Changes in the traditional marketing and sales management activities are needed to support the emergence of the Information Age and Service Revolution. Service and humanistic factors became important factors in marketing of manufacturing industry due to the environmental changes. The buyer-seller relationship requires not only company level marketing but at the same time it also require one more factor - employee (especially salesforce).
This study suggests a modified marketing model that derived from service marketing triangle. Based upon the model, the second stream of study focused on the role of salesforce. The primary concern of this thesis is the role of salesforce in marketing activities.
Through in-depth interviews, this study identifies the current activities and roles of salesforce in terms of 3 marketing types. This study also diagnosing their problems and trying to come up with a proposal on changing role in the future.
The key findings may be summarized as follows:
(1) Internal marketing and interactive marketing activities are absent in most of the Korean manufacturers.
(2) The role of salesforce shifts from a focus on influencing buyer behavior to value creating and partnering.
