Improving face-to-face marketing to enhance its success and comparing its effectiveness to other marketing tools - a case study on the Cobra Group Plc. & arcube marketing

Abstract

Face-to-face marketing is not very well known in current literature, however studies suggest that its importance will become increasingly relevant. The Cobra Group plc has successfully promoted products via this marketing channel. Their main asset is their salesteam. This study wants to examine the nature of face-to-face marketing, its benefits as well as its downsides. Special focus will be devoted to the salesperson and the selling process. The aim is to find ways to improve face-to-face marketing so that more customers can benefit from it. This thesis makes use of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews with face-to-face marketing professionals and secondary data to form a basic knowledge and to a very small extent tertiary data e.g. company information, leaflets, training material etc. The findings suggest that the success of face-to-face marketing is primarily dependent on the salesperson as he is the contact to the customer. Special emphasis has been put on training quality and the importance to develop high-level sales skills in order to establish a fruitful ground for a sale. The only way to create customer's long-term commitment is through building trust and delivering customer service. A surprising discovery is that prior information about face-to-marketing will encourage more people to overcome their prejudices.