Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e- Personal Selling Text © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002
Consumers who are interested in
shopping products often want
help from a well-informed
salesperson.
doing whatever is necessary to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship between
the supplier and customer firms.
Order getters for professional services—and other products where service is a cru-
cial element of the marketing mix—face a special challenge. The customer usually
can’t inspect a service before deciding to buy. The order getter’s communication and
relationship with the customer may be the only basis on which to evaluate the qual-
ity of the supplier.
An order getter in business markets needs the know-how to help solve customers’
problems. Often the order getter needs to understand a customer’s whole business
as well as technical details about the product and its applications. This is especially
important for salespeople whose customers are producers. To have technically com-
petent order getters, firms often give special training to business-trained college
graduates. Such salespeople can then work intelligently with their specialist cus-
tomers. In fact, they may be more expert in their narrow specialty than anyone they
encounter—so they provide a unique service. For example, a salesperson for auto-
mated manufacturing equipment must understand everything about a prospect’s
production process as well as the technical details of converting to computer-
controlled equipment.Progressive merchant wholesaler sales reps should be consultants and store advi-
sors rather than just order takers. Such order getters become retailers’ partners in
the job of moving goods from the wholesale warehouse through the retail store to
consumers. These order getters almost become a part of the retailer’s staff—helping
to solve consumers’ problems, train employees, conduct demonstrations, and plan
advertising, special promotions, and other retailing activities.
Agent middlemen often are order getters—particularly the more aggressive man-
ufacturers’ agents and brokers. They face the same tasks as producers’ order getters.
But, unfortunately for them, once the order-getting is done and the customers
become established and loyal, producers may try to eliminate the agents and save
money with their own order takers.Convincing consumers about the value of products they haven’t seriously con-
sidered takes a high level of personal selling ability. Order getters for unsought
products must help customers see how a new product can satisfy needs now being
filled by something else. Without order getters, many of the products we now rely
on—ranging from mutual funds to air conditioners—might have died in the market
introduction stage. The order getter helps bring products out of the introduction
stage into the market growth stage.
Order getters are also helpful for selling heterogeneousshopping products. Con-
sumers shop for many of these items on the basis of price and quality. They welcome
useful information.426 Chapter 15
Wholesalers’ order
getters—almost hand
it to the customer
Retail order getters
influence consumer
behavior