INTRODUCTION
As competition between businesses geared up, if becomes imperative to turn, attention to customers needs and wants which are naturally insatiable. The marketing concept arose to challenge all other previous concept. Orjih (1998) in his book “Seminar in Banking and finance.” Concluded that marketing concept holds the key to achieving organizational goals consists in determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfaction more / effectively and efficiently than its competitions. The marketing concept is of frame of mind which the market focus, customer orientation coordinated marketing and profitability.
The marketing concepts starts with a well defined market, and the organization that determines who its markets will be, who he hopes to satisfy as concluded by Melver and Geoffrey (1980) in book “Marketing financial services.
By customer orientation, it implies that the customer’s need is defined from customer’s view point and not from the aspect of the company. The customers orientation seeks to crown the customers as “king” recognizing the fact that the customers is the life blood of an organization. A business man once said that “Our aim goes beyond satisfying the customers”. Coordinating marketing entails that all the various marketing function like, advertising, marketing research, sales forces and so on due properly integrated and must be well coordinated with other departments in the company. The companies are to make profit. A company will make more profit, if it satisfies its customer’s needs better than competitors. Therefore, in applying the marketing concept, companies would produce what the customers want, and by so doing, they maximize more profit.
Several authors have stated the need to adopt the marketing concept by the business entities. Kotler (1997) in his book “marketing management analysis, planning and control”.
Said that most companies do not really grasp or embrace the marketing concept until they are driven to it by circumstance like, sales dechine, slow growth, changing of buying patterns by the customers, increasing competition and increase in marketing expenditure. The emergence of banking industries and its services in Nigeria can be traced back to 100years ago. The activities of transactional corperation, the financial transactions of the colonial government the decline of the better system of trade and the increasing acceptance of British silver currency, all these required an institution in the form of a commercial banks for softy and transmission of funds, the importation and distribution of British silver coins and provision of credit to the government and trading companies who need the services of the banking industries. Banks were out to make profit interest gotten from the credits granted to these customers, without actually satisfying the customers. They never really thought of the customers as the life blood of the banking industries.
In the past, banks were operating in a seller’s market which made demarketing possible, but the environment is dynamic, such that if bank are taking place in industry and commerce, only banks that are efficient and effective can satisfy customer. This in scarce and abundant economics alike the problem is not production but marketing, if only we accept the truth that mass marketing is a pre-requisite for a successful mass production. Therefore, marketing consideration can only be the most critical factor in any business planning.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Much has been said and written about the marketing concept in banking industry. Marketing is very important in every organization, even in the banking industry. Customer satisfaction is said to be the corner stone of the marketing concept, which is a business philosophy that does not change. It is at this level that the researcher wants to review related literature in this area of study.
Nwabuzo (1995) carried out a research. He made use of a sample of two hundred (200) customers. The customers were made up of businessmen, civil servants and students from the sample, the researcher found out that the complaints made by customers were not on the services rendered by Banks, by the location of the banks and the fact that they did not have enough packing space, good setting arrangement, well ventilated halls and opinion bases. He concluded that the non- chalet attitude of bank officers towards customers. Has made them to consider location and convenience instead of services. He also found out that banks were yet to start advertising. Maybe if the researcher had used a larger sample and not selected sample, his findings would have been different. (ie) if they were not only made up of businessmen, civil servants and students. That would further influence his conclusion.
Ezema (1995) in a research study on “problem and prospects of marketing of Banking services in Nsukka senatorial zone, Enugu State”. His findings were that customers change banks because of poor service and poor attitude of banks staff, location, inadequate banks and non-existence of the marketing department. From these findings, the researcher concluded that banks offered a banking services to their customers, they were understaffed and were managed by untrained personnel. This conclusion was based on the fact that the banks were in a sensational zone and the researcher got his research from five (5) banks, which is not a representative. The researcher selected his sample of 320 customers from these five banks. There was no survey of bank officials. The researcher was based because he drew up his conclusion from just the findings from the customers without bothering to sample the bank officials and get their own opinion about the whole research.