Personal Selling

Order Takers

Selling does not always require a salesperson use methods designed to encourage customers to make a purchase.  In fact, the greatest number of people engaged in selling are not order getters, rather they are considered order takers.  In this role, salespeople primarily assist customers with a purchase in ways that are much less assertive than order getters.  As might be expected, compensation for order takers is generally lower than that of order getters.  Among those serving an order taker role are:

• Retail Clerks – While some retail salespeople are involved in new business selling, the vast majority of retail employees handle order taking tasks, which range from directing customers to products to handling customer checkout.
• Industrial Distributor Clerks – Industrial purchase situations, such as distributors of building products, will also have clerks to handle customer purchases.
• Customer Service – Order taking is also handled in non face-to-face ways through customer service personnel.  Usually this occurs via phone conversations, though newer technologies are allowing for these tasks to be handled through electronic means such as online chat.