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demonstration, mystery shopping. It can be differentiated because
it is face-to-face personal contact direct marketing. Field marketing is
also measured strictly in terms of results.
Field marketing can operate in a consumer environment
(whether at a retail site or at home), business environment or a mix
of both. It can operate at any level from local to international. It can
be both an in-house activity or outsourced. The benefit of
outsourcing is that the supplier of field marketing staff has experi-
ence, knowledge and professional skill. For example, supplied
exhibition staff are probably familiar with most exhibition venues.
Suppliers of field marketing staff can probably react more quickly
to time; that is, to meet short-term needs and to react effectively to
any constraints that are imposed and they are usually managed by
equally professional and experienced persons.
There are some 30 companies in the UK, according to the DMA,
offering to undertake outsourced sales and promotional activities,
employing about 15,000 staff and acting as agents for a number of
firms. This may make greater sense as it saves on many sales-
people visiting the same customers. The weakness, where a single
person agency is operating, is that the salesperson will be inclined
to sell more of the products from the firm that remunerates at a
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higher rate or whose products are easiest to sell – agents tend to
optimize their effort to obtain the highest return overall.
Occasionally, salespeople employed by competing firms will
combine and visit mutual customers on behalf of all to save their
own time. For example, cigarette and tobacco product salespeople
from competing organizations may meet at a motorway service
station and then visit confectionery, tobacconist and newspaper
(CTN) outlets on behalf of all of them. This collusion depends on
the individual salesperson’s beliefs; arrangements such as this
only flourish with consenting salespeople and in an environment
of ‘poor’ supervision if the practice is not condoned.
Direct selling (field marketing sales) is when the salesperson
visits the customer at their premises or at a place other than their
own premises. The purpose of the visit is to close a sale and refresh
and build on the relationship. Direct selling people are equipped
with product presenters, order forms and new products to demon-
strate. They may occasionally take stock to sell or deliver.
Customer relationships can be developed and ‘bonding’ develops
between the direct selling person and the buyer. This bonding is
difficult to break and order-taking is assured, particularly for new
products introduced. It is a traditional way of making sales. It is
also expensive.
In the retail sector, the use of ‘mystery shoppers’ is recognized as
an effective way of testing if the concept is properly being sold –
particularly for services or a service/product mix. Mystery shop-
pers can be the means to reward and motivate staff where service
beyond the standard set is observed. A number of agencies offer a
mystery shopper service. Include in the mystery shopper reports
any of the range of service items you want checked. Director maga-
zine reports that between £25 million and £40 million is spent
annually on mystery shopping in the UK to facilitate objective
feedback for management on standards of service and customer
care.
Demonstrations and sampling, exhibition and roadshow staff
provide the resource for their respective event types. They provide
the opportunity to increase sales, gauge customer reaction and
raise the profile of products. Demonstrations and sampling are
often set up in retail sites – particularly for food and drink items.
Merchandisers combine sales with customer relations; they refill
and re-stock sales plans on behalf of customers often visiting many
Field Marketing
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outlets of the same customer chain within an area. Merchandising
also ensures space is well utilized, presentation is both up to stan-
dard and consistent, and displays comply with any promotional
needs. Merchandisers are often the front line in fighting for space
on customer’s shelves. Merchandisers provide feedback on the
customer and direct selling staff.
Field marketing staff often have the best insight into customers’
and clients’ objectives, the way they operate and an understanding
of any critical client timings. This insight should be harvested.
Auditors look at competitors’ and your own products, prices,
availability, customer service or anything with which they are
tasked.
Merchandisers, mystery shoppers, auditors and direct selling
persons usually work to a pre-arranged schedule of visits based
either on area or customer categorization. The schedule will have
been confirmed by a series of telephone calls (except for mystery
shoppers). Occasionally a telephone call may replace a visit but the
personal contact and personal benefits that a visit bestows,
building on customer relationships, by for example, taking a
customer out to lunch and taking customer viewpoint feedback,
are not foregone lightly. For the direct selling person, a mix of
salary and commission or scale of salary increments based on sales
achievement will influence their methods and achievement. In
addition to salary and commission, direct selling people claim
expenses relating to travel, often based on mileage travelled, and
time-based subsistence payments for food, drink and accommoda-
tion. The DMA produces a best practice guideline for field
marketing. See Appendix 3.
The advantages of field marketing
The prime purpose is to achieve sales – and substantially more
sales than without field marketing. This is because of the relatively
greater cost of field marketing than other direct marketing
alternatives.
Traditionally, especially in business-to-business, but also for
high value sales to consumers, or for high value consumers, sales-
people have called on customers. Financial services products,
which are complex to explain, fall into this category. The contin-
uing use of salespeople to visit firms may be limited in future in
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some sales categories because of improving technology and the
relatively high cost of such direct selling.
Field marketing is generally the most expensive of direct
marketing alternatives because the cost of employing people is
relatively greater. It should be used when other direct marketing
activities cannot achieve a result. For example, where there is a
need to demonstrate or explain a relatively complex concept or
how a concept might be used. (Complexity has to be judged on a
concept-by-concept basis. Very bright people are sometimes
unable to grasp seemingly simple ideas.) Explaining complex
concepts particularly applies to new concepts, especially those that
are ‘invisible’ and/or rely on understanding mental processes.
Using a merchandiser is much more effective and reliable where
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