Institute Journals, 2012 (ISSN: 2141-7024) jetems.scholarlinkresearch.org.
Journal of Business Ethics October 2000, Volume 27, Issue 3, pp 285-303