Evolution of Selling
Sales has come a long way. The sales profession is one of the oldest and most underestimated jobs. In former times a salesman was travelling with his products on a horse-drawn carriage from one town to another to sell his goods. But until today it has evolved from this uncoordinated selling on weekly markets to a very complex process including different activities to finally close the sale. This essay is prepared to have a closer look on even those changes in the history of selling and to explain the evolution by considering historic and contemporary sales methods and attitudes.
With the end of mercantilism, by the middle of the eighteenth century, new and innovative technologies were emerging. These innovations would have a huge impact on production processes. It was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 1750’s. Alongside with this technological progress selling methods and attitudes had to develop as well. There were a lot of sales people using innovative sales methods during this time, but to show the variety of those new models and highlight one particular salesman it is appropriate to have a closer look at Josiah Wedgewood. Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter who founded Wedgwood Company in 1759. His ‘practices provide an example of the development of many modern selling techniques during this period including sales management, field warehousing, showrooms, self-service, promotional samples, and pricing to penetrate new markets’ (Powers, 1987). In former times pottery was mostly sold at annual markets close to the production area at Staffordshire, but by the time of Wedgwood’s death, at the end of the eighteen’s century, his products were sold world-wide. ‘Marketing techniques had advanced from rudimentary to surprisingly modern sophistication’ (Powers, 1987). He opened showrooms and warehouses in strategically favourable locations like London, Bath, Liverpool or Dublin, offering free freight to retailers buying at
Wedgwood. To create new
With the end of mercantilism, by the middle of the eighteenth century, new and innovative technologies were emerging. These innovations would have a huge impact on production processes. It was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 1750’s. Alongside with this technological progress selling methods and attitudes had to develop as well. There were a lot of sales people using innovative sales methods during this time, but to show the variety of those new models and highlight one particular salesman it is appropriate to have a closer look at Josiah Wedgewood. Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter who founded Wedgwood Company in 1759. His ‘practices provide an example of the development of many modern selling techniques during this period including sales management, field warehousing, showrooms, self-service, promotional samples, and pricing to penetrate new markets’ (Powers, 1987). In former times pottery was mostly sold at annual markets close to the production area at Staffordshire, but by the time of Wedgwood’s death, at the end of the eighteen’s century, his products were sold world-wide. ‘Marketing techniques had advanced from rudimentary to surprisingly modern sophistication’ (Powers, 1987). He opened showrooms and warehouses in strategically favourable locations like London, Bath, Liverpool or Dublin, offering free freight to retailers buying at
Wedgwood. To create new