AN EXAMINATION OF PERSONAL SELLING AS AN EFFECTIVE PROMOTIONAL TOOL IN MARKETING OF INDUSTRIAL GOODS

ABSTRACT
The project aim at knowing personal selling as a promotional tools in marketing of industrial goods, which provide for detail information about all activities that is going in industrial goods products, and also touch the parts of promotional activities like sales promotion, public relation, advertising and publicity which is useful to solve marketing problems.

This project explains all process involve in oil companies in order to make successful selling activities.

However, it also highlight the historical background of the case study which is” NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC)”that will enable the researcher to know much on how personal selling serves as best promotional tool in marketing of INDUSTRIAL GOODS to achieve their objectives, various research information by the researcher that tries to described special features of the study which serve to be realized while working to provide a complete knowledge of the topic.

CHAPTER ONE
1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Selling is one of the oldest professions in the world.

The people who do the selling go by many names. Sales people, sales representatives, account s executives, sales consultants, sales engineers, agents district managers, marketing representatives, and account development reps, to name just a few.
The term salesperson covers a wide range of positions form the clerk selling in a retail store to the engineering sales person who consult with client companies.

The term sales person covers a wide range of steps.

At one extreme, a sales person might be largely an order taker, such as the department store sales person standing behind the counter.

At the other extreme are order getters, whose position demand the creative selling of products and services ranging from appliances, industrial equipment, or airplanes to insurance, advertising, or consulting services.

Other sales person for pharmaceutical company whole calls on doctors to educate them about the company’s drug products and to urge them to prescribe these products to their patients.
Therefore; personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the promotion mix. Advertising consists of one-way non-personal communication with target consumer groups.

In contract, personal selling involves two-way, personal communication between salespeople and individual customers whether face to face, by telephone, through video conferences, or by other means, personal selling can be more effective than advertising in more complex selling situation. Salespeople can probe customers to learn more about their problems.

They can adjust the marketing offer to fit the special needs of each customer and negotiate terms of sales.

They can build long term personal relationships with key decision makers.
The role of personal selling varies form company to company. Some firms have no sales people at all, for example, companies that sell only through mail order catalogs or companies that sell through manufacturer’s reps, sales agents, or brokers.

In most firms, however, the sales forces plays major role. In companies that sell business products, such good stuffs, the company’s sales people work directly with customers.

In fact, to may customers, sales people may be the only contact.
The sales force serves as a critical link between a company and its customers in many cases, sales person serve both masters the seller and the buyer.

First, they represent the company to customers.

They find and develop new customers and communicate information about the company products and services.

They sell products by approaching customers, presenting their products, answering objections, negotiating prices and terms, and closing sales.

In addition sales people provide services to customers, carry out market research and intelligent work, and fill out sales call reports.
A company’s move toward a stronger market orientation, their sales forces are becoming more market focuses and customer oriented.

The old view was that sales people should worry about sales and the company should worry about profit.

However, the current view holds that sales people should be concerned with more than just producing sales they also must know how to produce customer satisfaction and company profit.
Beyond winning new customers and making sales, hey must be able to help the company to create long term, profitable relationships with customers.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM OF THE STUDY
The problem of this research work is to find out the degree of effectiveness of promotional tools particular personal selling in marketing of consumer goods. (a case study of NNPC in Ilorin metropolises].

This problem is concerned with effect of using personal selling as a promotional tool in marketing of consumer goods.

That is whether the cost of maintaining the sales forces (promotional variables) justifies the benefits demand by companies.
This problem involved the evaluation of personal sales in the competitive homogeneous marketing of consumer goods. this project will explore these brotherly questions concerned with the problems.
– Is personal selling more effective than other promotional tools?
– What proportion of promotional budget should be allocated to personal selling?
– Does the cost of personal selling justify its benefits?
– Is personal selling really the most effective promotional tools and should such effective be related with the appointment of the promotional budget?

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This project set out the best procedure on the personal selling process and crystal the concepts of personal selling as a promotional tool in the oil sector.
The aims and objectives of this study was to prove that personal selling is more effective than other promotional tools in the marketing of consumer goods,
This includes the followings:
– To guarantee flow of products in order to avoid scarcity.
– To determine the immediate and benefit of personal selling
– To investigate the appropriate of personal selling in the most other promotional tools.
– To ensure that transit by drives or through poor storage
– To improve sales at the particular filling stations by introducing patronage.
– To achieve proper monitoring and security of distribution equipment e.g. pipeline, pumps and personal.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The significance of this research work is that it will enable the researcher to understand in full, what personal selling is all about and the various ways of improving personal sales services by researching into their problems it will also improve the practical application of personal selling concepts to the industries, which is marketing firms and the research finding and recommendations will enable them to see the real effects of personal selling i.e. its worth spending all the money to maintain the promotional variables and various ways of controlling the sales people manager and best ways of motivating them necessarily.
On the part of sales people manager, it will give them an idea of what is expected of them and the various remuneration they should expected from the company.