Abstract:

This paper deals with the growing interest in the marketing of services to the corporate sector. It takes as an example the marketing of financial services which in the United Kingdom is receiving increasing attention from a wide range of financial institutions such as clearing banks, secondary banks, merchant banks, finance houses, among others. Official policy is to encourage a more competitive outlook on the part of these organisations which has resulted in these institutions adopting a more aggressive marketing stance. The supply of such services to the corporate sector has expanded in recent years, as different types of institution have moved into a market which has traditionally been the preserve of the main clearing banks. The paper describes how market research has helped to analyse the requirements of the corporate sector with examples from studies conducted on behalf of major banks and finance houses, among corporate buyers of asset finance and other financial services. The object of the studies was to provide information to assist these institutions to sell their services more effectively to the corporate sector.