Bus642: Business Research Final Paper

Consumer Passion

Bernadette Giene Cain

BUS642: Business Research Methods & Tools

Instructor Ashish Godbole

November 3, 2014

“A marketing philosophy should include a concern for the customers; needs and wants, an appreciation of the benefits and satisfactions which are looked for and a genuine effort to establish a dialogue and build a long-term relationship. The establishment of mutually satisfying exchange relationships, seen as the true essence of marketing requires that customers get value from the actions of marketing, allowing companies to gain value in return” (Heath, M.P., & Heath, M. 2008.).

The objective of every company is to either sell a product or service. To do so requires an understanding of the consumer, their wants, needs and desires. Once you have that understanding, you must make your company stand out from the others, and get that consumer to purchase from you. Sales can be a roller coaster, in that it can fluctuate various times throughout the year, or even month. There are uncontrollable factors that can affect the amount of sales, such as economy, rival products, and even product placement. As a manager, it is our job to understand why the fluctuations occur, and what we can do to stabilize our sales without a drastic loss.

The reason for choosing this research topic is to have a better understanding of what affects sales, and possibilities of how sales can drop drastically without a noticeable cause. In September 2013, my location was performing at 93% attainment to goal through midmonth, only to drop to 65% attainment by end of month. The dilemma was that once our sales dropped, we could not achieve more than 70% attainment for almost a year. I had reached out for assistance from my manager and was either ignored, or was told to focus on other aspects of the business to work on (i.e. staffing). I looked at the trends from past years, and how our location had been trending the few months prior. The assistance was never...