[01] Samuel Sunday Eleboda, Department of Administration and Management, College of Business and Social Sciences, Crawford University, Igbesa, Nigeria.

This study investigates the indirect impact of sales promotion as a marketing strategy on consumer buying decision in the marketing of services, sieved through the challenge of believability dilemma. Primary data, collected through questionnaire were used for the study. Multi-stage sampling technique consisting of purposive and random sampling methods was used to select 150 customers of GSM operators and banks in Lagos. From the 150 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 124 were retrieved. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics including tables, frequencies, percentages, and regression. The study finds that majority of the customers sampled believe that winners of the star prizes announced or advertised in promos are most times pre-determined, and that sales promotion is a tool for exploiting unsuspecting consumers, which negatively influence their believability of the promos, their future participation, and patronage of the brand. Results also show that sales promo has negative impact on consumer purchase decision (β = -.480, t = -5.506 (P<0.05). The study concludes that as sales promo is increasingly used, consumers may purchase less of the firm’s product(s). The study therefore recommends that service providers should use sales promotion sparingly and in conjunction with other promotional strategies in order to be effective.

Service Marketing, Purchase Decision, Sales Promotion, Believability Dilemma, Marketing Strategy

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