Page 522 - Foundations of Marketing

Personal Selling and Sales Promotion | Chapter 17 489

the buyer to purchase a certain quantity of products periodically. Use of small computers has
improved the field order taker’s inventory and order-tracking capabilities.

Support Personnel

Support personnel facilitate selling but usually are not involved solely with making sales.
They engage primarily in marketing industrial products, locating prospects, educating cus-
tomers, building goodwill, and providing service after the sale. There are many kinds of sales
support personnel; the three most common are missionary, trade, and technical salespeople.

Missionary Salespeople

Missionary salespeople , usually employed by manufacturers, assist the producer’s custom-
ers in selling to their own customers. Missionary salespeople may call on retailers to inform
and persuade them to buy the manufacturer’s products. When they succeed, retailers purchase
products from wholesalers, which are the producer’s customers. Manufacturers of medical
supplies and pharmaceuticals often use missionary salespeople, called detail reps, to promote
their products to physicians, hospitals, and pharmacists.

Trade Salespeople

Trade salespeople are not strictly support personnel, because they usually take orders as
well. However, they direct much effort toward helping customers—especially retail stores—
promote the product. They are likely to restock shelves, obtain more shelf space, set up
displays, provide in-store demonstrations, and distribute samples to store customers. Food
producers and processors commonly employ trade salespeople.

Technical Salespeople
Technical salespeople give technical assistance to the organization’s current customers,
advising them on product characteristics and applications, system designs, and installation support personnel Sales
staff members who facilitate
procedures. Because this job is often highly technical, the salesperson usually has formal
selling but usually are not
training in one of the physical sciences or in engineering. Technical sales personnel often sell
involved solely with making
technical industrial products, such as computers, heavy equipment, and steel.
sales
When hiring sales personnel, marketers seldom restrict themselves to a single category,
missionary salespeople
because most firms require different types of salespeople. Several factors dictate how many
Support salespeople, usually
of each type a particular company should have. Product use, characteristics, complexity, and
employed by a manufacturer,
price influence the kind of sales personnel used, as do the number and characteristics of cus- who assist the producer’s cus-
tomers. The types of marketing channels and the intensity and type of advertising also affect tomers in selling to their own
the composition of a sales force. customers

TEAM AND RELATIONSHIP SELLING LO 4 . Recognize new types of
personal selling.
Personal selling has become an increasingly complex process due in large part to rapid tech-
nological innovation. Most importantly, the focus of personal selling is shifting from selling
a specific product to building long-term relationships with customers by finding solutions
trade salespeople
to their needs, problems, and challenges. As a result, the roles of salespeople are changing. Salespeople involved mainly in
Among the newer philosophies for personal selling are team selling and relationship selling. helping a producer’s customers
promote a product
Team Selling technical salespeople
Support salespeople who give
Many products, particularly expensive high-tech business products, have become so com- technical assistance to a firm’s
plex that a single salesperson can no longer be an expert in every aspect of the product and current customers

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