CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Personal
selling is an important component of the overall marketing strategy of an
organization. According to Adamu (200) personal selling is the presentation of
a persuasive message by selling to a potential customer or group of customers,
personal selling can also take place through personal correspondence telephone
conversation or email.
Personal
selling is an effective communication with potential buyers of a product with
the intention of promoting sales. Personal selling may focus initially on
developing a relationship with the consumers and potential buyers of a product.
This relationship ultimately ends with an attempt to “close the sales” (Okoh,
2009).
The
oldest form of promotion is personal selling. It involves the use of a sales
force to encourage intermediaries to buy the product or a pull strategy where
an organization may be limited to supporting retailers and providing after
sales services.
Personal
selling is designed to present a form of face-to-face communication, personal
correspondence, or a personal telephone conversation, unlike advertising a
personal sales message can be justified. For example, the marketing of a
sophisticated computer system may require the use of personal selling, while
the introduction of a new products are door-to-door selling and home demonstration parties. These
two personal selling methods are primarily used for personal care products,
cosmetics, cookware, encyclopedias, books, toys foods and other items of
special interest to home markets. Ideally, personal selling should be supported
by advertising to strengthen its impact. Delivery of a specially desired
message to a prospect by a seller usually in the form of face to face
communication, personal correspondence, or a personal telephone conversation,
unlike advertising, a personal sale message can be more specifically targeted
to individual prospects and easily altered if the desired behaviour does not
occur.
However,
inspite of the importance of personal selling to the overall marketing strategy
of an organization, previous studies have indicated that organization do not
hold it to a high esteem like other promotional tool. For example Emena (2006)
in her study of problem and prospect of personal selling in business
enterprise, observed that most companies in Nigeria seldom used personal
selling to promote their product or do not channel the required resources to
it.
It
is against this background that the researcher sees the subject matter worthy
of investigation.
1.2
STATEMENT
OF PROBLEM
Inspite
of the importance of personal selling in sales promotion, scholars in Nigeria
have done few empirical investigations on the subject matter. Although a lot of
researches on sales promotion study personal selling as a component or segment
of such empirical work. This has created a gap in the study of personal selling
from a broad perspective (Okoh,2008).
Hence,
Personal selling is neglected by so many companies in Nigeria. This is sequel
to the fact that personal selling fail to realize its objectives in most
companies in Nigeria (Okoh, 2007), this failure may be attributed to the poor
capital budget, poor sales management and ineffective sales campaign.
It
is against this, that the researcher seek to carry out an empirical
investigation on the subject matter to cover this gap
1.3
OBJECTIVE
OF THE STUDY
The
central objective of this research is to examine the effect of personal selling
on sales growth in Dansa food. The specific objectives of the study are:
i.
To determine how personal selling affects
sales growth in Dansa food limited.
ii.
To find out the effect of personal selling
on customer satisfaction and retention
iii.
To determine how personal selling affect
sales volume in Dansa foods limited.
iv.
To identify the problems militating against
personal selling in Dansa food limited
1.4
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
This
study will add to the existing body of knowledge on personal selling on sales
growth. As such will be a useful reference materials for incoming students who
may wish to undertake a similar study. The study will also be useful to
corporate organization, in particular Dansa foods limited in policy formulation
regarding personal selling.
1.5
RESEARCH
QUESTION
i.
How does personal selling affect sales
growth in Dansa food limited Kaduna?
ii.
To what extent does personal selling affect
customer satisfaction and retention in Dansa Food?
iii.
What is the effect of personal selling on
sales volume of Dansa food products?
iv.
What are the problems militating against
personal selling in Dansa food limited?
1.6
SCOPE
OF THE STUDY
The
study covers an empirical examination of the effect of personal selling on
sales growth in Dansa foods limited Kaduna. The study shall cover a time from
2006 to 2011.
1.7
LIMITATION
OF THE STUDY
For
the fact that the study is restricted to Dangote food limited Kaduna, it is not
certain if the same result would be obtained if this research is carried out in
another area. for the fact that questionnaire as well as the survey design
constitute the instrument of data collection as well as the research design, it
is not certain if the same result would be obtained if other research design as
well as instrument is used.
Other
limitation arise from the non challant attitude of some respondent as well as
there uncooperative attitude. Bias exhibited by some respondent made. Them
either to exaggerate or under state their responses.
Other
limitation include the inability of the research to get adequate literatures on
the subject matter.
All
these limitation impede the study in one way or the other, hence incoming
researcher should take cognizance of these limitations.
1.8
DEFINITION
OF TERMS
Personal
selling: presentation of a persuasive message by selling to a potential
customer or group of customer.
Customer
satisfaction: making customer happy by meeting their
needs and expectation.
Sales volume:
High or low rate of sales
Sales growth:
Increase of sales
Customer retention:
These are strategies of making customer to stay with an organization and not
defecting to another r organization in terms of patronage.
Creating awareness:
Establishing means of informing customers about the existence of a product.