CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Many people have myopic ideas about marketing, they misconceive ideas a strategy which applies only to management accounting and distribution trades. Some take it as a skill which is he exclusive present of the department staff broaden call concept of maintenance, however recognize the importance of marketing to service industries like hospital insurance Auto maintenance etc. it is important that the Auto maintenance workers staff/management should thoroughly appreciate the importance marketing and its relevant to Auto maintenance services Kottler (2006) described service as an act or performance that one party can offer loan other that is essential, intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything, its production may or may not be tied to a physical product, the environment and the requirement of the customers which are becoming mere sophisticated and complicated, a management process which identifies, anticipates and satisfies consumer requirement profitably. Marketing is human activities directed towards satisfying needs and wants through exchange process.

According to Kotler (2000: 587) there should be meaningful efforts to identify customers needs by meaning of through psycho analysis of the customers problem because no two customers are exactly alike and it is impossible to have a failure made service for each customer, it becomes important to segment the customer into categories of people with broader similar needs and interest.

Anticipating the needs of the customers means thinking toward about customers it means planning about for the customers needs, this involves studying the business environment and the changing requirement of the customers forward thinking must be used with fruitful planning marketing involves management process for the factor relating to the further requirement have been identify and directed, there is the need for management to couple it with forward planning and decision according to Edoga and Ani (2000: 275) the needs at a profit to the organization, there is no business that can continue to grow, definitely without profit the main objective of marketing is that, while striving to achieve effective service to the customer this means that service should be rendered profitably to the organization, marketing also involves total evaluation of company’s strength and weaknesses in order to know where to specialize or where to eliminate proper marketing implies providing the right services at the right time at the right price to the right customers in the right place. Applying the concept of marketing, the auto maintenance service marketing like any other service marketing are generally intangible and inseparable from sellers. They are also nitrogenous highly perishable and have a widely fluctuating demand.

1.2      STATEMENT OF PROBLELM

Despite the fact that there those are many engineer in society, today, society both those with paper certificate and those with the training qualification but the rate and standard of Automobile is still at low standard. Due to poor qualify service from the engineers, car own’s end up visiting their workshop almost at daily basis in order to put one thing or the other in their cars, however, the cost of maintaining automobile product in our society is said to be high and yet the service delivery is still at low standard.

Anamco which is one of the heading manufacturer or maintenance of vehicles is suffering a fail in demand and most of the vehicles that are maintained break down as soon as this is done. This had lead to dissatisfaction by consumer in their service in Enugu metropolis.

The researcher tries to x-ray why vehicles breaks down always is their not enough spare parts, these and many more from the central task of this research work.

This is about problem give rise to the above study in attempt to find possible solution to such problem of marketing Automobile maintenance service in Enugu state.

1.3      OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

In the light of the identical problem of the auto maintenance industry defined above, this study aims at a critical analysis of the auto maintenance service industries in Enugu metropolis with view to discovering the specific problem of the industry, especially in the area of consumer orientation and consequently advising management on how to improve service marketing to satisfy customer needs efficiently and so ensure the survival of the business units that make up the industry on this, the following are specific objectives, the research designed to achieve.

i)            To evaluate the marketing practices of auto maintenance service industry in workshop firm in Enugu metropolis.

ii)          To know where, if there is prospect for greater productivity in the service offered to the public

iii)        To ascertain the possibility of Appling the marketing concept in service marketing

iv)         To know how effective promotion consumer patronage

v)           To estimate the advantages or disadvantages to the customers.

vi)         To recommend whether or how best it should organized or what alternative are best.