An experimental approach to segmenting buyers of marketing research

Successful industrial market segmentation may often depend on the marketer's ability to identify key characteristics influencing purchase preferences. Environmental, organizational, and personal factors are all potential determinants of buyer response patterns. Recent attention to microsegmentation processes has focused interest on personal level factors and how these are modified by organizational and situational variables. Utilizing a simulated buying experiment, this study explores a simplified approach to microsegmentation that emphasizes information readily available to industrial vendor representatives.     

Industrial product adoption in a technology push industry

Studies of the industrial adoption of innovatious have frequently concluded that managerial attitudes are a crucial determinant of adoption behavior. However, these studies have usually offered hypotheses rather than rigorous tests. Equally important, these studies have not specified the characteristics of those managers whose attitudes exert a particularly strong influence on the firm's adoption policy.     

Factors that influence the length of industrial channels

This article is concerned with the length of channels utilized to market industrial products. Several marketing scholars have proposed that the appropriate channel structure is a function of conditions associated with the market for the product, the nature of the product itself, and characteristics of the producer and middlemen. By means of a survey of industrial product manufacturers, this study identified six characteristics of middlemen, industrial markets, and industrial customers that appear to be significant influences on the length of channels used to distribute industrial products.     

The effective use of marketing research consultants

Relatively little has been written about effectively managing the buyer-seller relationship for marketing research services. To provide insights into effectively managing this relationship, a survey of both buyers and sellers of marketing research services was conducted. Major findings were that proper problem definition, a familiarity with research methods by the research buyer, and continuous communication between buyer and seller were critical determinants of a successful consultant relationship. For best results the market research buyer-seller relationship should be treated as a mutually beneficial one, not one of conflict or acrimony.     

Evaluating and comparing salesmen's performance

The measurement and evaluation of the performance of salesmen is complicated in most firms by the situational, environmental, and personal variables involved. This complexity is further increased when management attempts performance comparisons among several salesmen or among an entire sales force. Territorial differences, multiplicity of products, and differences in backgrounds among salesmen are just a few of the factors of variability that compound management's performance measurement and evaluation tasks.In spite of these difficulties, the management process requires that the performance of salesmen be measured and compared to predetermined standards. Subjective judgements have frequently taken the place of objective analysis, particularly as to the overall or composite performance of salesmen, because of the difficulties sales managers encounter in the determination of composite measures of performance. Many have discussed the determination and use of objectives or quotas for salesmen, and some have been concerned with the development of composite measures of salesmen performance. However, most have suggested methods that require quantitative skills not possessed by many sales managers and salesmen. The application of computers to the quantitative methods that have been suggested does alleviate the computational problem but not the equally important understanding requirement. Sales personnel, particularly field managers and their salesmen, should thoroughly understand and accept the methods by which standards of sales performance are determined, in addition to the standards or quotas themselves if they are to accept evaluation against these standards [1].The purpose of this article is to discuss the various determinants of salesmen's performance and to present a practical analytical method for calculating and evaluating the overall performance of salesmen that will permit cross-comparison among all members of the sales force irrespective of differences in assignments and objectives. A hypothetical example is then presented utilizing a tabular analysis format equally appropriate for use by home office analysts or by field sales managers and their salesmen.     

Industrial life cycles and learning curves: Interaction of marketing and production

The price-oriented experience curve has been widely utilized as a model to design marketing strategies. Yet, it is cost over which many firms exercise the most control. This article explores the cost-oriented learning curve in conjunction with the product life cycle model as joint strategy constructs. Implications of variations in the learning curve parameters are examined.     

Purchasing's role in computer buying: A comparative study

The sale of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) equipment represents a large and growing market both in number of dollars and products. This article analyzes the purchaser's perceived role in the EDP acquisition process from both public and private sector perspectives. Major public and private sector purchasing differences are discussed in terms of their implications for improving EDP marketing success. Differences discussed include: purchaser influence in the EDP decision process, necessity of seller-buyer interface, method of purchase, and purchasing's organization structure for buying EDP equipment.     

A framework for personal selling to organizations

Salespersons selling to organizations operate in a more complex environment than is typically portrayed in the literature. The scope of models developed in the sales process area has been limited to simple persuasion situations. This article goes beyond traditional sales models by taking into account interactions by various members of the organization involved or potentially involved in the industrial buying process. Implications for industrial sales training process are also discussed.     

Industrial buyer complaining behavior

Many areas of household consumer behavior research were extended to study organizational buyer behavior in the recent years. However, one exception is the buyer dissatisfaction and complaining behavior area. This article discusses the various conceptual aspects of organizational buyer complaining behavior. A model of buyer complaining behavior is proposed and some theoretical portulates are formulated for additional research.     

The industrial proposal as a promotional tool

The industrial marketer's promotional tool, the formal proposal, has been little more than an informative but relatively dull statement of supplier qualifications and technical specifications. This article outlines the phases of conventional bidding or proposal preparation, employs exploratory research findings to help identify current weaknesses, and introduces the emerging storyboarding process as a stimulus to the increased vitality of the industrial promotional atmosphere.