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3 ■ Types of selling

Case study C R Smith

C R Smith (www.crsmith.co.uk) is a window and conservatory company employing over
1000 people in Scotland and now expanding in other areas of the UK. Although they have
used telesales in the past, the company now operates two field sales operations, one a team
of canvassers, the other salespeople to obtain orders and contracts. The canvassers distribute
the company newsletter, a quarterly publication called C R Homes, and follow-up with a
personal call to ask house owners their views on the publication and, of course, whether any
of the products are of interest now or in the future. The aim is to obtain appointments with
genuine leads for the sales force. While this may be considered hard sell and intrusive,
research has shown that most consumers prefer this to the unsolicited telephone call and in
the majority of cases find the publication of interest. While the canvassers are set specific
appointment targets, the work is flexible and hours can be made to suit part-time, mature
people. The company is looking for individuals with a pleasant manner, experience and a cer-
tain maturity who can empathise with the customers on whom they call. The canvassing
team is a combination of male and female, of different backgrounds, who range in age from
25 to retirement age. The canvassers, some of whom have previously been in telesales, say
they prefer this approach. So far, separating sales prospecting from sales generation has
proved innovative and successful.
1 Critically appraise C R Smith’s approach.
2 Compare the above approach with other ways of expanding their business and generating
sales.
3 Interview some (three or four is suggested) homeowners on their views of unsolicited
telephone sales calls, the approach outlined above and door-to-door selling in general.

Key terms
■ category management ■ maintenance selling
■ conditioned response ■ merchandising
■ development selling ■ missionary selling
■ farmers ■ new business selling
■ food brokers ■ retail selling
■ franchise sales ■ system selling
■ hunters ■ technical selling
■ insight response ■ telesales
■ key accounts ■ trade selling

References
Barrett, J. (1986) ‘Why major account selling works’ Industrial Marketing Management 15 (1):
63–73
Bettger, F. (1949) How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling Prentice-Hall:
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Cespedes, F.V. (1996) Managing Marketing Linkages: texts, cases and readings Prentice-Hall:
Upper Saddle River, NJ
Chu, W., Gestner, E. and Hess, J.D. (1995) ‘Costs and benefits of hard-sell’ Journal of Marketing
Research XXXII (Feb): 97–102

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