1st Edition

Lubricant Marketing, Selling, and Key Account Management

By R. David Whitby Copyright 2023
    394 Pages 110 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    The global lubricants market exceeds $110 billion, with strong future-estimated annual growth projections. While much has been written about the technical aspects of lubricant development, Lubricant Marketing, Selling, and Key Account Management fills a need for a comprehensive guide on the important commercial aspects of the business, offering unique and valuable insights from a veteran of the industry. It answers questions and offers insights on how to effectively market and sell all types of lubricants, including automotive, industrial, mining, marine, agricultural and aerospace, among others.

    • Covers how and why people and companies buy lubricants.
    • Instructs readers how to research and analyze markets and use the results to plan marketing and sales campaigns and activities.
    • Details how to identify specific target market segments and sell to key lubricant accounts.
    • Discusses how to forecast future demand for lubricants in all types of global markets.

    This practical book is written for technical and non-technical readers involved in the sale and management of lubricant products and offers hands-on guidance for how to successfully navigate and grow your profitability in this vitally important product sector.

    1. Introduction. 2. Fundamentals of Marketing and Selling. 3. Lubricant Marketing and Sales Channels. 4. Understanding Markets: Market Research. 5. Forecasting Lubricant Demand. 6. Retail Lubricants: Consumer Buying Behaviour. 7. Industrial Lubricants: Company Buying Behaviour. 8. Use of PR and Advertising Agencies for Effective Marketing. 9. Lubricant Market Communications. 10. Detailed Market Segmentation Methods. 11. Influence of Automotive Lubricant Packaging on Sales. 12. Marketing Inputs to New Lubricant Development. 13. Customer Support Services as a Marketing Aid for Lubricants. 14. Devising Lubricant Marketing and Selling Strategies. 15. Organisation for Effective Marketing and Selling. 16. Lubricant Pricing Policies. 17. Key Account Management. 18. Supply Chain Management. 19. Practical Sales Tactics for Lubricants. 20. “One-Stop-Shop” Solutions for Marketing Lubricants.

    Biography

    David Whitby is Chief Executive of Pathmaster Marketing Ltd, a business development consultancy for the international downstream oil, gas and energy industries, which he founded in 1992. Pathmaster Marketing has advised clients in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Russia, the US, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Africa, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia on business planning, business strategy, market development and technology commercialisation. Specialist sectors include lubricants, fuels, new energies and speciality chemicals. An Australian by birth, David began his career with British Petroleum, as a process chemist in a refinery in Western Australia. He worked for BP for 22 years in a number of management positions, including Marketing and Business Development Manager at Kalsep (an advanced separations company), Business Manager at BP Ventures, Project Leader for Industrial Lubricants at BP Research and Marketing Services Officer at Duckhams Oils. David was Programme Director for Lubricants Courses at the Oxford Princeton Programme and he ran the Advanced Lubrication Training Programme for the UK Lubricants Association. He has written numerous papers and articles on lubricants, has chaired and lectured to international conferences and directed over 120 training lubricants courses in more than 30 countries. He writes the bimonthly "Worldwide" column for Tribology and Lubrication Tribology, published by the US Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers. In addition to running Pathmaster Marketing, David was Non-Executive Chairman of Microbial Solutions Ltd., a start-up from the University of Oxford, from 2007 to 2015, and a Non-Executive Director of the Sonic Development Company Ltd., from 1998 to 2003. His books "Lubricant Blending and Quality Assurance" and "Lubricant Analysis and Condition Monitoring" are published by CRC Press. David has lived in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom, for more than 38 years and is married with two daughters and four grandchildren.

    "I wish [this book] had been available to me in those early days of my career when I moved from the technology of lubricants over to sales and then followed by marketing and key account management…. I cannot possibly give full account of the mine of knowledge and experience that is contained in these pages and therefore I must recommend it should be added to your reading list."

    —Rod Pesch, Technical Director, United Kingdom Lubricants Association (UKLA), Lube Magazine, No. 172, December 2022