There are order takers and then there are inside salespeople.
Using Pareto's 80-20, say 80% are order takers, content to collect their wage, do the minimum required, and wait for employee discounts. That leaves 20% as salespeople who see an opportunity.
Breaking down further, 4% (20% of 20%) are true salespeople who when times are slow will get on the phone or interweb or smoke signals or head to the range and seek out new business. They know the LVC (lifetime value of a customer) is NOT on the initial front end sale, but repeatedly serving a customer, known as the back end.
They'll make the time and effort to develop a database of their customers. They'll stay in touch regularly with their customers -- birthdays, holidaze, whatever. Those better at serving their customers (0.8%) will receive invitations to customers' weddings, bat mitzvahs, and christenings.
And that's only the sales part. Let's interrupt this post to return to our regularly scheduled CGN complain fest.