abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
Internal Sources of Secondary Data
Internal sources can be classified into four broad categories:
• accounting records
• sales force reports
• miscellaneous records
• internal experts
Accounting Records
Sales Force Reports
(2) a systematic, simple process for reporting the information;
(3) financial and other rewards for reporting information; and
(4) concrete examples of the actual use of the data.
Miscellaneous Reports
Internal Experts
Internal sources can be classified into four broad categories:
• accounting records
• sales force reports
• miscellaneous records
• internal experts
Accounting Records
- The basis for accounting records concerned with sales is the sales invoice.
- The usual sales invoice has a sizable amount of information on it, which generally includes name of customer, location of customer, items ordered, quantities ordered, quantities shipped, dollar extensions, back orders, discounts allowed, date.
- In addition, the invoice often contains information on sales territory, sales representative, and warehouse of shipment.
- This information, when supplemented by data on costs and industry and product classification, as well as from sales calls, provides the basis for a comprehensive analysis of sales by product, customer, industry, geographic area, sales territory, and sales representative, as well as the profitability of each sales category.
- Unfortunately, most firms' accounting systems are designed primarily for tax reasons rather than for decision support.
Sales Force Reports
- Sales force reports represent a rich and largely untapped potential source of marketing information.
- The word potential is used because evidence indicates that sales personnel do generally not report valuable marketing information.
- Sales personnel often lack the motivation and/or the means to communicate key information to marketing managers.
- To obtain the valuable data available from most sales forces, several elements are necessary:
(2) a systematic, simple process for reporting the information;
(3) financial and other rewards for reporting information; and
(4) concrete examples of the actual use of the data.
Miscellaneous Reports
- Miscellaneous reports represent the third internal data source.
- Previous marketing research studies, special audits, and reports purchased from outside for prior problems may have relevance for current problems.
- As a firm becomes more diversified, the more likely it is to conduct studies that may have relevance to problems in other areas of the firm. For example, P&G sells a variety of distinct products to identical or similar target markets.
- An analysis of the media habits conducted for one product could be very useful for a different product that appeals to the same target market.
- Again, this requires an efficient marketing information system to ensure that those who need them can find the relevant reports.
Internal Experts
- One of' the most overlooked sources of internal secondary data is internal experts.
- An internal expert is anyone employed by the firm who has special knowledge.
- The following statement by a senior research manager at a major consumer goods firm describes why his organization developed a research reports library and how they ensure its use. On the average, each brand is assigned a new brand manager every two years.
- These brand managers are young, aspiring, talented MBA-types and they believe in the value of marketing research.
- They also know that their own upward mobility is pegged to the mark they leave on the brand.
- So, the first thing they require is marketing research: segmentation studies or attitude/usage surveys, typically followed by lots of qualitative studies in the copy concept or positioning/ad strategy areas.
- Hell, for most brands you don't need new segmentation or positioning studies every two years! Go to the file and find the last one done, learn from it before you decide a new study is required. The same is true for copy concept issues.
- If the concept is worth a damn, it has been researched before.
- Reuse data, stretch it out to the max and reserve your budget for truly new, necessary primary studies. That's why we developed our "research library." Everything we have ever done is in there, including subsequent actions and results.
- And, it is organized for easy access. Now it is company policy that any research request has to include proof that the library has already been searched and found lacking-before any new can be conducted! related to the question at hand.
- While this knowledge is stored in individuals' minds rather than on paper or computer disk, it can be as valid and valuable as more formal sources.
- Had the marketing manager quickly asked the most obvious internal experts-members of the sales force-to explain the sales decline, work on a competitive new product could have begun almost a year earlier.
- In addition to the sales force, companies have discovered that marketing research personnel, technical representatives, advertising agency personnel, product managers, and public relations personnel often have expert knowledge of relevance to marketing problems.