You are on page 1of 87

PROJECT REPORT ON

A STUDY ON CUSTOMER TRANSACTION ASSESSMENT OF


GODREJ APPLIANCES THROUGH DIRECT SALES

Submitted By
POOJA SUDHAKAR KHANDE
MMM Vth SEMESTER
BATCH 2015 -2018
ROLL NO: 17

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF


PROF. RALSTON RAJVAIDYA

K.J. SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANGEMENT STUDIES &


RESEARCH VIDYANAGAR, VIDYA VIHAR (E),
MUMBAI- 400 077
SIMSR Project Report

DECLARATION

I,Miss Pooja Sudhakar Khande, a student of MMM programme, V Semester of 2015 – 2018
batch at SIMSR do hereby declare that this report entitled “ A STUDY ON CUSTOMER
TRANSACTION ASSESSMENT OF GODREJ APPLIANCES THROUGH DIRECT
SALES” has been carried out by me during this semester under the guidance of PROF.
RALSTON RAJVAIDYA as per the norms prescribed by the University of Mumbai, and the
same work has not been copied from any source directly without acknowledging for the part/
section that has been adopted from published/ non-published works.

(POOJA SUDHAKAR KHANDE)

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 2/87
CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. Pooja Sudhakar Khande a

student of MMM programme Vth Semester of 2015 - 2018

batch at SIMSR has carried out the report entitled “ A STUDY

ON CUSTOMER TRANSACTION ASSESSMENT OF GODREJ APPLIANCES

THROUGH DIRECT SALES” under my guidance as per the norms

prescribed by the University of Mumbai.

PROF. RALSTON RAJVAIDYA

Date:
SIMSR Project Report

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thankfully acknowledge and express my sheer gratitude & appreciation to all


those who have been supportive in making this report on “A STUDY ON CUSTOMER
TRANSACTION ASSESSMENT OF GODREJ APPLIANCES THROUGH DIRECT
SALES”

I am thankful to the Director of K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies


and Research University of Mumbai, for providing me a platform to present this
report & carry out research work on the above project.

A special thanks to Dr. Prof. RALSTON RAJVAIDYA for his guidance,


encouragement & motivation at regular interval throughout the project.

I Express my warm thanks to Mr Pushkar Warkhedkar,Mr. Khushal Sammohi and


my collogues of Direct Sales team who supported me from Godrej and Boyce Mfg
Co. Ltd.

The guidance and support received from each and everyone who contributed to the
successful completion of this project was really crucial.

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 4/87
POOJA SUDHAKAR KHANDE
Roll No. 17

CONTENTS

Chapter Title of the Section Pages


No

1. Introduction 6 - 11

2. Company Profile 12 - 29

3. Literature Review 30 - 44

4. Data Analysis and Interpretation 45 - 64

5. Recommendations and Conclusion 65 - 72

6. Bibliography and Annexure 73 - 78


SIMSR Project Report

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Direct marketing is marked by an extensive academic interest and research, a big economic
importance, and a high efficiency. The selection of customers or prospects to target plays an
important role for the success of a direct marketing campaign. According to academic research,
the generated sales seem to be a significant control factor for this selection process. Because of
low response rates and high costs when using direct marketing, it seems necessary to investigate
the controlling influence of this factor in a more differentiated way.

Direct selling, as a type of relationship marketing, facilitates the construction of a customized


relation between the company and its clients and assures a long term collaboration between the
two parts. For a direct selling company, direct marketing is a powerfull tool used to build strong
relationships with the clients. There are more viewpoints regarding the relation between direct
selling and direct marketing

The purpose of the project is to investigate the relation between direct selling through salesmen
and/or catalogues and direct marketing.

The most popular definition of direct selling is “face to face selling, in another location then a
commercial one”. Another approach defines direct selling as the process of “selling products and
services directly to the consumers, at their homeplace of their friends’ houses, at their workplace
or other similar places, except stores, using presentations and demonstrations made by the
sellers”. Direct selling is the process of selling a product or a service, from one person to another,
in a location that hasn’t a commercial purpose.

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 6/87
Direct Sales (also referred as “Godrej Direct”) is a separate vertical under Godrej
Appliances Division (GAD) Service function responsible for generating revenue through sales of
home Appliances and Annual Maintenance Contracts. The Direct Sales channel operates through
Door-To-Door selling, Tele-Marketing and Web-Selling. The Direct Sales channel is growing fast
year after year and present in about 40 cities with more than 1000 front line sales force.
Initially, sales of Contract was initiated through Mckinsey under the Project News since the year
2002. After successful operation for 3 years, Appliance Sale was added to the same in 2005 and
the initiative now is called “Godrej Direct” in consultation with BCG.
Godrej Appliances is the only consumer durable company in India to have this kind of a
differentiated channel where the objective of channel is to drive better profitability as compared
to traditional distribution channels, Brand communication to customers thru personal selling & a
channel for risk mitigation in terms of products promotion.
Today after successful operations for last 10 years and a CAGR of 25% in revenue it is now
pertinent to understand the effectiveness of the channel. This study is to assess the Customer
Transactions thru Direct sales of Godrej Appliances and Re-devising the model by extending it to
other Godrej Products like furniture & Mattresses.
This project case study research of Godrej Brand using various types of model to penetrating
customers in direct sale formate.

Any medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer can be employed
in direct marketing, including:

 Email marketing.

 Online tools.

 Mobile.

 Telemarketing.

 Voicemail marketing.

 Broadcast faxing.
SIMSR Project Report

 Direct response marketing

The above theory is used by team of Direct Marketing of Godrej Brand

Objectives of Project:

Primary Objectives :

 To assess the level of Customer Satisfaction amongst its customers who have purchased a
consumer durable through Godrej Direct
 Identify key issues to be addressed
 Benchmarking with other organization

Secondary objectives:

 To study about Direct Marketing

 To study about various promotion strategies of Direct Marketing

 To understand Godrej Brand Direct Marketing strategies

 To understand consumer preference for Direct Marketing for Godrej Brand in Home
appliance

Qualitative impact:

Would be to further scale up the channel and create an alternate channel for Godrej Appliances in
a big way reducing dependency on intermediaries. Quantitative impact would be to sustain better
profitability by satisfying the customers.

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 8/87
SIMSR Project Report

2 Project Scope:

Today the existence of an organization depends on its ability to understand the customers and
producing and delivering products or services according to those needs. This project indented to
find out the brand awareness in Home appliance segment of Godrej. This study will help the
company to redesign their marketing strategies such as product design, sales promotion activities
etc. so as to the meet the needs of customers. As per the scope of the study is concerned, the
study helps to find out the various awareness among customer in segment and promotion
strategies for Godrej customers in Mumbai. It will also help the company to know more about
their customers. It is hoped that the analysis will help the company to develop marketing strategy
and achieve the major objective from that study covers the attitude of the factors influencing the
purchase of Home appliance.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study of about Godrej brand and their strategies of Marketing & Promotion using Direct
Marketing theory to penetrating customer to increasing sale in home appliance division . It is
helpful in understanding for Direct Marketing model their promotion and along and research is to
Mumbai

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 10/87
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is the process of solving the problem systematically by research. The
objective of the study is to solve the problem by using available data

A research design is a logical and systematic plan prepared for directing a research study. It is the
program that guides the investigator in the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting
observations.

 Field work.
 Face-to-Face interviews to be conducted with proper questionnaires. The interviews will
be conducted from the existing database of direct customers with products in the recent
months from Godrej executives through the Godrej Direct channel-door to door and
telecalling.
 The respondents will be informed that the study is being conducted for better deliverables
in future.
 Market intelligence
 Studying the inclusion of other Godrej Products in the portfolio of Direct sales.
 Qualitative & Quantitative results analysis
 Modify the overall direct sales operations.
 Test & confirm the model
 Pilot & Feedback on the model
 Insights & tweaking of the model
 Present revised model
 Implementation of the modified practices after due confirmation from HO
SIMSR Project Report

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. The study was confined to only Mumbai. Therefore the results cannot be generalized.

2. Customers were reluctant to answer certain questions.

3. The result generated out of the study is completely dependent on the nature of the response
given by the customers.

4. Short span of time was a limiting factor.

Method adopted for communication: Personal interview is the method of contact used with the
respondents. Personal interviewing method is used because sample size is relatively small and
interviewer can ask more questions.

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 12/87
CHAPTER 2

COMPANY PROFILE

Introduction to Godrej organization

Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. is a flagship company of Godrej group.


It is into business since 1897.

One of the largest privately held industrial corporations.

With annual turnover of over 8000 crores

All India Presence with 25 branches & 50 showrooms

Family of 11000+ employees.
SIMSR
Project Report

M
E
V

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of


Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 14/87
Presence:
SIMSR Project Report

Various

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales


Page 16/87
Businesses under the umbrella
of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co.
Ltd. are:
SIMSR Project Report

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 18/87
Godrej Appliances

Godrej Appliances is one of the flagship Division of Godrej


& Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. with annual turnover of over 2400
crores. Godrej Appliances is positioned among consumers as
a brand “Designed by Curiosity”. We claim to be an Indian
brand who understands

Indian consumers more closely & design products according


to the current conditions. Further innovations are too based
on this principal. Continuous product innovation has made us
leader in many of the appliances categories in the market
beating Korean giants in the over competitive Indian market.
I belong to this division in Service & had seen the division
growing leaps & bounds for last 10 years. Various products
that we deal in are:
SIMSR Project Report

Godrej Direct Sales

Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. is one of the largest


engineering & consumer Products Company in India. Godrej
Direct is a sales channel of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.
which adopts the direct sales path of selling consumer
durables and annual maintenance Contracts (AMC) though
door-to-door and tele-calling channel.

Godrej Direct falls under the umbrella of Godrej Appliances.


Godrej Direct employs sales force of over 1200 across India
visiting customers directly on a daily basis. Each sales person
is required to touch minimum 40 customers in a day leading
to almost 48000 customer touch points daily & over 17
million customers annually. That is the extent of reach of
Godrej Direct.

As of now Godrej Direct is doing a business of over Rs. 700


million annually with a productivity of 0.24 appliances per
day per executive. The salary & incentive costs are massive
owing to this less productivity to 15% of total revenue.
Objective nowadays is to improve the productivity of
executives to over 0.30 appliances per day thereby reducing
the salary component. This is only possible with an effective
module of training programs.

Pooja Khande Customer Transaction Assessment of Godrej Appliances Direct Sales Page 20/87
Values of Godrej group on which we expect each & every
individual to stand by & own up are:

1. Integrity
2. Trust
3. To serve
4. Respect
5. Environment
Strategic Objectives of Godrej Direct Sales Channel:

• Closer connect with the customers (CRM )

• Profitability better than the trade channel

• Driving mix for both imagery & profitability

• Risk mitigation – An additional channel

• Leverage untapped markets

• Huge potential for scale up (For both product portfolio &


reach)

Godrej Direct Sales Channel Structure:


Godrej Direct – Closer connect with customers
Direct Sales – A unique channel in
Appliances

Key success Factors June 2017

No of Customer Touch points / Day 35000

No of camps 130

No of cities 40

Strength of “ Feet on Street “ (FOS) 1000

AMC Revenue (Rs Cr) 4

Also contribute to CSR initiatives….


CSR - 4200 people trained in Sales Skills
(Retail, Trade, Direct Sales) under Skill
Development initiative
Present in all Key branch towns
Godrej Direct Sales Financial Results:

GROWTH PATH FOR FOS


What is a touchpoint in marketing?

"Touchpoint Guru" Hank Brigman defines a touchpoint as an influential action


initiated by a communication, a human contact or a physical or sensory interaction.
Each touchpoint is a message that literally "touches" a customer in some way.
Collectively, touchpoints create the customer's experience.

Godrej Touch Point

A World Without Customer Touchpoints

Imagine you're walking along the sidewalk in your hometown, and across the street
you notice a very interesting storefront. In anticipation, you decide to take a closer look
and cross the street to enter the store. But when you enter the direct Marketing of
Godrej, there's much that catches your attention, and you have desire to stay and
browse. This same scenario happens often online: A website grabs your attention, but
once you begin surfing and investigating what it has to offer, you find little to keep
your interest. In both cases, the merchants failed to properly engage you by providing
the customer touchpoints necessary to retain your interest and make a sale.

How Are Touchpoints Identified in Godrej Brand ?

Direct Marketing for Godrej Brand, individuals generally know what they're looking
for, because chances are that they have been previously exposed to customer
touchpoints. A few customer touchpoints typically experienced before shopping
include:
Mapping your customer journeys across touchpoints

Godrej understanding your customer and how they interact with your business
directly and indirectly is critical in driving improved value, repeat business
and longevity of relationship. To deliver this and to be able to create a
communication strategy which builds a conversation with your customers, it
helps to visualise current and planned customer journeys and the key
touchpoints across different marketing channels.
So, where do you start when looking at your business and the journey a customer
takes in the initial phases of a decision-making process and in follow-up
phases as the relationship builds?

When beginning to look at a customer journey, a good place to start is the various
touchpoints a customer has with your business. Although this is likely to
expand with the following steps, it is an area where several stakeholders can
be actively involved with different views on how the customer interacts with
your business, be that from a customer service view-point, ecommerce,
fulfilment, etc.

To begin the discussion look at the core purchase in Direct Marketing of Godrej as this
will be well-defined within the business and should cover areas such as those in Fig 1:

Godrej has expand this to look at other areas such as:

 Marketing channels (email, postal, telephone, Facebook, blogs, etc).


 Order fulfilment (delivery, payment, returns, etc).
 (website, consumer forums, store, customer services, etc).
The items covered above look at direct contacts, but not indirect contacts via social
sites, word of mouth, customer reviews, etc; which should also be considered to build a
complete picture of various touchpoints
 Awareness.
 Discover.
 Purchase.
 Use of product of service.
 Bonding with product.
Mapping the customer journey

Now you have an idea of the customer touchpoints and activities completed, a simple
table can be used to map the customer journey with activities listed across the top and
the touchpoints down the left hand side, for example (click to enlarge):

This can then be used to look at typical customer personas to map their journey from
initial awareness, through purchase to bonding and sharing their satisfaction.
Using the customer journey

Having built an understanding of the customer journeys with your business you are
now in a position to improve the customer experience enabling:

 Minimising of negative customer experiences, through identification of key


steps and decision points to ensure the correct information is available and
accessible to all customer types.
 Improved customer retention, through understanding how they transition
though each stage in their purchase lifecycle, enabling relevant and connected
conversations to the customer to help them move towards a positive decision
point.
 Identification of communication GAPs, where no or conflicting messages are
being received. For example, use of social media to respond to customer
feedback whether positive or negative.
 Understand core customer journey paths, where additional development will
provide biggest impact.
 Understanding of required metrics to identify customer’s progress and fall out
points, providing opportunities to bring customers back on board.

In summary when mapping you customer journey remember the following key points:

 Complete the exercise from the customer’s view point, not how you expect
them to use your process/system.
 Where possible use actual customer feedback to determine the path taken.
 Identify key customer persona, you cannot map every customers path
individually!
 Keep it simple, the idea is to provide context and understanding to help identify
areas for improvement or influence in the customer’s journey.
CHAPTER 3

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a context to this study through an in-depth review of the
published literature on Direct Marketing (DM) and its associated concepts,
technologies, and applications. First, direct marketing development is presented and
several misconceptions on direct marketing are addressed. Second, the most important
concepts and applications in the direct marketing field are described. Analytical
techniques and technologies that are used for direct marketing applications are also
explained. Finally, an in-depth discussion on the state-of–the-art research and issues in
direct marketing is provided.

The Development of the Direct Marketing Discipline This section presents an overview
of direct marketing history along with key factors that have contributed to its rapid
development. It then provides a definition of direct marketing, and terms that are
commonly used to refer to direct marketing. Finally, the section discusses the
differences between direct marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Direct Marketing Defined Marketing is a process used by companies to create value for
customers and build solid customer relationships in order to get a return from
customers in the form of sales, profits, and long-term customer equity (Kolter,
Armstrong 2008). There are two types of marketing methods: General Marketing and
Direct Marketing. General marketing uses mass media such as television to target
customers, regardless of their characteristics and preferences (Bose, Chen 2009). It is a
product-oriented strategy, which aims to achieve market shares for specific products. In
comparison, direct marketing is a customer-oriented method. It uses customers’ details,
commonly held in databases, to perform three main activities: 1) analyse customers’
data, 2) formulate a marketing strategy, and 3) implement it to obtain direct responses
from customers (Tapp 2008). The use of databases to analyse customers’ purchasing
behaviour is a fundamental building block of direct marketing (Stone, Jacobs 2008).
Database analyses comprise a wide range of direct marketing applications including
segmentation and targeting, which are discussed in more detail in the next sectionX.

Strategy formulation and implementation involve the interactive use of advertising


media to stimulate an immediate change in customers’ purchasing behaviour (ibid). In
other words, these activities aim to understand customers’ preferences, which allow
marketers to explicitly plan any subsequent interactive approach toward customers
based solely on their needs (Tapp 2008)

Direct Marketing Tapp (2000, 10) defines the concept of direct marketing with the
following statement: “Direct marketing is a way of acquiring and keeping customers by
providing a framework for three activities: analysis of individual customer information,
strategy formation, and implementation such that customers respond directly.” Roberts
and Berger (1999, 3) add the distinction from junk mail in their definition stating
“database direct marketing is an information-driven, relational marketing process that
takes place in a context of concern for the privacy of customer data.” According to
Tapp (2000, 4), “the key to modern direct marketing is the capture of individual
customer details at the first sale, so that the marketer can begin a relationship with that
customer, subsequently treating them differently over time in order to generate repeat
business”. This demonstrates the natural linkage between direct marketing and
concepts such as relationship marketing and CRM, as they all revolve around the same
key principles. The terms direct marketing and database marketing are often used
interchangeably. The general distinction made between the terms by Tapp (2000, 6)
points database marketing towards strategy formulation, whereas direct marketing is
focused on direct communication to customers. As suggested by its name, engaging in
database marketing requires the company to maintain or have access to a marketing
database. The definition of a marketing database provided by Tapp (2000, 29) states it
as “a list of customers’ and prospects’ records that enables strategic analysis, and
individual selections for communication and customer service support. The data is
organized around the customer”. Roberts and Berger (1999, 165) further add that the
content of the database has been collected over a considerable period of time.

A database holding records on individual customers is the basis of direct marketing


activities: marketing analysis, planning, implementation of programs and control of all
this activity. The advantage drawn from this database centric approach, compared to
general marketing, is that it forces a natural focus on customers rather than products,
again enforcing the natural linkage to relationship marketing ideology.

4.)Relationship Marketing Since 1970 the core phenomenon of marketing was


considered to be the exchange of products for money. In this form of marketing, often
labeled in literature as transaction marketing, the major focus has been to make
customers buy, whether they are old or new customers. Marketing became campaign
oriented, as the customers needed to be won over and over again. The marketing mix
management approach and the 4P’s model were the results of research on this exchange
phenomenon. (Grönroos, 1997, 21.) Today the focus of marketing discussion is shifting
away from the mass media thinking of the 4P model. In what has often been called a
paradigm shift, the attention of marketers is increasingly focusing on buyer-seller
interactions. This shift is based on the notion that it is not exchanges that are the core of
marketing, but that exchanges take place in ongoing relationships between parties in
the marketplace. This relationship perspective states that continuous purchases and
cross-sales opportunities follow from well-managed relationships, thus seeing
relationships as the most important concept in marketing. Grönroos (1997, 267) defines
relationship marketing as a set of relationships, networks and interaction, where the
value for parties involved is created through an interaction process between suppliers,
customers, competitors and others. Companies benefit from the relationship marketing
approach through increased customer retention and marketing productivity, and the
customers receive added value through more customized service and products.
Whereas the exchange perspective in marketing is focused on the value distribution
process, the relationship perspective focuses on the value creation process. Instead of
distributing ready made value to customers, relationship marketing aims to facilitate
and support the customers’ consumption and usage processes throughout the

relationship, in which value for customers is created by the customers and in


interactions with the supplier or service provider.

Customer Relationship According to Grönroos (2000a, 33) a relationship has


developed when the customer perceives that a mutual way of thinking exists between
customer and supplier or service provider. This definition emphasizes the attitudinal
nature of a relationship. A firm should create interaction and communication processes
that support this feeling, but it is ultimately the customer who determines whether or
not a relationship has developed. Grönroos (2000a, 35) categorizes customers as being

in three different “modes” depending on their interest in a relationship with the firm in
a given marketing situation: transactional mode, passive relational mode and active
relational mode. In transactional mode the customer’s interest is focused on making a
successful purchase and he or she can perceive continuous communication between
purchases, such as an e-mail newsletter, simply annoying and time consuming.
Customers in passive relational mode are looking for the knowledge that they could
contact the supplier or service provider, by for example finding an e-mail address
printed on a soft drink can, but they seldom respond to invitations to interact. Active
relational customers are looking for opportunities for interaction in order to get
additional value and they can get disappointed due to a lack of contacts. The
categorization points out that one should not always expect a customer to show high
levels of interaction, even if he or she does perceive the relationship marketing
activities to deliver added value. As stated by Grönroos (2000a, 36) “for customers in a
passive relational mode, a relationship-oriented marketing strategy is important,
although it may not seem so.” Relationship marketing activities can increase the value
of a brand in the minds of a customer in either passive or active relational mode,
regardless of interactions. Feurst (1999, 163) brings out the inconsistent nature of
actual customer behavior through an example of a young customer’s typical
preferences. If you give a youngster the chance to choose between a supplier that wants
to create a learning relationship by recording the customer’s personal data and a

company that simply hands out the ready made product in exchange for payment, he or
she is likely to choose the latter one. The choice is made regardless of the fact that the
first alternative would be more beneficial to both the customer and the society in the
long term. The example aptly demonstrates the need to explicitly communicate the
relationship benefits to a customer in order to persuade him or her to switch from

transactional to relational mode, as the behavior of an individual is often driven by


short-term benefits. In examining consumer attitude towards forming relationships with
suppliers, Peppers & Rogers (1993, 327-328) describe the transactional marketing
approach of using mass media to communicate your message to consumers as an
implicit bargain. The mass marketers pay a portion of a magazine’s production cost

and in return the readers view their ads. Due to the implicit nature of this bargain,
consumers are free to ignore the ads and mass marketers may freely harass many
consumers with their message in order to enlist a few new customers. When using any
addressable, two-way medium, the company and the customer make an explicit
bargain, in which the parties collaborate and give something (service, information) to
get something in return. The explicit bargain is based on mutual trust between the
parties, which is an essential ingredient in any relationship and can therefore be seen as
a requirement for converting customers from transactional to relational mode.

Customer Loyalty Customer loyalty can be defined as the degree to which customers
are predisposed to stay with a company and resist competitive offers (Peppers &
Rogers Group, 2002). As a measure, customer loyalty is the proportion of times a
purchaser chooses the same product or service in a specific category compared to the
total number of purchases made by the purchaser in that category (Neal 1999, 21).
While relationships are a central part of loyalty, they alone are not enough to make a
customer loyal. The process of building customer loyalty is often described using a
loyalty ladder with five ascending steps: suspect, prospect, customer, client and
advocate. The purpose of relationship marketing activities is to move the customer
through a series of steps that culminate in the customer being an advocate for the
company’s product. (Roberts & Berger 1999, 10-11.) Frederick F. Reichheld

demonstrated the economics of loyalty in his 1996 publication “The Loyalty Effect”
through examples from various lines of business, all of which showed a clear
correlation between customer retention and company profitability. He argued that while
most managers understand the linkage which both customer and employee loyalty has
on revenues and costs, they are blinded by short-term financial indicators which drive
them towards maximizing shareholder value instead of value to the customer.
(Reichheld, 2001, 12-16.) Drawing comparison between the concept of loyalty and
commitment in the context of the development process of a relationship, Dwyer et al
(1987, 19) suggest that commitment should be measured by three criteria: inputs,
durability and consistency. The first criterion of commitment is that the parties in a
relationship provide relatively high levels of inputs to the association. This can mean
significant exchange of economic, communication, and/or emotional resources.
Second, there should be some durability of association over time. The parties need to
have a common belief in the effectiveness of future exchange, which will enable them
to bond and encourage the continued investment in the relation. The third aspect of
commitment is the consistency with which the inputs are made to the association.
Inconsistency in input levels reflects low commitment and leads to a reduced reliance
by the other party on the outcomes of the exchange. Social bonds tend to weaken and
dissolve over time unless actively maintained. (Dwyer et al1987, 19.)

Relationship Value The importance of customer loyalty becomes evident through the
study of customers’ value to the company depending on the length of relationship. A
customer’s contribution to net profit may vary substantially over the lifetime of the
relationship. New customers who may initially be unprofitable will increase their profit
contribution as the relationship continues, thus making it essential to study the life
cycle of a customer when determining the value of the relationship. The lifetime value
of a customer relationship to the company can be calculated as the net present value of
the net profits that can be expected over the years. In order to estimate the future
behavior of a customer, existing or new, historical data is needed for calculating actual
repeat purchases that have taken place and projecting model for expected future
purchases. (Roberts & Berger 1999, 180-182.) Although marketing literature mainly

includes models of the value of a customer, in the context of relationship marketing


one should also pay attention to the value-to-customer perspective. Philip Kotler (1997,

412) defines customer perceived value as the sum of core solution and additional
services divided by the sum of price paid and relationship costs. Relationship costs
follow from the customer’s decision to engage a relationship with another party. These
costs can be of monetary or psychological in nature, ranging from membership fees to
feeling of inconvenience. If the costs become greater than the benefits from the
additional services, the customer is likely to prefer a transactional mode approach
instead of relational mode. The most loyal customers are commonly considered to be
also among the most profitable ones, but the evidence behind this assumption is not
unambiguous. Reinartz and Kumar (2002, 4-12) suggest that the relationship between
loyalty and profitability is much weaker and subtler than what has been claimed in
loyalty literature. Their study found little or no evidence that customers who purchased
steadily from a company over time would be cheaper to serve, less price sensitive, or
particularly effective at bringing in new business. Reinartz and Kumar (2002, 4-12)
found that loyal customers tend to be even more price sensitive than an occasional
customer. These customers are generally more knowledgeable about product offerings
and can better evaluate their quality. Furthermore, consumers seem to strongly resent
companies that try to profit from loyalty, since they believe loyal customers deserve
lower prices. With this in mind, it is clear that one should not use measurement of
customer loyalty as the single indicator of relationship value, nor should one aim to
make all existing customers loyal to the brand.

Customer Dialogue Dialogue is defined as an exchange of thought between two or


more parties. According to Peppers and Rogers (1993, 213-215), there are four criteria
that any marketing communication must meet before it can be considered to be
dialogue with individual customers: ҏAll parties to a dialogue must be able to
participate in it ҏAll parties to a dialogue must want to participate in it ҏDialogues can
be controlled by anyone in the exchange ҏYour dialogue with an individual customer

will change your behavior toward that single individual, and change that individual’s
behavior towards you.

A dialogue can be seen as an interactive process of reasoning together so that a


common knowledge platform is developing. The process aims to build shared
meanings and create new knowledge, so that the knowledge platform enables the
supplier to create additional value for the customer on top of the value of goods and

services that are exchanged. Successful development of a relationship requires the


parties involved to share information about needs that have to be fulfilled and solutions
that can be offered. A distinction should however be made between sharing information
and persuasion or manipulation. According to Grönroos (2000, 6), “relationship
marketing frequently fails because marketers rely on relatioship-like, but nevertheless
manipulative, one-way communication, such as personally addressed and even
personalized direct mail, to lure customers into business with the firms they represent
without listening to their wishes and responding to the feedback they may give.” In a
dialogue there are no senders or receivers, only participants. Participation in a dialogue
takes place through interactions between the firm and its customers, but also one-way
messages, such as advertisements, brochures and direct mail, can be considered a part
of the dialogue process. When such messages and interactions between the customer
and the firm support each other, they are contributing to the development of shared
meanings and new knowledge in a dialogueWith this in mind, the relationship dialogue
process can be divided into planned communication process and interaction process.
The first one includes communication messages which are planned and where separate
and distinct communication media are used, ranging from TV commercials to
exhibition stands. The latter one is a real process where the customer’s interactions
with physical products, service processes, systems and technology, e-commerce
processes etc. occur. When these two processes get linked into a sequence, such as a
customer calling a help desk based on a TV commercial, the consistency of
communication messages becomes critical to relationship development. Direct
marketing messages often include an invitation for the customer to respond to the
message. If a response is received, this may be considered the beginning of a

dialogue or perhaps even as the manifestation of a dialogue. However, not all contacts
between the parties having a dialogue need to include an invitation to respond, if the
information provided contributes to the development of a common knowledge
platform. When analyzing the types of communication messages involved in a dialogue
process, it is important to remember that also the absence of communication send a
distinct message and therefore contributes to the process. Effective relationship
marketing dialogue should not be focused only on trying to make a sale with each
contact. Having an interesting conversation consisting of more than pure sales talk with
the customer can deepen the relationship and reap benefits over time through increased
loyalty. (Peppers & Rogers, 1993, 215.)

5 One To One Marketing Don Peppers and Martha Rogers introduced the concept of
one to one marketing in 1993 in their book “The One To One Future”. It was based on
a notion that recent developments in technology had generated a point of discontinuity
that allowed companies to start competing for business opportunities one customer at a
time. By using interactive media to create dialogues with individual customers and
mass customization to tailor products and services to meet their expressed needs, it
would become possible to provide the customer superior value compared to the
traditional way of doing business, which is based on making products for large
segments and promoting them through mass media. (Peppers & Rogers, 1993, 7, 10,
15.) One to one marketing is a type of relationship marketing that focuses on the
individual customer. Its basic idea can be simplified to “treat different customers
differently”. Being a customer-oriented company has usually meant being oriented to
the needs of the typical customer in the market, meaning the average customer. The one
to one ideology requires tracking the interactions of individual customers and acting
according to this exact information instead of statistical averages. (Peppers & Rogers,
1999, 1.)
By recording information about every interaction with the customer and customizing
the product and service accordingly, a company can establish a learning relationship
with the customer. This type of a relationship becomes increasingly valuable to the
customer as time goes by, which also means competitors’ ability to offer the same level
of convenience decreases, thus locking the customer into the existing relationship by
offering superior value. (Peppers & Rogers, 1999, 2.) Individual level information on
customers has been used in marketing long before the adoption of IT systems, but
marketing theory has focused on mean values and masses (Gummesson, 1998, 146).

With the introduction of new tools that make it possible to target marketing activities to

individual customers instead of customer segments, it will no longer be acceptable to


rely solely on aggregate measures when managing customer relationships.

Customer Relationship Management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a


subject that has been discussed in management literature since the 1960’s, but its
implementation has become a hot topic only recently. CRM can be described as the
discipline of identifying, attracting and retaining a company’s most valuable customers.
According to Curry et al (2000), “the true business of every company is to make
customers, keep customers and maximize customer profitability.” CRM is based on the
notion that not all customers are equally valuable to a company. Following the Pareto
principle frequently cited in business literature, the top 20% of the customers normally
deliver 80% of revenues. More importantly, the top 20% of the customers deliver more
than 100% of profits, meaning the majority of customers are actually unprofitable. It is
therefore vital for a company to target its marketing efforts towards retaining the top
20% of existing customers rather than spending it on communicating with non-
customers who are likely to be unprofitable. (Curry et al 2000, 17-21.) Identifying the
most profitable customers has been a difficult task, but the development of analytical
techniques such as data mining and the increasing amount of electronic customer
touchpoints like web sites has enabled companies to start pursuing this goal with a
whole new level of intensity (Curry et al 2000). Due to its heavy reliance on
technological advancements, many have started to consider CRM as a combination of

software and business processes rather than purely a marketing strategy. While it is not
reasonable to ignore the technical aspect when discussing CRM, one should remember
that technology only provides tactical tools for implementing a company’s customer
relationship strategy. (Greenberg 2001, 32.)

E-mail marketing E-mail is one of the most interesting new channels enabling
interactive marketing. Kinnard (2000, xviii) defines e-mail marketing as” the act of
sending marketing communications to recipients who first request it”. This definition
makes a clear distinction between permission based, targeted e-mail marketing and

unsolicited, untargeted mass mailings often referred to as spam, which has to some
extent given email a bad reputation as a contact medium in commercial relationships.

The key advantages of e-mail compared to traditional direct media are the following:

Cost-effective contact

Preferred method of communication for many people

Seen as a personal medium

Can be customized for each recipient

Allows easy interaction ҏ Interaction can be tracked and the effects measured.

One of the underlying assumptions behind a permission based approach to marketing is


that a customer who has given permission to be contacted by the marketer is a better,
more loyal, and more profitable customer overall. Combined with the fact that most
email users find unsolicited e-mail marketing messages as intrusive and many of them
have started to take measures in trying to protect themselves from receiving spam,
there is little reason for any e-mail marketer to attempt building a relationship with
customers without first acquiring their permission. (MacPherson, 2001, 14-17.)
There are two main strategies for acquiring contact permission from the customer:
option and opt-out. The opt-in policy means that the customer must explicitly state he
or she gives the permission to be contacted by e-mail. This type of permission can be
asked in, for example, the registration process of signing up for a username to an online
service.

The opt-out policy requires the customer to actively unsubscribe from the e-mail
contacts if he or she does not wish to receive them. A typical method of using opt-out is
to send the message to a list of e-mail addresses acquired from external sources and
provide the recipients with the option to remove themselves from the list by clicking on
a link or replying to the message. (MacPherson, 2001, 15.)
The opt-out policy is not a recommendable approach if the target of e-mail direct
marketing is to build lasting customer relationships. It takes the power away from the
customer in favor of creating opportunities for the marketer. Because customers do not
ask for opt-out based communication, the messages are unanticipated and often
irrelevant, which makes them far less effective than opt-in e-mail messaging. (Godin,
1999, 229-230.)

Relationship Measurement Measures used in traditional accounting have taken several


centuries to develop into the status where they are today. Compared to this, measures
of loyalty are relatively new and untried, and more importantly, not even applied yet in
most companies. Measures are the business idiom that shapes the attitudes and
behavior of a business organization. (Reichheld, 2001, 217-220.) It is therefore clear
that customer relationship measures are a prerequisite for shifting management focus
from the income statement to the customers.

The development process of a relationship includes interactions and communication


between the supplier and the customer. Interactions are exchanges of goods, services,
information or any other contacts that occur between the two parties. While
communication takes place in all interactions, there is an additional series of planned
communication efforts, such as direct mail or advertising. These interactions and
communication need to become integrated into one value-creating relationship process
over time for a relationship to emerge. Marketers should try to monitor this
development in order to measure the existence of a relationship, even if creating ideal
measurement instruments for this process may not be possible. It should however not
be used as the only measure since there are typically many reasons for a customer to
continue buying from one supplier. Low prices can keep up repeat sales, as can a
convenient location, technological barriers, limited knowledge of competing offers etc.
There can be several bonds that keep a customer attached to a firm, even though the
customer does not feel that there is any relationship with that firm.
Payne and Frow (2001, 800) advice to treat with caution the kind of measurement
systems that provide aggregated measures of profit, customer satisfaction and
employee attitudes as they may overlook individual differences. For example,
increasing the overall retention rate of customers does not necessarily result in
significant profitability improvements, since increasing the retention of unprofitable
customers can destroy profits. This is why relationship marketing requires
measurement systems that allow companies to analyze their customer base and
measure profitability on individual customer level.

The customer data upon which the measurement is based can be divided into two
categories: demographic and behavior data. Demographic data can include information
about customer age and gender, social status, area of residence, magazines read etc.

Behavior data tells about customer activities, such as purchases, call center contacts or
web site visits. Of these two profile types, behavior data is likely to change more
frequently as new information is collected on interactions between the customer and
the company. Capturing the necessary data for measuring relationship marketing
activities can sometimes be challenging. Relationship marketing requires a two-way
flow of information, but according to Schultz (1993, 28), this does not mean that the
customer has to give the information knowingly. Behavioral data captured from various
interactions made through digital touch points can be just as valuable as information
gathered explicitly from the customer.

RFM Analysis Recency, Frequency, Monetary analysis (RFM) has been used in direct
marketing for almost 40 years as a method for increasing response rates. It is based on
both a priori reasoning and empirical evidence of customer behavior. A typical way of
applying the method on a database of customers is to assign an RFM score to each
record in the database and use these scores to target the marketing activities towards
the most responsive customers. (Hughes, 1996.) RFM analysis is founded on the
discovery that people who have bought from you recently are much more likely to
respond to a new offer than someone who had made a purchase in the distant past. The
frequency of purchases made also has a positive impact on rate of response, as does the

total monetary value of purchases. However, out of these three variables, recency has
been found to be the strongest indicator of willingness to respond to an offer, hence its
ranking as the first variable in the term RFM. (Hughes, 1996.)

Through the increasing number of information systems involved in customer


interactions, a wealth of non-purchase related data is also available in modern customer
databases. This has extended the potential applications of RFM analysis, as the same
laws that predict purchase behavior also apply to other types of customer behavior,
such as web site visits, sign-ups or surveys. (Novo, 2000.)

Whereas the modeling of demographic and other profile variables result in a near static
picture of the customer, RFM measures actual behavior and can therefore provide a
more accurate prediction of a customer’s likelihood to respond (Hughes 1996).
Customer migration between different cells of an RFM value grid can give an up-to-
date view of how recent marketing activities have affected customer behavior. In the
durable goods business, where the typical re-purchase time of a particular product is
several years, recency alone is not a practical measure for predicting customer
repurchase likelihood. In a single product perspective, one should look at recency of
purchase relative to the expected life of the product, not recency of purchase from the
actual purchase date. In a whole relationship perspective, recency increases the relative
likelihood of a customer engaging in purchase behavior with the business regarding
other types of products on offer. (Novo, 2001.) Reinartz and Kumar (2002, 86-94)
criticize RFM models for their lack of proper distinction between frequently and
infrequently bought goods and suggest that an event-history model should be used
instead when the pacing of customer interactions is slow. Many companies offering
long purchase cycle products actively shorten the cycle by employing an inter-purchase
contact strategy. By building an active dialogue with the customer, the company can
“bridge” the purchase cycle and maintain recency of contact, which can work in similar
manner as recency of purchase (Novo, 2001). This approach increases the value that
can be derived from using an RFM model in the area of infrequently bought goods.
CHAPTER 4.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRTATION

S. No. Features No. of Respondents

1. Male 50

2. Female 50
S. No. Age No. of Respondents

1. 23-25 28

2. 25-30 50

3 31 above 22
S. No. Qualification No. of Respondents

1. 10th 14

2. 10 plus 12 above 6

3 Graduate 42

4 Post Graduate 38
S. No. Occupation No. of Respondents

1. Salaries 28

2. Self employee 22

3 retired 20

4 House wife 30
While purchasing consumer durables what do you consider ?

 Brand & benefit


 Price
 Packaging
 Advertising

S. No. Purchasing factors No. of Respondents

1. Brand & benefit 50

2. Price 20

3 Packaging 20

4 Advertising 10
How do measure Direct Marketing communication of Godrej?

Satisfied

Not Satisfied

Average satisfaction

S. No. satisfaction No. of Respondents


1. Satisfaction 69
2. Not satisfied 11
3 CANNOT SAY 20
Awareness Advertisement Category of Godrej Brand

S. No. Awareness No. of Respondents


Advertisement
Category of Godrej

1. Yes 65
2. No 35
Attractiveness of Brochure/ Catalogue Ad.

S. No. Attractiveness of No. of Respondents


Brochure/ Catalogue
Ad.

1. Yes 69
2. No 31
Attractiveness of Online Advertisement

Attractiveness of Direct Mailing Advertisement

Attractiveness of SMS advertisement

S. No. Attractiveness of Online No. of


Advertisement Respondents

Attractiveness of Direct Mailing


Advertisement

Attractiveness of SMS
advertisement

1. Yes 54
2. No 46
Awareness Special Features

Discount coupons

Loyalty card

Other offer

S. No. Awareness Special Features No. of


Responde
Discount coupons
nts
Loyalty card

Other offer

1. Yes 74
2. No 26
Buying Decision Influence: web shop No or little influence, Medium influence, Much
influence

S. No. Buying Decision Influence: web shop & No. of Respondents


Physical (No or little influence, Medium
influence, Much influence

1. Influence web shop 35 %


2. No or little influence 15%

3 Medium influence 23%

4 Much influence 27%


Impacts on Overall Experience of going through the purchase process- Door-to-
Door:

Impacts on Overall Experience of going through the purchase process- Tele-


calling:
Deciding factors
for Purchase
decision:

1. Prior
communicat
ion – D2D
Appliance
Check up

2. Promotional
Material-
Flipcharts/D
isplay Van

3. Customer
Executive

4. Payment

5. Delivery

6. Demonstrati
on

Do you find this


mode of sales
offered by Godrej
& Boyce useful:
To what extent do you find this method of purchase different from other similar

companies:
Key issues to be addressed:

• Sourcing of required Man power

• High sourcing cost

• Increased competition from Retail, BPO, Banking & Telecom Sectors

• Low salary

• High Attrition in front line Sales force

• Lack of knowledge

• Customer rejection

• Low morale due to tough environment

• Target pressure

• Limitations in Expansion

• Warehouse availability

• Back end processing facilities

• Cost of Delivering the products

• Availability of trained manpower

• Low conversion of Knocking to Sales


• Quality of Door Knocking

• Lack of proper Display facilities

• Difficulty in getting society permission

• Pricing
Extension of Direct Sales to Godrej Interio:

With encouraging results in the findings as stated above, we got involved in launching
Interio products through direct sales channel. This will give an opportunity to acquire
better customer realization per customer.

I got personally involved in extending our channel & drafted the process to promoted
Interio products as follows:

Points agreed between Godrej Appliances and Godrej Interio on the sale of
“Cupboard”and “Mattress” through Direct sales channel

Both GAD (Godrej Appliances Division) & Godrej Interio had a discussion on exploring
the opportunity of selling Cupboards & Mattresses of Interio division through the Direct
Sales Channel of GAD. During the discussions, following points were mutually agreed
by GAD & Interio & this will be considered as the basic guideline for all the business
transaction.

1. Product Portfolio Scope:

Applicable for the following product categories of Interio division to be sold by Direct
Sales team of GAD:
i. All Cupboards

ii. All Mattresses


2. Location:
The scope for the sales activity will be for all locations where
Direct Sales of GAD has its presence.

3. Arrangement of Manpower:

Arrangement of manpower will be at the sole discretion of


GAD Direct Sales Team. They may or may not decide to
have dedicated manpower for selling Interio products.

4. Training:

Training for the Direct Salem team needs to be provided by


the Interio team. Direct Sales Manager would intimate the
Interio team and schedule training for the Direct Sales team
in a branch from time to time, as required.

5. Activities:

5.1) Recruitment & Management fees for hiring


Sales Team: All costs related to Sales Team
Sourcing, Recruitment and Management Fees
would be borne by the Direct Sales Team, GAD.

5.2) Salary & Incentive for Sales Team: Salary for


the Sales team would be paid by the Direct Sales
team, GAD along with the pay out of salary for
other members in the Direct Sales team, GAD.
The incentive structure for the Sale of Interio
products would be solely decided by GAD team.
Payment of incentive would also be responsibility
of Direct Sales Team, GAD
5.3) Order generation: Direct Sales team
would be responsible for generating orders
from various customers through their Direct
Sales operations.

5.4) Order Booking in Baan: All orders


generated by Direct Sales team would be
submitted by Direct Sales team to Godrej
Interio Commercial team which will be
responsible for booking orders in Baan
system. They will also be responsible

for maintaining extensions for all such orders


which is necessary for the Sales team to get
their incentive.

5.5) Invoicing: Activities related to order


invoicing lies with the Interio team.

5.6) Product Inventory: All activities and


space required for product storage would be
the responsibility of Interio team. Dedicated
Warehouse should be created for Direct Sales
team which would be used for booking orders
of Direct Sales Team. No other team should be
allowed to book orders from this warehouse. It
may, however, be noted that since Direct Sales
team takes orders from end consumers it is
imperative to provide importance to such
deliveries. Hence in case stock is not available
in Exclusive Direct Sales Warehouse then the
same can be booked from other warehouses of
the branch.

5.7) Product Supply and Delivery: Once the


orders are booked in the system the product
needs to be delivered by the Interio team in
coordination with the Commercial team as per
the desired delivery date of the customer.

5.8) Cash collection: Collection of cash from


the customer (in case of cash on delivery)
would be the responsibility of Interio team in
coordination with the commercial team.
Subsequent submission of the cash to the
accounts team and linking in the system would
also be done by Interio team

5.9) Old Cupboard/Mattress pickup: If the


order is booked under exchange then the old
cupboard/mattress needs to be picked up at the
time of delivery of the new product. The
responsibility of the same lies with the Interio
team in coordination with the commercial
team. All such old products need to be stored
at a designated warehouse which needs to be
provided by the Commercial Warehouse team.
5.10) Product Installation: All installations of products delivered would be the
responsibility of Godrej Interio. Direct Sales Team, GAD will have no role in this activity.
All product installations should be done within 24 hours from product delivery.

5.11) Service and Warranty: All activities related to product servicing and warranty would
be sole responsibility of Godrej Interio as per their specified norms. Direct Sales team need
to be updated and trained on all such norms of Godrej Interio.

5.12) Disposal of Old Cupboard/Mattress: All responsibility of disposal of old


cupboard/mattress would lie with the Commercial team & Direct Sales Team, GAD. Direct
Sales team in coordination with the commercial team would have to find a vendor, negotiate
rates and dispose of old cupboard/mattress from time to time.

5.13) Order Linking: Order Linking needs to be done by the Accounts team. Interio team
needs to ensure that it is done within 7 days from the date of invoicing.

5.14) Outstanding: All outstanding needs to be tracked and closed mutually by both GAD
and Interio teams.
6. Product Pricing & customer schemes:

Godrej Interio has to provide the item code and pricing details of the products that needs to be
sold through Direct Sales channel. The pricing should have the clarity of MRP of product along
with the MOP. Pricing details should clearly specify the Basic price of the product along with
the various tax details applicable for a particular branch location. Godrej Interio also has to
inform about any customer scheme, if applicable.

All details pertaining to any price change or scheme implementation should be informed at least
15 days in advance to Direct Sales Team, GAD

7. Product Promotion and Marketing:

All materials related to product promotion and marketing needs to be supplied by Godrej Interio
to Direct Sales Team, GAD whenever required. Direct Sales Manager, GAD and Branch Sales
Manager, Godrej Interio should co-ordinate amongst themselves for such activities.
CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS:

Challenge Action Plan for improvement

Manpower Sourcing & Recruitment

sourcing, 1) Incentivize agencies for recruitment


recruitment & 2) Variable pay structure to attract talent

retention 3) Target 10th Pass and 12th Fail

4) Proper job role description to candidates by agencies


5) Joining formalities to happen in our Branch
6) Ensuring continuous sourcing on daily basis

Retention
1) Family get-togethers in a year
2) Family lunch with performers
3) Quarterly get-togethers of executives
4) Salary disbursal for <2 months executives in regular intervals
(10days)
5) Recognitions of Performers
6) Revision of Incentive structure
Challenge Action Plan for improvement

Quality of Training 1) Class room training of only 3-4 days


2) On Job training for 7 days
3) Refresher of executives every 3 months of all products
4) Training of BDMs & executives every month on specific product or
sales skills
5) Buddy Connect Program
6) Training of Trainers in every Quarter
7) Inculcating Free Check Up benefits
8) Memorize the USPs of our channel or make Reference Card
9) Learn & Memorize the Sales Pitch of knocking
Challenge Action Plan for improvement

Operations Hiccups 1) Society Permission Executives


& Market 2) Uniform / Dress code for executives
complexities 3) Follow-up registers at Camps
4) Tabs for BDMs – E-Catalogue & CRM
5) Dedicated online portal for Godrej Direct
6) Revamping ACE Customer benefits viz 5% - 10% discount on

exchange / new purchase of 2nd appliance


7) Exchange pricing to be competitive with MOP
8) Mapping of Societies
9) Camp without display
Challenge Action Plan for improvement

Quantity
Quality & 1) Recruitment of part time tele callers
of Leads 2) Recruitment of tele callers (work from home)
3) Recruitment of Male Tele Callers
4) Working of tele caller in shifts
5) In house leads to be captured in system along with feedback
6) SMS confirmation by executives on leads attended
7) Creating Levels of Tele Callers to motivate & retain
8) Self calling
9) Feedback mechanism for External tele calling leads
10) Training program for Tele Callers
11) Focus on pitching maximum product categories with Calling
Challenge Action Plan for improvement

1) Tabs for Executives and BDMs with access to Godrej Direct Online
Portal
Complexities 2) Flipcharts
3) Meeting points for Tele Teams
Immediate Action:

JUST DO IT EVALUATE
1) Consumer Referral Scheme 1) Expansion of Territories
2) Focus on Specific SKUs 2) Relook at Exchange Pricing
Focus on All PRODUCT Tablets for BDMs &
3) Categories 3) Executives
4) Focus on team size increase 4) Online Portal
HIGH
5) Camp without Display 5) Incentivize Agencies on
I
6) Combo Offers recruitment
M
7) Increase teams 6) Dedicated team for institutions
P
8) Business Development Executives 7) Revamping Incentive structure
A
PAR
C LOW PRIORITY K
T 1) Employee discount scheme for 1) Adding new products
Abroad Trip of BDMs &
LOW executives 2) Executives
3) Newspaper advertisement for
manpower

LOW COST HIGH


Conclusions

The purpose of this paper was to synthesis different approaches regarding the relation between
direct sales through sales representatives and / or direct catalog and direct marketing and to
present and argue the vision of the researcher. There are currently conflicting views regarding
the inclusion of direct sales in the category of direct response marketing types. Some of these
opinions deny that direct selling is a form of direct marketing while anothers claim the opposite
view. Investigating both approaches, including the arguments of the researchers, we have
concluded that direct sales through sales representatives and catalog represent a direct
marketing component. In this sense, we have argued that both direct marketing and direct
selling are two interactive systems, allow obtaining a measurable response and / or the closing
of the transaction, involves the use of one or more media channels and are not restricted to a
particular location. In the context of confusion in the Romanian business literature market
regarding the terms of direct marketing and direct selling, this paper contributes to clarify the
differences and similarities between the two concepts and supports the need to address the
importance of direct selling as a form of direct marketing.
CHAPTER 6

BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

[1] Albaum, G. (1992), Current Status and Future Directions for Research on Direct Selling
Channeles, înRosenbloom, B., Direct Selling Channels, New York: The Haworth Press, pp. 95-
117

[2] Alturas, B. (2003), "Direct Selling: From Door to Door to E-commerce ", IADIS
International Conference WWW/Internet 2003, wwwInternet 2003 IADIS International
Conference Proceedings, Algarve, repositorioiul.iscte.pt/bitstream/10071/1162/1/
Paper_347_IADIS2003.pdf

[3] Alturas, B; Santos, M. C. (2004), "Direct Selling: The Role Of Risk in


Consumers'acceptance and Satisfaction", Academy of Marketing Annual Conference
Proceedings, In Virtue in Marketing, Academy of Marketing Annual Conference Proceedings,
Cheltenham, repositorio- iul.iscte.pt/bitstream/10071/1165/1/Paper%20AM 2004.pdf

[4]Baier, M. (2003), “Direct Marketing”, Ruf Report, Vol. 7, Nr. 2//


http://books.google.ro/books//EwAA#v=onepage&q=Baier%20Direct%20Marketing%
20%20Ruf%20Report&f=false

[5] Bauer, C. L., Miglautsch, J., (1992), “A Conceptual Definition of Direct Marketing”, Journal
of Direct Marketing, Vol.6, Nr.2, pp.7-17

[6] Berry, R. (1997), Direct Selling: From Door to Door to Network Marketing, Oxford:
Butterworth-Heinemann [1] Brodie, S., Stanworth, J., Wotruba, T.R. (2002), “Comparisons of
Salespeople in Multilevel vs. Single Level Direct Selling Organizations”, Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management, Vol.22, Nr.2, pp.67-75

[7] Buehrer, R.E., Senecal, S., Pullins, E.B. (2005), „Sales Force Technology Usage - Reasons,
Barriers, and Support: An Exploratory Investigation”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol.
34, Nr. 4, pp. 389-398

[8] Butnaru, G. (2012), Creativity and managerial performance, în Journal of International


Scientific Publications Educational Alternative, Volume 10, Part 2, ISSN 1313-2571
[9] Bhattacharya, C. B. (1998), “When Customers are Members: Customer Retention in Paid
Membership Contexts,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 26, Nr.1, pp. 31-44

[10] Bird, D. (2000), Commonsense Direct Marketing. Ediţia a IV-a. Londra: EdituraKogan
Page

11] Caballero, M (1986), „Direct Marketing”, înBeacham, W., Hise, R.T., Tongren, H.,
Beacham Marketing Reference, Vol. 1, Washington: Research Publishing, pp. 255-260

[12] Coughlan, A.T., Grayson, K. (1998), “Network Marketing Organizations: Compensation


Plans, Retail Network Growth, and Profitability”, International Journal of Research in
Marketing, Vol. 15, Nr.5, pp.401-426

[13] Darian, J.C. (1987), „In-home Shopping: Are There Consumer Segments?”, Journal of
Retailing, Vol. 63, Nr. 2, pp. 163-186

[14] Desjardins, C. (1995), Le Marketing Direct en Action, Paris: Les Editions d’Organisation

[15] Duffy, D. (2005), „Direct Selling as the Next Channel”, Journal of Consumer Marketing,
Vol. 22, Nr. 1, pp. 43–45

[16] Grayson, K. (2007), „Friendship versus Business in Marketing Relationships”, Journal of


Marketing, Vol. 71, Nr. 4, pp. 121-139

[17] Hermel, L. , Quioc, J. (1994), Le marketing direct, Paris: EdituraEconomica

[18] Jasper, C. , Lan, P. (1992), „Apparel Catalog Patronage: Demographic, Lifestyle and
Motivational Factors”, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 9, Nr. 4, pp. 275-296

[19] Kotler, Ph. (2000), Marketing Management: Millennium Edition, Englewood Cliffs – New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall

[20] Kim, Y.K., Feather B., McEnally, M. (1996), „Professional Women's Catalogue Usage: Its
Relationships With Involvement, Lifestyle and Demographic Characteristics”, Journal of
Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 1, Nr. 1, pp. 33-49

ANNEXURE
Questionnaire Survey

Name
Age
Gender
Qualification
Occupation

1. While purchasing consumer durables what do you consider ?

 Brand & benefit


 Price
 Packaging
 Advertising

2. How do measure Direct Marketing communication of Godrej?

Satisfied

Not Satisfied

Average satisfaction

3. Awareness Advertisement Category of Godrej Brand

Yes

No

4. Attractiveness of Online Advertisement / Direct Mailing Advertisement and

SMS advertisement

Yes
No
5. Buying Decision Influence

Influence web shop

No or little influence

Medium influence

Much influence

6. Where did you buy these appliances from?

Godrej Executive who came to your Continue


1
house after giving you a call
Godrej Executive who came to your Continue
house as there was a free appliance 2
check up drive in the society
Distributor/dealer ( Our data base) 3 Terminate
Second hand 4 Terminate
Any other 5 Terminate
7. On the basis of your recent most experience of purchasing an appliance
from Godrej and Boyce, how would you rate your overall experience of
going through the purchase process of buying your new appliance from
Godrej and Boyce. Would you say it is…………?

Godrej & Boyce


Mfg. Co. Ltd
EXCELLENT 5
VERY GOOD 4
GOOD 3
FAIR 2
POOR 1
DON’T KNOW 8
REFUSED 9
8. I would now like to discuss with you, specific aspects related to the Display
van / canopy / tent. As I mention each aspect, I would like you to rate the
Display van / canopy / tent, keeping in mind the last time you saw the
display van / canopy / tent in your society. How would you rate

EXCE VERY GOO FAI POO DK/ CS /


LLEN GOOD D R R REFUSE
T D

Quality of the display van / canopy


/
1 tent 05 04 03 02 01 99
Size of the display van / canopy /
2 tent 05 04 03 02 01 99
Cleanliness of the van / canopy /
3 tent 05 04 03 02 01 99

Attractiveness of the van / canopy /


4 tent 05 04 03 02 01 99
Arrangement of the different
appliance in the display van /
5 canopy 05 04 03 02 01 99
/ tent
6 Adequacy of the various models on 05 04 03 02 01 99
the display in the van/ canopy/ tent
Latest versions of the appliances
7 displayed in the van / canopy / tent 05 04 03 02 01 99
Overall condition/ quality of the
8 appliances displayed in the van / 05 04 03 02 01 99
canopy / tent
8 POP material displayed in the 05 04 03 02 01 99
display van / canopy / tent
9. Based on your last experience during the purchase of an appliance with
Godrej & Boyce how would you rate Godrej & Boyce on the overall quality
payment procedure?

EXCE VERY GOOD FAIR POOR DK/ CS /


LLEN GOOD REFUSED
T

05 04 03 02 01 99

10. What was the mode of payment for the advance payment?

Code
Cheque
01

Cash
02

DD
03

PO 04

Others 05

Don’t
Remember/Refused 08

You might also like