Personal selling 

occurs when a sales representative meets with a potential client for the purpose of
transacting a sale. Many sales representatives rely on a sequential sales process that typically
includes nine steps. Some sales representatives develop scripts for all or part of the sales process.
The sales process can be used in face-to-face encounters and in telemarketing.

Definition[edit]
Personal selling can be defined as "the process of person-to-person communication between a
salesperson and a prospective customer, in which the former learns about the customer's needs and
seeks to satisfy those needs by offering the customer the opportunity to buy something of value,
such as a good or service."[1] The term may also be used to describe a situation where a company
uses a sales force as one of the main ways it communicates with customers.

Brief history[edit]
The earliest forms of exchange involved bartering systems.[dubious  –  discuss] However, the advent of
coinage enabled exchange to occur more efficiently and over much larger distances. The earliest
references to selling, involving coin-based exchange, comes from Herodotus who noted that
"The Lydians were the first people we know of to use a gold and silver coinage and to introduce the
retail trade." [2] This implies that selling and buying, originated in the 7th century BCE, in the area now
known as Turkey. From there, selling spread along Mediterranean, and then diffused throughout the
civilized world.[3]
The Socratic philosophers expressed some concerns about the new type of selling in around the 4th
century BCE. Their commentary was primarily concerned with potential disruption of the more social
aspects of selling. Traditional forms of exchange encouraged a social perspective - emphasizing the
social bonds that united members of a society. For example, during periods of drought or famine,
individuals shared in the plight of their neighbours. However, the advent of this new form of selling
encouraged a focus on the individual such that in times of scarcity, sellers raised their prices.[4]
During the Medieval period, trade underwent further changes. Localized trading based on
transactional exchange and bartering systems was slowly transformed as transportation improved
and new geographic markets were opened.[5] From the 11th century, the Crusades helped to open up
new trade routes in the Near East, while the adventurer and merchant, Marco Polo stimulated
interest in the far East in the 12th and 13th centuries. Medieval merchants began to trade in exotic
goods imported from distant shores including spices, wine, food, furs, fine cloth, notably silk, glass,
jewellery and many other luxury goods. As trade between countries or regions grew, trade networks
became more complex and different types of sellers filled in the spaces within the network. During
the thirteenth century, European businesses became more permanent and were able to maintain
sedentary merchants in a home office and a system of agents who operated in different geographic
markets.[6] Exchange was often conducted at arm's length, rather than face-to-face.
Local market traders and itinerant peddlers continued to supply basic necessities, but permanent
retail shops gradually emerged from the 13th century, especially in the more populous cities.[7] By the
17th century, permanent shops with more regular trading hours were beginning to supplant markets
and fairs as the main retail outlet. Provincial shopkeepers were active in almost every English
market town. These shopkeepers sold a very broad range of general merchandise, much like a
contemporary general store.[8]
Large business houses involved in import and export often offered additional services including
finance, bulk-breaking, sorting and risk-taking. In the 17th century, the public began to make mental
distinctions between two types of trader; local traders (Dutch: meerseniers) which referred to local
merchants including bakers, grocers, sellers of dairy products and stall-holders, and the merchants
(Dutch: koopman), which described a new, emergent class of trader who dealt in goods or credit on
a large scale. With the rise of a European merchant class, this distinction was necessary to separate
the daily trade that the general population understood from the rising ranks of merchants who
operated on a world stage and were seen as quite distant from everyday experience.[9]
In 18th century England, large industrial houses, such as Wedgewood, began mass-producing
certain goods such as pottery and ceramics and needed a form of mass distribution for their
products. Some peddlers were employed by these industrial producers to act as a type of travelling
sales representative, calling on retail and wholesale outlets in order to make a sale.[10] In England,
these peddlers were known as Manchester men because of the prevalence of the practice in the
sale of cotton cloth manufactured in Manchester.[11] Employed by a factory or entrepreneur, they sold
goods from shop to shop rather than door to door and were thus operating as a type of wholesaler or
distribution intermediary.[12] They were the precursors to the field sales representative.

Selling roles and situations[edit]

Sales activity can occur in many types of situations. Field representatives call on clients, who are
typically business clients; door-to-door sales teams call on householders, sales staff may work in
a retail or wholesale environment where sales personnel attend to customers by processing orders
or sales may occur in a telemarketing environment where the sales person makes telephone calls to
prospects. In terms of number of transactions, most selling occurs at the retail level; but in terms of
value, most selling occurs at the high-end business-to-business level.[13]
Different types of sales roles can be identified:

 Order takers refers to selling that occurs primarily at the wholesale or retail levels. Order
processing involves determining the customer needs, pointing to inventory that meets the
customer needs and completing the order.[14]
 Order getters refers to the in-field sales activity where a sales representative travels to the
client's home or work place to makes a sales presentation in order to win new business or to
maintain relations with existing clients.[15]
 Missionary selling is often seen as a sales support role. The missionary sales person distributes
information about products or services, describes product attributes and leaves materials but
does not normally close the sale. The missionary sales person often prepares the way for a field
sales person. For example, a pharmaceutical sales representative may call on doctors and leave
samples, manufacturer information such as results of clinical trials, copies of relevant journal
articles etc. in an effort to persuade doctors to prescribe a medication or course of treatment.
 Cold calling refers to a situation when a sales representative telephones or visits a customer
without a prior appointment. Cold calling is often considered to be the most challenging of the
sales activities. In a cold calling situation, the sales representative is likely to be more conscious
of the client's time, and may seek to condense the sales process by combining the approach
and the sales presentation into a single step.[16]
 Relationship selling (also known as consultative selling) refers to a sales practice that involves
building and maintaining interactions with customers in order to enhance long term relationships.
Relationship selling often involves a problem solving approach where the sales representative
acts in a consultative role and becomes a partner in the client's problem-solving exercise.
[17]
 Relationship selling is often found in high-tech selling environments. See also: Solution selling