Business

    Marketing is a social and managerial process through which individuals obtain goods and services through an exchange method.  This integrated process enables companies to create strong customer relationships and brand loyalty. Owing to the fact that marketing is done to maintain customers and to satisfy customer needs, marketing management is one of the most important aspects of business management. According to the marketing concept, achieving organisational goals depends on a sound understanding of the target markets and to achieve customer satisfaction. What lies at the heart of marketing is a good understanding of the customer and their needs, this requires that the organization understands both the internal and the external factors and the concepts of brand building and brand equity.

Part (a)
    As a salesperson, I have come into contact with marketing while promoting the goods I have sold before. This aspect contains two important sub-categories that are communications which include advertising and public relations and personal selling. Communications involve the process of getting customers to buy goods while personal selling includes the techniques used in selling. Good relations and patience are some of the most important features customers often need a salesperson who is patient with them even when they pester. I have always had to be honest with the brands I sell for the sake of trust and brand loyalty consumers need to be confidence in the product in order to be devoted to it. Confidence is another area that is of great challenge, I often risk losing a deal just because of lack of confidence, this by extension means that a consumer will not be convinced to purchase the commodity. Overall, I have realized that reliability, trust, confidence and honesty are key requirements if consumers are to be loyal to a particular brand.

Part (b)
Market segmentation, targeting and positioning- study session one.
    Market segmentation is the process of grouping the consumers in relation to their requirements or behaviour this is in consideration of the fact that these groups may have different and exceptional needs and these calls for different marketing programs and product provision. The rationale behind this concept lies in the fact that consumers may not necessarily have the same product desires while in the same stride, it is important to satisfy the needs of all consumers. This process apart from increasing the marketing communication needs also increases returns, retains costumers and ensures sound segment leadership (Greg 2000).

    As a salesperson therefore, market segmentation, targeting and positioning is very instrumental in determining the size of the homogenous segment, the reality of accessing the clients in the quest to satisfy consumer requirements. Substantiability and congruence are other factors of fundamental importance if at all value is to be delivered to the consumer, the segment should be manageable, cost effective to deliver services to and this guarantees that there is a good return to investment. In promotion also, the demographic, geographic, behavioural and the psychographic factors also need to be considered. To sell effectively, a salesperson must divide the potential consumers in terms of the density of population and geographical units (Drummond 2005). Psychographic characteristics are the consumer division in terms of their lifestyles, social classes and personalities.

The rational Approach of understanding customers- study session three.
    Consumer buying behaviour explains the manner in which consumers (both individuals and households) behave towards the products or services offered. A thorough understanding of consumer behaviour is essential in order for an organization to internalise the influencing factors of the consumer decision making process. In understanding consumer behaviour, the rational concept supposes that consumers make rational decisions about the products they consume. Marketers should therefore concentrate on understanding the consumer product evaluation process so that costumer satisfaction is guaranteed. The complex buying behaviour for instance emphasizes that consumers consider the differences between brands, develop perceptions before deciding which brand to be loyal to.

    As a marketer, marketing communication ought to be geared towards a particular strategic role, consumer behaviour could emanate from the marketing initiatives and effective communication of the salesperson. Consumer behaviour such as Dissonance Buying Behaviour often can be influenced by consistent providence of the services offered by the marketer, this could be financial services or after sale services. Marketers can influence habitual behaviour of consumers by using price fluctuations and effective promotion of such products, in the same stride, variety seeking consumers can be offered with a wide selection of products to choose from. Overall, marketers ought to have a comprehensive understanding of consumer behaviour in order to satisfy their product requirements (Schiffman 2004).

The Internal and Macro-environment- study session 2.
    The marketing environment entails a combination of factors that influence the ability of the business to expand and particularly affect effective building of customer relationships. The proactive approach is where there is a belief that the environment can be influenced by combating challenges while taking advantage of opportunities, the passive approach however views the environment as unmanageable. The Macro-environment consists of foreign competition, exchange rates, culture, interest rates while the Micro-environment comprises competitors, intermediaries, customers and suppliers.

     In the analysis of the above situation, a salesperson ought to be aware of the environment in order to be aware of competition, opportunities and threats. This instils an aspect of aggression in the marketer (the proactive approach) to strive towards covering a wider marker, strategize and plan on the marketing process (Greg 2000). In this age of technology and easy access to information, organizations can not exclusively rely on unique products because they can easily be imitated brands on the other hand are distinctive and help organizations maintain a competitive advantage.

Part (c)
    Analyzing the above scenario (marketing), the ethical implications may lie in the case where the wrong market is targeted in the segmentation and positioning process. Entangled in the whole setting, ethical issues such as honesty and integrity may not be considered hence taking advantage of the vulnerable population. Marketing ethics these are the acceptable guidelines stipulated by stakeholders that should be observed by the salesperson. A marketer owes a consumer a duty of care which should not be beached, there are also rights of the consumer and the obligations of the marketer, and this is where integrity and honesty of the salesperson comes in handy (Drummond 2005). Marketers since are the representatives of the Organizations should portray a positive image of the firm and as such, should not take advantage of consumer ignorance. This especially applies to those groups (older generation or children) who can not evaluate products rationally.

Part (d)
    The importance of segmentation in the marketing process is glaringly clear to concentrate on the important aspects and requirements of the consumer. Marketing practitioners can improve on market segmentation by studying the consumer type in terms of the organization size and type, the industry and the position in the value chain. Geographic segmentation should be based on the consumer concentration, growth rate of the consumer population and international macroeconomic factors. Once the markets are segmented, they can be given names and profiled in order to identify the potentials of the markets, attractive markets are then singled out and concentrated on. Overall, research should be undertaken by organizations to ensure expenditure is cut down, cash flow increases, productivity is increased, better knowledge of products is achieved and the working conditions of the salesperson improved.