These four basic selling styles: trade selling, technical selling, missionary selling and new-business selling.
Trade Selling tries to establish long-term relationship with the customers. This is a routine job. In wholesale trade, this style is used extensively.Food products and textile companies also adopt this style. The markets for such products are well-established. Personal selling here just complements advertising, which is the main method for promotion. A trade salesman asssists the customer in his selling exercise. He counts the stock, sees that the stocks get replenished, suggests re-orders for replacements, helps in sales displays.
Technical Selling aims at improving the sales volume of established products by offering sound technical advice and other assistance . He is an advisor in industrial marketing. He acquaints the buyer with the product and its applications. He also adviises the clients about installations and productjon processes. His major ability is to solve his customer’s problems. These sales persons can specialised either by markets or products.
Missionary Selling assists the customers in their selling efforts. The idea is to increase the sales volume. If orders flow in, they are just incidental. A medical representative is a typical missionary. He just assists the retail chemists by passing information about the new products and asking them to have them in stock.His direct customers are drug wholesalers. He also calls on doctors to persuade them to prescribe the products. This is also indirect selling. Missionary sales people also work low-profile.
New-business Selling tries to identify new customers and secure orders from them.He converts the prospects into customers. Selling for him is a creative job. He should have good selling skills. It is not, however, seen in practice that a company has a set of salesman doing just new business solicitation. The regular sales persons are expected to do new business selling too. Most sales persons may not have special skills to do so, and may therefore concentrate more on established accounts.