Selling and Sales Management in Nigeria

Abstract

The development of selling in the twentieth century parallel the growth of modern marketing. Sales management has become a more professionally and customer oriented endeavour in line with the philosophy of the marketing concept. The focus of selling in advanced economies has shifted to and increased emphasis on solving customers problems and building long-term relationships. However, this important function remains under-development in developing countries. One of the characteristics of developing economies is the focus on production or selling orientation as a business philosophy. Although there is ample literature on selling and sales management in industrialized countries, there has been very little written on the subject in developing countries. The aim of this paper is to contribute to knowledge in the field by examining the status of selling and sales management in Nigeria. The study was based on primary research conducted with the aid of structured questionnaire administered to sales managers. The results showed that selling and sales management in Nigeria are in the latter production or early selling orientation stage (a stage that the United States was in during the first half of the twentieth century) because of its slow economic development. The author believes that if the critical economic and political problems, which limit the country's economic growth, can be alleviated. It has the market size and natural resources to prosper and move quickly away from sellers to buyers market, thus providing the impetus for the development of selling and sales management. African Journal of Finance and Management Vol.7(1) 1998: 94-102