ABSTRACT
The marketing function must go from the outside to the inside to generate the input so that the product/service promptly adapts to the market needs. It then requires a change of direction back to the outside to show the customers that their wishes were heard and satisfied. The traditional evaluation of personal selling efforts remains not only important but actually crucial even in an era of direct marketing through mail, television and on-line services. The process of providing product/service to the ultimate user requires a dedicated network of people who must sincerely believe in the price/value/quality/performance of whatever is being sold. Marketing is still an art and a practice, not an exact science. It requires continuous assessment of many variables and a subjective judgment as to best action to take. Direct marketing is now easier because of ready availability of consumers’ phone numbers and addresses on inexpensive CDs. Marketing through cable television is reaching new levels of sophistication and revulsion.
