ABSTRACT

Title: Challenges in the implementation of internal marketing in the real estate brokerage businessLevel: Bachelor, Business AdministrationAuthor: Markus BylundAnna IsakssonSupervisor: Agneta SundströmDate: 2013, May

Introduction: For businesses to succeed and to get satisfied customers, they need to meet their expectations. The companies make promises to customers through external marketing, internal marketing needs to ensure that personnel have the tools required to deliver what is promised. Competition is increasing and hence the customer requirements have to be met. Through the implementation of internal marketing, companies can strengthen staff skills and motivation to perform a more committed and effective work, both internal and during customer contacts.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to understand the implementation and the importance of internal marketing in service companies. Through our in-depth knowledge of the subject, from a theoretical and practical perspective, we will hopefully be able to convey the challenges businesses face when implementing internal marketing.

Method: This paper is to achieve a greater understanding of the studied subject. We apply a qualitative approach with an inductive view. The empirical data were collected through semi structured interviews with the real estate brokerage companies three different categories of staff at office level. A deepening in the literature and previous research has been applied to create a base for the interview questions we ask in the collection of the empirical data, and to seek answers to our research questions.

Discussion: The paper shows that internal marketing is applied in varying degrees along the company's environment relating to, for example the degree of cooperation and leadership. We can see the effects of the type of salary model that exists, positive and negative in relation to the work of internal marketing. We can also see that the concept of internal marketing is unknown to the respondents, but the processes in the concept, however, is used. Problems with implementing internal marketing can we see are related to, forexample, personnel stress levels when they risk loss of income. Another problem is lack of management support regarding individual and shared goals and evaluating outcomes.

Future research: The paper examines conditions at office level, future research could extend the analysis by examining the management of the company and its impact on internal marketing.

Contribution: The thesis highlights a theoretical contribution to the usefulness of adapting the implementation of various payroll models and with new forms of education. The practical contribution demonstrates the potential of increasing cooperation and well-being in a competitive industry with recognized individual work.

Key words: internal marketing, co-operation, commitment, motivation, human resource management, customer loyalty, customer value, service quality, customer relations