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Problem

Describe why it might be necessary for a business-to-business firm to serve some customers through reps, some through distributors, others exclusively online, and still others through a direct sales force.

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Step 1/2

The needs of each and every customer are different so it is necessary for an organization to segment its market to serve the customers according to their requirements. For this purpose organizations use the market segmentation strategy.

Step 2/2

Some of the main reasons business to business firms chose all kinds of approaches in serving the customers are:

• Type of Customer

Generally organizations use following three different approaches for different types of customers-

I. Large accounts are handled by organization’s own sales force.

II. Medium sized market is handled by reps.

III. Small repeat orders are handled by distributors.

• Price

Price is an important buying factor. Different customers want to buy product in different price segments, some customers want economic product, some medium range while some expensive one

• Customer expects multiple approaches of firms

Customers want to experience the buying though online at the same time by the sales force. Depending upon his feasibility and time he chose the respective approaches. If the firms fail to provide different ways of selling, the customer might switch to the other service provider.

Hence, these reasons force the firms to utilize all the available approaches to serve the customers of different kinds.