Missionary selling/ order creators:

Missionary selling is a form of personal sales in which the salesperson provides

information to an individual who will influence the purchase decision. This is an
indirect sales technique; the goal is not to close a sale, but merely to get information
into the hands of a key decision-maker. Jobs in missionary sales are most common in
technical, pharmaceutical and textbook sales.

Pharmaceutical Detailers
Pharmaceutical detailers are indirect salespeople. They do not attempt to pitch
their products to doctors, but simply provide them with informational pamphlets and
samples containing the product details physicians need to determine if they should
prescribe the drugs to their patients. Pharmaceutical detailers must also be
knowledgeable about the drugs themselves, and must be able to answer doctors'
questions about them.

Textbook Sales

Individuals who sell educational materials are rarely selling to the end-
users of their products (who are commonly students). Instead, those in
textbook or education-related sales work with educators or administrators,
providing information about the features, benefits, and successful case
studies from others who have used their products.

Using this information from the missionary seller, the educators,

administrators, and other stakeholders are able to make an informed
decision on what they would like to purchase although they are ultimately
not the end-user of the product.

Systems Specialists
Technical organizations like IBM and Xerox rely on systems specialists to be
missionary sellers. Systems specialists work with customers to solve problems that
are technical or operational in nature. In the process of solving problems, the
salespeople provide information about technical products that offer solutions. For
example, a technical specialist helping a company to reduce shipping time for its
products might recommend a software program that streamlines the dispatch
process.
Order taker: An Order Taker can be defined as a sales person who
collects orders but does not attempt to find new customers or persuade
existing customers to increase the size or frequency of their orders.
Examples: Retail cashier/clerk from Wal-Mart or a grocery store, or
an inbound customer service agent who is there to maintain accounts or
transfer you to another person to solve your problem.

1. Inside order-takers:  They are retail sales assistants (like sales assistants
in Walmart). the customer has full freedom to choose products without the
presence of a salesperson. The sales assistant’s task is purely transactional –
receiving payment and passing over the goods. Another form of inside order-
taker is the telemarketing sales team who support field sales by taking
customers’ orders over the telephone.

2. Outside order takers: Salespeople visit the customer, but they

primarily respond to customers’ requests rather than actively seek
to persuade them. They are being replaced by the more cost
efficient telemarketing teams who call customers and book their
orders.

Delivery salespeople:

Delivery salespeople are primarily concerned with delivering the product. There
is little attempt to persuade customers to increase the order.

Changes in order size are customer driven. Though delivery salespeople do not
try to influence demand, winning and losing an order is heavily dependent on
reliability of delivery.
Demand creators:

A salesperson who relies on creative methods for selling tangible

products(vacuum cleaners, cleaning brushes, household products) or intangibles
(insurance, advertisingservices, or education).

iv. Technical support salespeople:

Where a product is highly technical and the negotiations are complex, a
salesperson may be supported by product and financial specialists who can
provide the detailed technical and financial information required by customers.

This may be on-going as part of a key account team or on a temporary basis

with the specialist being called into the selling situation whenever required.

Addressing Needs
Selling technical products involves addressing the customer's needs, not
reciting memorized talking points about the item. Technical salespeople must
ask questions in order to determine those needs. For example, a computer
salesperson might ask what a customer intends to do with the computer. If the
customer plans to use the computer for video editing, the salesperson knows
that he should try to sell a powerful computer. If the salesperson tries to sell a
less powerful computer purely for promotional reasons, he can lose the sale.

Explaining Features
Technical products typically include features and specifications that are not
easily understood by customers. In order to close sales, technical salespeople
must explain features so those without technical expertise can understand
them. For example, if a computer salesperson explains that a computer has a
large hard drive, she should add a comment that allows customer visualization,
such as that the size equals 10,000 full-length movies. Customers may not
understand raw specifications without an explanation of what they mean.