| dc.description.abstract | Companies in Kenya today are operating in a very competitive
environment and survival of firms will depend on their managers' ability
to understand and respond to the external environment. All insurance
companies use the same sales agents especially the brokers and
agencies to find and bring business to them. The difference comes in
the use of direct sales agents who are tied to the company. The
company that invests in direct sales people and develops the right
motivational programs to retain the sales people loyal to them will
compete effectivelyin the changing business environment.
Given that companies rely more on sales agents for their business, they
need to effectivelymotivate their salepeople. In view of this the objective
of this project was to determine what motivates the insurance agents in
Kenya, establish how insurance companies in Kenya motivate their
sales agents and determine if there is a difference between how
companies motivate their sales agents and what they (sales agents)
consider as motivating them.There were two types of populations of
interest ;the sales managers from 21 insurance companies and direct
sales people. Stratified sampling was used to determine the sample size
of direct sales people.
The data was collected with a structured questionnaire. Percentages,
frequencies, mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the
data. The findings of the study were that the factors that motivate sales
people in the insurance industry are compensation, incentives,
recognition programs, supervision, counseling, job enrichment, field
coaching, feedback and appraisal, communication, training and
development, nature of work and work conditions. There is a difference
in the way companies motivate their sales agents and what the sales
agents consider as motivating them. The report recommends that
companies need to understand the factors that motivate the sales
people and use these factors to motivate them. Further research can be
conducted to determine factors influencing sales force motivation in
other industries and to find out why there are more men than women in
the selling career. | en |
