field selling
Definition:
This is an expression which has come to be applied to the activities of an organization's salespeople who work outside their organization's offices, usually, but not always, in a specified territory. Field selling is thus the activity of calling upon customers and prospective customers away from day-today control of a manager, but probably making daily reports by telephone or mail to their offices. Whereas the term may originally have been applied to rural SALES TERRITORIES, it is now used for both rural and urban sales territories. Field salespeople usually work alone and in this sense they are pioneers, attempting to win new customers for their organizations and to retain existing business. They do not carry STOCK of their PRODUCTS, as would a van salesman, but possibly carry samples. Field selling activities are undertaken by both CONSUMER GOODS and industrial goods producers.
Cross-References:
[consumer goods]
[product]
[stock]
[sales territory]
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© Westburn Publishers Ltd 2002, The Westburn Dictionary of Marketing edited by Michael J Baker, ISBN 978-0-946433-01-8. www.themarketingdictionary.com. Entry: [Barry R. Moore],.