Differences in Conditions of Service of Two Groups of Direct Sales Marketers - Essay Example

There was exploratory research that was based on the principles of comparative analysis between people of two different lines of marketing service.

Background of the field of the study
Direct sales continue to be a growing phenomenon in all parts of the world. This is partly because of the intensity of competition between various manufacturing companies. It would be noted that marketing is the middle entity that comes between manufacturing and consumption (Krause, 2009). This means that if goods and products that are produced are not marketed, they remain liabilities for their producers. But it has never been easy for producers to get their products marketed because of competition. It is against this background that several companies have devised what may be described as non-orthodox means of marketing. This non-orthodox means to get people who sell products on a face-to-face basis to consumers (Fox, 2008). As direct selling gained prominence, another component of it, which has to do with multi-level direct marketing, emerged. It is for the sake of the difference in approaches namely single-level and multi-level that researchers have often tried to investigate the impact that these differences create.

How the study was conducted

The study was conducted through a survey research design whereby the researcher formed a sample size from 22 different companies. The researcher proceeded to design a data collection instrument in the form of a questionnaire, with which data were collected from respondents by the use of a mailed questionnaire. The fact that the research design was influenced by a survey, means that the researcher was to generalize all data collected from respondents with the larger direct sales population within the setting of the research.

Managerial Implications of the Study
The major managerial implications deducted from the study have to do with the trend of recruitment of marketers. This is because the study showed that the best group of the population to take up single-level direct selling is people who would want to hook onto those jobs as permanent workers. For this reason, it is best to recruit young people who are not engaged with other time-consuming activities and who would have the energy to undertake their selling tasks single-handedly (Copacino, 2008). On the part of multi-level companies, it is advised that they settle with the older class, who are already engaged with other full-time jobs and would therefore take up direct selling as a part-time job. Once this proportionate recruitment is made, direct-selling companies can be assured of having the very best input and commitment towards work from sellers.

Recommendation
For future development of the present study, it is highly recommended that the author adapts a mixed method of data collection. This is going to be useful for the present market research because the researcher will be offered the opportunity of collecting quantitative data as well as qualitative data. The present study was limited to qualitative and so there were no graphical representation of data and this made the study lack an empirical understanding. Read More