A Study of Sales-Orientation and Customer-Orientation of Front Line Sales Executives in Financial Services

The modern marketing-oriented concept is the outcome of different philosophies which prevailed, from time to time in the marketing management domain. In the present marketing-oriented stage, which ultimately results in customer-orientation, companies give importance to customers’needs and wants. However, there are still few firms who emphasise on selling products irrespective of the fact that whether they fulfil customer’s needs or not. With the opening up of financial services sector in India and tough market conditions the companies on one side have started feeling the pressure of sales targets and on the other side also started realising that they must fulfil the needs of the customers. This paradoxical situation has made the job of salespersons very difficult. The present study is an attempt to explore the sales behaviour of front line sales executives of financial services organisations regarding their sales-oriented and customer-oriented (SOCO) behaviour.