_ existing business
_ inside sales (nonretail)
_ direct-to-consumer sales
_ combination sales jobs
Sales Support
Sales support personnel are not usually involved in the direct solicitation of purchase
orders. Rather, their primary responsibility is dissemination of information
and performance of other activities designed to stimulate sales. They might concentrate
at the end-user level or another level in the channel of distribution to support
the overall sales effort. They may report to another salesperson, who is responsible
for direct handling of purchase orders, or to the sales manager. There are two
well-known categories of support salespeople: missionary or detail salespeople and
technical support salespeople.
Missionary salespeople usually work for a manufacturer but may also be found
working for brokers and manufacturing representatives, especially in the grocery
industry. There are strong similarities between sales missionaries and religious missionaries.
Like their counterparts, sales missionaries are expected to ‘‘spread the
word’’ with the purpose of conversion—to customer status. Once converted, the customer
receives reinforcing messages, new information, and the benefit of the missionary’s
activities to strengthen the relationship between buyer and seller.
In the pharmaceutical industry, the detailer is a fixture. Detailers working at the
physician level furnish valuable information regarding the capabilities and limitations
of medications in an attempt to get the physician to prescribe their product. Another
sales representative from the same pharmaceutical company will sell the medication
to the wholesaler or pharmacist, but it is the detailer’s job to support the direct
sales effort by calling on physicians.
Technical specialists are sometimes considered to be sales support personnel.
These technical support salespeople may assist in design and specification processes,
installation of equipment, training of the customer’s employees, and follow-up service
of a technical nature. They are sometimes part of a sales team that includes
another salesperson who specializes in identifying and satisfying customer needs by
recommending the appropriate product or service.
New Business
New business is generated for the selling firm by adding new customers or introducing
new products to the marketplace. Two types of new-business salespeople are pioneers
and order-getters.
Pioneers, as the term suggests, are constantly involved with either new products,
new customers, or both. Their task requires creative selling and the ability to counter
the resistance to change that will likely be present in prospective customers. Pioneers
are well-represented in the sale of business franchises, in which the sales representatives
travel from city to city seeking new franchisees.
Order-getters are salespeople who actively seek orders, usually in a highly competitive
environment. Although all pioneers are also order-getters, the reverse is
not true. An order-getter may serve existing customers on an ongoing basis, whereas
the pioneer moves on to new customers as soon as possible. Order-getters may seek
new business by selling an existing customer additional items from the product line.
A well-known tactic is to establish a relationship with a customer by selling a single
product from the line, then to follow up with subsequent sales calls for other items
from the product line.
Most corporations emphasize sales growth, and salespeople operating as pioneers
and order-getters are at the heart of sales growth objectives. The pressure to perform
in these roles is fairly intense; the results are highly visible. For these reasons, the
new-business salesperson is often among the elite in any company’s sales force.