CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF TNE STUDY

Organizations that deal in supplying, manufacturing, marketing and sales of both industrial and consumer goods must set goals, formulate objectives, design streamlined strategies and tactics to survive the deluge of challenges that is imminent in the day to day operation of its quest to satisfy the innumerable needs and wants of her target customers.

The dynamism in conducting business the world over has taken a detour; a paradigm shift from the often bandied phrase- ‘business as usual, or garbage in, garbage out,’ that is highly preponderant in the business parlance of both developing and emerging markets.

In the contemporary business arena, businesses are conducted as a win-win situation (Kotler and Bowen, 2010) between the customers and the employees who are the mirror through which the customers view the organizations.

Sales force management ensures that the sales force get christened as ‘need identifiers and problem solvers or solution providers.’ This might sound utopian but a closer look at the direction of operating successful business organization today, though mainly in developed society will definitely x-ray that all organizations are independently dependent on one another for survival.

A business can only record monumental successes when it imbibes the culture of being customer centric, customer obsessed, customer focused, customer paranoia and customer leadership. That is, perceiving customer as the ‘KING. Despite that, no company can wade through or weather the storm of relegating and denigrating her customers.

Going down the memory lane, marketers had always preached that customer attraction without plan for retention is like a leaky-bucket approach (Kotler and Armstrong, 2001). And that a customer poorly treated will not only switch to competitors but will play word-of mouth evangelism towards ensuring that the organization will pay dearly for it. Of course the customer goes about preaching everybody that comes across him that such a company is socially irresponsible and insensitive to the needs of her customers. Ironically, when such customer is tenaciously cuddled, he is bound to pinch his lifetime value with the organization as there is bound to be repeat purchases. Sales force management ensures that employees are properly, recruited, trained, motivated and evaluated to enhance their performance and increase the sales volume of the organisation. When this is achieved, management market share will grow, share price will appreciate and shareholder value will improve. It is a value chain that management must never trample upon (customer satisfaction).

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

While a good number of Organizations have benefited from efficient management of their sales force, myriad of them have equally lost millions of dollars as a result of poor management of its sales force. Those who engage adequate and concerted effort towards designing appropriate sales force structure and strategy, recruitment and selection of salespeople, training (Abdolvand and Farzaneh , 2013) salespeople, compensating/motivating salespeople, supervising salespeople and evaluating salespeople (Kotler and Armstrong, 2001), have a bird eye view of the awareness, experience and sophisticated (Okolo, et al., 2015) nature of customers, coupled with the medley and farrago of their needs and wants, and have enjoyed the impact of improved return on investment. On the other hand, poor management has led to both management and marketing myopia from those sales managers who hold tenaciously to believe that salespeople don’t require any training as they are born not made. According to Bakosh, (2007), “it is not just about the paycheck. Effective incentive compensation management is based on an understanding of basic human motivation on the importance of trust, self-esteem, social recognition and improved chances to fulfill one’s potential.” Indisputably, the success of the organization or firm is dependent on the adequacy and efficiency of sales force management. Therefore, adequate attention has to be projected towards the sales personnel as a new trajectory to optimum performance due to the delicate position they occupy as well as the subtle role they play in the organization, to ensure that customers are pampered as well as serviced with passion and care. Sadly, in Nigeria, most organizations and their sales managers do not consider these variables (motivating and training of sales force) and in some cases, totally ignore them which might lead to a generally poor sales performance and poor distribution of a firm’s products. Perhaps management are not yet convinced that a properly trained and motivated employee performs his duty with high sense of responsibility and diligence. This study therefore seeks to evaluate the impact of sales force management on increased sales volume.

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main aim of the research work is to evaluate the impact of sales force management on increased sales volume. The specific objectives of the study are:

1. to determine the relationship between sales force management and increased sales volume
2. to determine the effect of sales force management on increased sales volume
3. to determine the extent to which sales force management influence increased sales volume
4. to investigate the factors affecting the sales force management and increased sales volume
5. to proffer solution to the above problem

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study came up with research questions so as to ascertain the above stated objectives of the study. The following research questions guide the objectives of the study:

1. What is the relationship between sales force management and increased sales volume?
2. What is the effect of sales force management on increased sales volume?
3. To what the extent have sales force management influence increased sales volume?
4. What are the factors affecting the sales force management and increased sales volume?
5. What is the solution to the above problem?

1.5 STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

H0: there is no significant relationship between sales force management and increased sales volume

H1: there is significant relationship between sales force management and increased sales volume

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study on an evaluation of the impact of sales force management on increased sales volume will be of immense benefit to both the service and manufacturing sectors in Nigeria. The study will explore are the determinants of sales force management and how they are used to increased sales volume. The study will determine the sales force management and increased sales volume nexus. The study will also serve as a repository of information to all researchers and undergraduate students that desire to carry out similar research on the above topic. Finally the study will contribute the body of the existing literature on evaluation of the impact of sales force management on increased sales volume.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will focus on an evaluation of the impact of sales force management on increased sales volume

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Sales force management: Sales Force Management (SFM) is a sub-system of marketing management. It is Sales Management that translates the marketing plan into marketing performance. Actually sales force management does much more than serving as the muscle behind marketing management.

Sales volume: Sales volume is the number of units sold within a reporting period. This figure is monitored by investors to see if a business is expanding or contracting. Within a business, sales volume may be monitored at the level of the product, product line, customer, subsidiary, or sales region