A comparison of retail trade and company sales staff perceptions of a trade based sales promotion

This paper presents a case study that was undertaken to understand the perceptions of both dealers and internal staff about a sales promotion that was employed by the company. In terms of general attitudes to promotions, sales representatives and dealers both saw promotions as purely sales driven, in terms of objectives and evaluations. However, senior staff saw sales promotions as having a relationship building role and as a motivator for staff. The internal staff we spoke to were sceptical about the effectiveness of such promotions with the sales reps perceiving that they would have achieved the sales anyway and the senior staff unsure how to assess these more abstract objectives. The key findings were the identification of the areas perceived by dealers and/or internal staff as impacting upon a sales promotion. These were: ability to attract attention, simplicity, having realistic targets, having good support material, appropriate incentives, efficient logistics, communication of benefits and sales support. It was also important to ensure that the goals of the promotion, as set by the company, were able to provide a benefit to the dealers.