Improving Industrial Sales Productivity: A Field Experimental Study Of A Telemarketing And Demonstration Centre Application Of Behavioural Influence Strategy

Advertising, personal selling, and sales promotion have been the primary communication approaches used in marketing. However, these tested and proved methods of reaching customers have recently been coming under increasing cost pressures. Of foremost importance to industrial marketers, rising fuel costs and salary costs have increased substantially the cost of the personal sales call.;Managers are increasingly turning to new approaches such as telemarketing and demonstration centres as adjuncts to the more traditional communications approaches. There is little experience in industrial marketing practice that managers can draw upon when designing communication programs incorporating the new adjunct approaches. There is also little in the marketing literature. This study investigates the effective use of telemarketing and demonstration centres in tandem with field sales and direct mail advertising for the purpose of new account development.;The theoretical communications approach taken in this study is a behavioral influence one as opposed to a traditional persuasion approach. Two experiments in an actual industrial marketing field setting were carried out to determine the relative effectiveness of alternative telemarketing program communication strategies. The organization in which the study was carried out markets telecommunications products and the study sample exposed to the communications strategies consisted of potential customers--general managers and marketing managers representing industrial firms in the wholesale trade sector.;The study found that the behavioral influence strategy known as the Foot-in-the-Door (FITD) strategy obtained a higher rate of compliance with a critical request for attendance at a sales seminar with an FITD treatment consisting of a telephoned request to accept sales literature in the mail. The FITD effect was found at the behavioural intentions level (enrollment), as well as at the actual behavioural level (attendance). Mixed evidence was found with regard to the sustainability of the effect into other dependent measures of interest to managers. The FITD effect was not found when the FITD treatment was a request to answer three short market research questions over the telephone.;The thesis is concluded with a discussion of the implications of the findings for both behavioural influence-based marketing research and for industrial marketing managers

A photographic recorder for experimental parachute test data

Improvement in the ability to record and retrieve experimental data in general enhances the degree of utilization of information. Recent advances in electronic logic circuits, and the advent of the light emitting diode, make possible the utilization of photography as an initial recording medium. This improves the retrieval time for data, since it can be reduced and coded prior to recording with modern solid state circuits. A feasibility study, and construction of a prototype recorder was done for application to experimental parachute test data. The recorder monitors strain gage response at a sample rate of 20 per second, converts the input to eight bit binary, and records each sample on 16 mm film. It is designed to operate normally in a 10 g envirnment, and to survive much higher accelerations with minimal damage. Evaluation of the completed prototype indicated that there is an improvement in the utilization of test data available, under certain field conditions, through the use of a photographic/electronic interface

Myths And Realities Of College Retirement

This paper will discuss the present difficulties being experienced by American college professors with respect to their planning and preparing for retirement. Current macroeconomic conditions are forcing state and institutional budget and program cuts at colleges and universities across the country, increasing job insecurity for many academics. Simultaneously, stock market losses, reductions in the values of real estate, the erosion of the value of personal pensions, and other related challenges are forcing many seasoned American college professors to rethink their retirement plans. Relatively new options exist for today’s academic instructors as well, including not retiring at all, whether for financial or other reasons. How individuals should deal with these new and changing pressures is the focus of this paper

Food Fight

The intent of this written component is to document my thesis exhibition, Food Fight.;Our lifestyles (whether intentional or not) tend to support a \u27convenience food culture\u27 and the increased consumption of foods high in fat, salt and sugar. Some factors that prolong dependence on these convenience foods are: rising incomes, longer working hours, more working mothers, time-poor/cash-rich parents, parents that have to work two jobs, and the basic lack of understanding of what proper nutrition is. In the United States we have fleets of trucks that travel across the country to deliver chips, candy bars and soda to our schools and market places. Frozen dinners and fast food meals from the drive through may be a constant for many Americans. Food is no longer a nutritional need, but a novelty that is designed to appeal towards our time restrictions and pocket books, not our health

Statistical analysis of grain growth based on the Frieser-Eger film on development kinetics

Data were obtained from the Frieser-Eger1 film on development kinetics for initiation times and for total development times of individual grains (times of complete development) in a lithographic developer and in a hydroquinone developer with normal sulfite level. Approximate areas were computed for each grain. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the process of development at the two sulfite levels and to determine if there is a functional relationship between total development time and grain size. Different relationships were expected for the two types of developers. This data analysis permits a better understanding of the differences between lithographic and normal hydroquinone developers. The data were obtained by observing a number of grains throughout the development process. The film was run through the projector one frame at a time and each frame was counted so that the initiation times and times of complete development could be determined. The location of the grains in question was maintained by means of a grid. The areas were measured using the geometric shape of the individual grains. The shape of some Irregular grains was approximated. There were no functional relationships between grain size and times of complete development or initiation times for the two developers. There was, however, a significant difference between the two developers with respect to Initiation times. The initiation period for the 0.5 g. sulfite developer is shorter than the 20g. sulfite developers initiation period. This difference is believed to be the result of different development mechanisms for the developers. The results of this evaluation are useful only as an example of a possible statistical analysis for films of a similar nature

The Best Undergraduate Marketing Education Programs: An Assessment

The purpose of this research was to determine the content and structure of the best undergraduate marketing programs, as identified by U.S. News and World Report for 2002 and 2003. Results show there are basically two types of programs. The first type does not have a marketing major program. Rather, the student’s program reflects the elective courses taken beyond the common core requirements. The second, more common, type requires students to take some set of courses, after which a marketing credential, e.g., a marketing major degree, is awarded. Among these schools anywhere from 3 to 7 marketing courses beyond the core are required, with 1 to 4 courses consisting of marketing electives. The most commonly required courses beyond the common core were marketing research, marketing management/strategy, and consumer behavior, in that order. This competitive information can be usefully employed in various ways for curriculum planning and assessment purposes

Banned Books Week: Big Ideas and Freedom of Information

Banned Books Week: Big Ideas and Freedom of Information Presented by Members of Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society Taylor Vredenburg, Isaiah Russell, Harrison Jenkins, and CJ Gibson October 4, 202

Co-Infection by Chytrid Fungus and Ranaviruses in Wild and Harvested Frogs in the Tropical Andes.

While global amphibian declines are associated with the spread of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), undetected concurrent co-infection by other pathogens may be little recognized threats to amphibians. Emerging viruses in the genus Ranavirus (Rv) also cause die-offs of amphibians and other ectotherms, but the extent of their distribution globally, or how co-infections with Bd impact amphibians are poorly understood. We provide the first report of Bd and Rv co-infection in South America, and the first report of Rv infections in the amphibian biodiversity hotspot of the Peruvian Andes, where Bd is associated with extinctions. Using these data, we tested the hypothesis that Bd or Rv parasites facilitate co-infection, as assessed by parasite abundance or infection intensity within individual adult frogs. Co-infection occurred in 30% of stream-dwelling frogs; 65% were infected by Bd and 40% by Rv. Among terrestrial, direct-developing Pristimantis frogs 40% were infected by Bd, 35% by Rv, and 20% co-infected. In Telmatobius frogs harvested for the live-trade 49% were co-infected, 92% were infected by Bd, and 53% by Rv. Median Bd and Rv loads were similar in both wild (Bd = 101.2 Ze, Rv = 102.3 viral copies) and harvested frogs (Bd = 103.1 Ze, Rv = 102.7 viral copies). While neither parasite abundance nor infection intensity were associated with co-infection patterns in adults, these data did not include the most susceptible larval and metamorphic life stages. These findings suggest Rv distribution is global and that co-infection among these parasites may be common. These results raise conservation concerns, but greater testing is necessary to determine if parasite interactions increase amphibian vulnerability to secondary infections across differing life stages, and constitute a previously undetected threat to declining populations. Greater surveillance of parasite interactions may increase our capacity to contain and mitigate the impacts of these and other wildlife diseases