CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This is the story of a truly successful company with a rich heritages and a great track record of growth and strong performances. Guinnes Nigeria is not only regarded as an icon, African company renowned internationally for its brand of unmatched quality, but also as a company that believes in enriching the communities within which it operates, through investment and active participation in the positive evolution of society.
Guinness stout was first exported to Sierra Leon in 1827 an soon before popular across west Africa. In 1963, the Ikeja in Lagos Nigeria was chosen as the first location Onitsha the British Isles to brew the iconic dark beer.. two years later, in 1965, NIGERIA BOTLLING COMPANYwas listed on the Nigeria stock exchange.
In 2004 NIGERIA BOTTLING COMPANY commissioned a new brewery at Aba, Abia state.There is no gain saying the fact that the survival of every business is anchored in the ability of the sales forces to identify and sell to the customers or buyers what the company has produced and brewery industry is not an exception. A popular slogan in marketing says that “Nothing happens until somebody say something”. There is need for communication, they necessitate having people whose responsibility is to ensure that customers and or prospect are contact and convinced to accept the values offered in exchange for a value desired by the organization.
In brewery industry, customers of Guinness drinks are scattered every part of the country, and it is not very easy to reach the consumers without adequately splitting the market into territories, if the it is not properly done, it will deprived the firm from achieving its objectives and cal also affect a firm having competitors advantages over others firms in the industry.It is not proper to say that Guinness product is not available, consumers should look for any other product e.g. Maltina, star etc. This is where sales territory now assigns sales en to make the Guinness drink get to customers at the proper place and time it desired by them.
A sales territory is an organization pattern whereby sales people are assigned separate sales are called territories and they report to their territorial executives who finally report to the field sales manager. These territorial sales executives bear such names as regional or strict sales management. The sales representative specialized in selling the companies products mix, line or items, and have such authority as if they are running their own business, but not within control from the top. These territories are usually referred to as profit centers of the organization as they are the income sources by exchanging the firms goods for money.
The creation of definite sales territories for individuals sales men offer a greater incentive to cultivate the territory with an eye for future business than the policy of permitting salesmen for in the same firm to complete for business in the same territory and also the allocation of a specific territory to individual sales men enables a salesmen to specialized in one territory with its customers and conditions sales person – relationship. The sales for is indeed the link between organizations and their customers. A sales man has dual responsibilities as a territorial manager, which is ensuring that customers derived adequate satisfaction from buying organization output.
The creation of sales territories are not sufficient for a company to achieve its objectives but in proper management of these territories which gives rise to topic “sales territorial management in brewery industry”.A sales territory can either: a geographical area in which a salesmen work (e.g. in Nigeria, eastern sales territory comprising Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Abia states). A group of buyers assigned to a sales men.