Page 30 - DMGT205_SALES_MANAGEMENT

Sales Management

Notes 2.6.1 Choice of Basic Selling Style

All sales people in some situations seek orders aggressively but in others they need only take
orders coming their way, the relative emphasis on order taking and order getting varying in
different selling environments. The driver sales person for a soft drink bottling company is
primarily an order taker because the product has been strongly pre-sold to consumers and the
orders come forth automatically. This depends on whether the manufacturer relies heavily on
advertising and channels of distribution because then the role of the sales person is passive as he
acts as an order taker and only incidentally as an order getter. On the other hand if advertising
is used mainly to back up personal selling there are a minimum number of channels and the
sales person's main job is to get orders and he has to be very active.
In industrial goods marketing, the "sales engineer" plays two major roles:
1. Advisor to middlemen and customers on technical product features and applications.

2. Design consultant to middlemen and industrial users on installations or processes
incorporating the manufacturer's products.
Differences in marketing factors cause each company to have individualised requirements as to
the kind of sales person it employs. However, sales job roles can be grouped into four basic
styles that cut, to a large degree, across industry and company boundaries: trade selling,
missionary selling, technical selling and new-business selling.

2.6.2 Trade Selling

The trade sales person develops and maintains long term relations with a stable group of
customers. For the most part, this is low-key selling, with little or no pressure, and the job is dull
and routine. This selling style applies primarily to products that have well established markets.
Advertising and other forms of promotion are vital to overall marketing strategy than is personal
selling.

Missionary Selling

The missionary sales person's main job objective is to increase the company's sales volume by
assisting customers with their selling efforts. The missionary sales person is concerned only
incidentally with securing orders, since orders result from his primary public relations and
promotional efforts with customers of the customers (indirect customers). Missionary selling,
like trade selling, is low-key and does not require high level technical training or ability.

Technical Selling

The technical sales person deals primarily with the company's established accounts and the
main objective is to increase their volume of purchase by providing technical advice and assistance.
The technical sales person performs advisory functions similar to those of the missionary sales
person but, in addition, sells directly to industrial users and other buyers. In this selling style,
the ability to identify, analyse and solve customers' problems is important.

New Business Selling

The new business salesman's job is to find and obtain new customers, i.e., to convert prospects
into customers. These sales persons should be unusually creative and ingenious and possess a
high degree of resourcefulness.

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