TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 HEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS 
 ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED 
 
 LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
TRAVELING 
 SALESMANSHIP 
 
 BY 
 ARCHER WALL DOUGLAS 
 
 CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES 
 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AUTHOR OF " MERCHANDISING " 
 
 f ark 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1919 
 
 All tights reserved 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1919 
 
 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1919 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I have always held that a complete and thorough 
 understanding of any phase of Economics can 
 be gained only by personal experience or first- 
 hand study and observation. Hence this little 
 book is not merely the usual study of the psy- 
 chology of Salesmanship, but rather the result 
 of forty years' close contact with the traveling 
 salesmen of one of the largest distributing mer- 
 cantile organizations of this country. 
 
 ARCHER WALL DOUGLAS. 
 St. Louis, 
 September ist, 1919. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF SALESMANSHIP. . I 
 
 II. PREPARATIONS FOR THE ROAD 10 
 
 III. WORK ON THE ROAD IJ 
 
 IV. WORK ON THE ROAD 25 
 
 V. CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS 34 
 
 VI. COMPETITION AND PRICES. 45 
 
 VII. COMPETITION AND PRICES 55 
 
 VIII. COMPETITION AND PRICES (CONCLUDED) 68 
 
 IX. SOME PHASES OF SELLING. SELLING NEW STOCK 82 
 
 X. SOME PHASES OF SELLING CONTINUED; SELL- 
 ING TO ALL DEALERS IN A TOWN 95 
 
 XL SOME PHASES OF SELLING CONTINUED; CHANG- 
 ING CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION IO5 
 
 XII. SOME PHASES OF SELLING CONCLUDED; AD- 
 VERTISING 119 
 
 XIII. CLAIMS 128 
 
 XIV. THE HUMAN EQUATION 138 
 
 INDEX 151 
 
 vii 
 
TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF SALESMANSHIP 
 
 General survey of Salesmanship Reason for Salesman- 
 ship Definition of the Science of Salesmanship 
 Different types of Salesmen Selection of the Jobber 
 as the type for consideration. 
 
 The compelling reason for the exercise of the 
 Art and Science of Salesmanship consists in the 
 elemental fact that in normal times there are 
 always more persons who are eager to sell than 
 there are persons who are eager to buy. In 
 other words, while there must always be a seller 
 for every buyer, it constantly happens that 
 there are many would-be sellers who have 
 difficulty in finding a market for their wares. 
 This is especially true of dealers in rare articles, 
 in curiosities, and for all those articles for which 
 there is only spasmodic and uncertain demand. 
 In a larger way this difficulty in finding a ready 
 market for those who desire to sell is one of the 
 peculiarities of the real estate business in most 
 parts of the world. Only in the comparatively 
 
2 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 rare and fleeting days of extreme prosperity, 
 when demand presses hard upon or else over- 
 tops supply, does there arise that condition 
 known as a buyer's market, when the buyers 
 are more eager to purchase than salesmen are 
 to sell. So with brief and passing interludes 
 of "boom" periods in business, the usual and 
 continuing story in commercial life is a sur- 
 plusage of wares seeking a market. It is a 
 curious and interesting fact of commercial life 
 that a large proportion of the sales made are 
 due to the skill and persuasive powers of the 
 salesman rather than the initial desire or neces- 
 sity of the buyer. In normal times the buyer 
 is naturally conservative and inclined to pur- 
 chase only for his immediate needs. Under 
 such conditions the part of salesmanship is, 
 after some fashion, to persuade the buyer of 
 the wisdom, or necessity, or advisability of 
 making purchases, so that the salesman may get 
 an order for his goods. Salesmanship is ele- 
 mentally the ancient scheme of barter trans- 
 ferred to a higher and more rational plane of 
 psychology, and conducted after modern ways 
 and methods. In the Orient the old ways still 
 persist, and a purchase of even a modest nature 
 in the bazaars is a serious and momentous affair, 
 involving much dialogue and bluffing (as we 
 
NATURE AND FUNCTION 3 
 
 term it in the Occident) until at last a compro- 
 mise is reached, far different from the initial 
 impossible demands of either party. 
 
 In modern times and among Western nations 
 we largely have eliminated all useless forms 
 and paraphernalia of inconsequent and irrel- 
 evant discussion, and we endeavor at once to 
 come to the point of mutual understanding. 
 Yet, withal, an appreciable and indispensable 
 share of persuasion is required on the part of the 
 salesman, and this attitude is met by a natural 
 indifference, sometimes real, sometimes sim- 
 ulated, and an innate determination, on the part 
 of the buyer to get a better bargain than is at 
 first offered by the seller. It is both an instinct 
 and a tradition with the buyer never to be eager 
 in purchasing, but rather to assume a reluctance 
 to buy unless it obviously be made to his ad- 
 vantage to do so. Often the buyer is not in 
 actual need of the goods, and can afford to wait, 
 much more so and much longer than the seller. 
 It is here that the art of salesmanship comes 
 into play in the psychology of argument, per- 
 suasion and reasoning which he brings to bear 
 upon the buyer. It is remarkable how often he 
 succeeds, considering how much stronger nat- 
 urally is the position of the buyer. It is a com- 
 mon saying in the trade that any man can sell 
 
4 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 goods by cutting prices, that is, by making 
 lower prices than the buyer can secure else- 
 where, but that it takes salesmanship to main- 
 tain prices and still get the business. 
 
 It is this latter accomplishment to which the 
 art of salesmanship is directed. The science, 
 as distinguished from the art of salesmanship, 
 consists rather in the systematized direction 
 and careful handling of the many details of the 
 salesman's work. It is quite as necessary to 
 successful salesmanship as the more intellectual 
 and psychological methods of artistic persua- 
 sion. It is only within the last generation that 
 there has come, even in the commercial world, 
 a widespread realization of the true nature and 
 importance of salesmanship. Prior to that 
 time the calling or vocation of a salesman in 
 commercial life was looked upon askance, and 
 rather regarded as a pursuit which did not de- 
 mand either great talent or study for its success- 
 ful prosecution. The term "drummers" as ap- 
 plied to commercial travelers expressed largely 
 the estimate of their standing in popular regard. 
 What is now clear is that the principle of sales- 
 manship is of universal application to every one 
 who has something to offer for which he expects 
 compensation. Salesmanship is thus as much 
 a part of the calling of a writer or author as of 
 
NATURE AND FUNCTION 5 
 
 a retail grocery dealer, though the manner and 
 method of such salesmanship necessarily vary 
 widely according to the character of the calling. 
 The usual misconception of salesmanship on the 
 part of professional men and artists is to assume 
 that it can only be of the same character as that 
 very naturally and properly employed in the 
 business world, namely, solicitation, and con- 
 sequently is unsuitable to their calling. 
 
 The salesmanship of commercial life is the 
 story of this book, and its analysis and exposi- 
 tion are undertaken with the full consciousness 
 that it is the most difficult of all phases of busi- 
 ness endeavor to describe or to teach. More 
 than of any other occupation in commercial 
 life is it true of a salesman that he is born, not 
 made. Fortunately this is true only of the 
 highest expression of salesmanship. For by 
 ceaseless industry, patient study, and much 
 hard thinking, many men, not natural-born 
 salesmen, make a success of their calling. There 
 is no formula nor is there any certain definition 
 of salesmanship. Men most diverse in every way 
 make good salesmen, and apparently by meth- 
 ods as opposite as the poles. So very impos- 
 sible is accurate analysis as to the detailed 
 requisites which constitute a salesman that prob- 
 ably the best definition is that of a very sue- 
 
6 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 cessful commercial traveler: "A salesman is a 
 man who sells goods." Careful observation 
 and analysis seem to indicate, however, that 
 there are certain traits and factors common to 
 all successful salesmen. Unflagging industry, a 
 knowledge of their business, and better still, a 
 knowledge of human nature, and such conduct 
 and bearing as win and hold the respect and 
 confidence of their customers, seem to be ab- 
 solutely essential requisites to enduring success 
 in selling goods. 
 
 For the purposes of this book the salesman 
 for a large distributing house (a jobber) is se- 
 lected as the type under consideration, because 
 of the wide scope of his duties and experiences. 
 Those analogies common to the salesman for a 
 manufacturer or for a retailer will be touched 
 upon as they occur. The ways and means of 
 selling as illustrated in everyday commercial 
 life by the best examples will be the subject of 
 the following chapters, the contents of which 
 are briefly epitomized. 
 
 CHAPTER I, THE NATURE AND FUNCTION 
 OF SALESMANSHIP, emphasizes the far-reaching 
 character of Salesmanship, both as an art and 
 a science, and as being a calling fitted to every 
 phase of endeavor of men who have some- 
 
NATURE AND FUNCTION 7 
 
 thing to offer in return for a livelihood and its 
 rewards. 
 
 CHAPTER II, PREPARATIONS FOR THE ROAD, 
 explains the necessity of systematic training of 
 the salesman before he goes out on the road; 
 especially emphasizes the need of a thorough 
 knowledge of the goods which the salesman 
 expects to sell. 
 
 CHAPTERS III AND IV, WORK ON THE 
 ROAD. These chapters describe the methods by 
 which the salesman covers his territory, both 
 with respect to broad general policy and neces- 
 sary details. 
 
 CHAPTER V, CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS, 
 brings out the need of great tact and diplomacy 
 even in small matters as well as in great, in so 
 far as they bear upon the all-important study 
 of dealing with customers; it also shows that 
 gaining the confidence of the customer is the 
 keynote to success in Salesmanship. 
 
 CHAPTERS VI, VII, AND VIII, COMPETITION 
 AND PRICES. These chapters analyze the 
 difficulties of competition and the best methods, 
 sanctioned by experience, in overcoming these 
 
8 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 difficulties. They treat of the important matter 
 of prices, but show that price is not the all- 
 important factor it is erroneously supposed to 
 be. Examples are given of various ways and 
 methods of meeting competition, of handling 
 prices, and the necessity of making profits on 
 goods sold is set forth in detail. 
 
 CHAPTERS IX, X, XI, XII, AND XIII, 
 
 SOME PHASES OF SELLING, treat of the im- 
 portance and best methods of selling new stocks 
 of merchandise, of establishing agencies for 
 certain lines of goods, of the great importance 
 of selling to as many customers as possible in 
 each town, of quantity prices and how they are 
 to be handled, of changing channels of distri- 
 bution and how to meet the difficulties thereby 
 created, of the supreme importance of selling 
 largely of such goods as are profitable, of selling 
 futures, of the relation the traveling salesman 
 bears to advertising, of the importance of small 
 things, of the salesman's share in handling 
 claims and credits. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV, THE HUMAN EQUATION, dwells 
 upon the human equation as the most important 
 factor in the problem of salesmanship, as illus- 
 trated in the salesman's contact with his cus- 
 
NATURE AND FUNCTION 9 
 
 tomers, his associates in his own firm and the 
 people he meets daily; shows the value to the 
 salesman of the faculty of making friends; illus- 
 trates the capacity possessed by the salesman 
 for the true analysis of the business conditions 
 in his territory and his vision as to the possi- 
 bilities of his route; concludes with the review 
 of the ultimate purpose of the salesman in the 
 acquirement of experience, and the fulfillment of 
 a most difficult task. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE ROAD 
 
 Knowing the goods Working in stock or in a retail 
 store Memorizing the numbers, descriptions and 
 prices of a line Knowledge of workmanship, packing 
 and material of the lines Familiarity with talking 
 points Keeping posted on catalogue. 
 
 Preparedness for his job is the first essential 
 of the salesman. To send out an unprepared 
 salesman is tempting fate and courting almost 
 certain failure. Few salesmen under such con- 
 ditions have either the luck or the resourceful- 
 ness requisite for success. The primal thing 
 is for the salesman to know the goods he expects 
 to sell. 
 
 One of the best preparations is sufficiently 
 long service as a stockman in daily handling 
 the goods or else serving an apprenticeship in a 
 retail store so that he thus becomes acquainted 
 with them by actual contact. He must know 
 them by sight, be familiar with the uses to which 
 they are put, and as far as possible should be 
 able to call off the numbers and names of the 
 goods at sight. Perfection or even proficiency 
 
 IO 
 
PREPAREDNESS 11 
 
 in this latter acquirement is usually the result 
 only of long experience and often much study. 
 Few things impress a customer more favorably 
 than the familiarity of the salesman who calls 
 upon him with the goods he has to sell. There 
 are not a few very good salesmen whose knowl- 
 edge of their line is not very deep. Contrari- 
 wise, there are a number of men who are most 
 conversant with their line, but are not good 
 salesmen. Yet it is none the less a serious handi- 
 cap for the best salesmen not to be thoroughly 
 familiar with their lines. To have these lines 
 at their fingers' ends is a most useful accom- 
 plishment and a great aid to success. The more 
 complicated the line, the more striking and 
 effective is a complete and thorough knowledge 
 of it. 
 
 Embroideries and laces, for instance, are 
 lines which few men, even among those who 
 sell them, have really mastered. To know these 
 goods intimately, to call off the selling prices 
 by merely looking at the articles, to be able to 
 describe them in detail, "sight unseen," as is 
 the boyhood phrase, is usually the mark of the 
 special salesman and is consequently one of the 
 prime factors in his success. Such familiarity 
 with the goods always impresses a customer, 
 provided it be displayed quietly and as a matter 
 
12 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 of course. This is largely the psychological 
 basis for the success of the special salesman, 
 who makes a study of some one line of goods, 
 and thus is able to present all the merits of the 
 goods to the customer in a more convincing 
 manner than the regular salesman, even though 
 the latter may be, and often is, on the whole, 
 the better salesman of the two. 
 
 The human nature of the buyer prefers to 
 deal with one whose knowledge of the goods 
 in question is superior to his own, and from 
 whom he, therefore, can learn. And in addition 
 there is the instinctive admiration we all feel 
 for the man who is on to his job and knows 
 whereof he speaks. In every phase of the com- 
 mercial business of distribution the lines are so 
 many and the assortments so large that no one 
 salesman can be a specialist in them all. But the 
 salesman must have more than a passing fa- 
 miliarity with the staple lines, those most 
 frequently sold or he will make a poor im- 
 pression upon his customers. He should never 
 go on the road until he has at least attained 
 that much. He must likewise be equipped with 
 talking points on the merits of his leading arti- 
 cles. He should know, for instance, the mate- 
 rial of which the best handsaws are made, the 
 peculiarities of the grinding of the blade and the 
 
PREPAREDNESS 13 
 
 setting of the teeth that they may saw more 
 readily and effectively; also such minor points 
 as the material of the handle, the way and man- 
 ner by which it is fastened to the blade, and 
 compactness of the box in which it is packed. 
 These details of material, method of manufac- 
 ture, and ways of packing naturally are sug- 
 gested in conversation with the buyer of the 
 goods of the salesman's firm, whose business 
 it is to keep posted on such matters. 
 
 In most large distributing houses there are 
 regular classes for the instruction of salesmen, 
 presided over by practical experienced men, 
 sometimes buyers, sometimes sales managers, 
 who present and elucidate all matters of interest. 
 This makes the sale of the goods easier. The 
 talking points bearing on the merits of an ar- 
 ticle are of great moment in effecting its sale. 
 Sometimes the demand for an article may be 
 based almost entirely on one or two distinctive 
 points of merit. For instance, the wearing 
 qualities of a certain brand of hosiery may be 
 their principal selling point, or else a hammer 
 may have the handle so fastened to the head 
 that, unlike an impetuous person, it never "flies 
 off the handle." The salesman must have all 
 these points of merit well learned and readily 
 at his command in selling the goods. For be 
 
i 4 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 it remembered that the goods which endure in 
 public favor are those of proved and tried merit, 
 and the salesman must be prepared to demon- 
 strate the points of merit to his customers in a 
 brief and entertaining fashion, and one entirely 
 free from any suspicion of being didactic. The 
 average customer is a ready enough listener 
 when the story is well and aptly told, and does 
 not smack of that learning which seeks to im- 
 part knowledge in a too obviously superior 
 manner. 
 
 The salesman must also make himself famil- 
 iar with the uses to which the articles he sells 
 are intended and their fitness for such purpose. 
 He should be able to explain intelligently, for 
 instance, why the composition and workman- 
 ship of automobile casings which he sells causes 
 them to wear so long, to be so resilient and not 
 to puncture easily. 
 
 The prospective salesman must likewise be 
 well posted on the prices of the goods he expects 
 to sell, and the general policy of his firm in re- 
 gard to meeting competition. In an extended 
 line of goods, such as is generally carried by 
 every large jobbing house, no salesman can 
 expect to be familiar offhand with the prices of 
 more than a comparatively limited number of 
 articles. Necessarily he must consult his price 
 
PREPAREDNESS 15 
 
 list or catalogue frequently when quoting prices, 
 especially as prices in most lines have a fash- 
 ion of constantly changing. Yet the good 
 salesman will memorize from constant use a 
 large line of prices of the goods he sells fre- 
 quently. His readiness and ability to quote 
 promptly such prices from memory are taken 
 for granted by the average customer. So much 
 so, in fact, that the inability of the salesman 
 to do so always makes an unfavorable impres- 
 sion on the customer. 
 
 The salesman should also become familiar 
 with the printed and illustrated catalogue, 
 which most jobbers of any size now issue to 
 their customers, or from which the salesman 
 sells goods. He should know in which part of 
 the catalogue the different lines of goods are 
 shown and illustrated, and be able to turn 
 quickly in the book to any goods he wishes to 
 refer to. In consultation with the proper par- 
 ties, he should post himself as to the general 
 policy of the firm in regard to the handling of 
 claims, the extending of credits, the collection 
 of accounts. He must likewise provide himself 
 with all necessary details, as stationery for cor- 
 respondence, order books for taking orders, 
 expense account books, and the like. He must 
 carefully select his line of samples in cooperation 
 
16 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 with the sales manager or other official to whom 
 he is immediately responsible, and who pre- 
 sumably is thoroughly posted as to the territory 
 in which the salesman is to travel. Likewise 
 in connection with the same official he should 
 arrange his general plan of covering his route, 
 and should especially become familiar, as far as 
 possible in advance, with the peculiarities of 
 the customers upon whom he is to call, and the 
 nature of the country which he is to cover. 
 
 Some jobbers have found it wise not only to 
 put a salesman through this system of intensive 
 training, but likewise to catechise him carefully 
 before he goes out so as to be sure that he has 
 learned his lesson well. 
 
 The difference between the needed training 
 for the salesman of a manufacturer and a jobber 
 is one of degree and not of kind, since the manu- 
 facturer's salesman rarely has so extensive a 
 line to sell, and is consequently more of a spe- 
 cial salesman. On the other hand, he usually 
 covers a wider range of territory, but on the 
 whole has not so many customers. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 WORK ON THE ROAD 
 
 Covering his territory Various merits of large and small 
 routes Working his territory thoroughly Conserv- 
 ing the salesman's time Exercise of patience and 
 display of modesty invaluable aids. 
 
 The first matter the salesman has to determine 
 when he is out on the road is how he shall work 
 his territory. Shall he travel fast or slow? Shall 
 he hit the high spots and thus skimming along, 
 get only the orders ready at hand? Or shall 
 he milk his territory dry by going over it care- 
 fully and endeavoring to get everything in 
 sight? 
 
 As usual there is no general answer as to the 
 best policy, since much depends upon condi- 
 tions and circumstances. If he has a very large 
 territory, he must perforce travel faster than 
 in a smaller territory. For it is as incumbent 
 upon him to see the same trade just often enough 
 as it is for him not to see it too frequently. 
 His main intent and purpose should be to sell 
 to every merchant in his territory as large a 
 proportion of the goods in his particular line 
 
 17 
 
i8 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 as possible with due regard to the ability of 
 each customer to pay his bills promptly. Most 
 salesmen deceive themselves in this respect, 
 and gain the impression that their customers 
 buy proportionately more goods from them 
 than is really the fact. It is a common occur- 
 rence for a salesman to state that he sells such 
 and such a customer fifty per cent or more of 
 the goods that the said customer buys in his 
 (the salesman's) line, when as a matter of fact 
 the actual percentage may not be over ten to 
 fifteen per cent. Any impartial observer who 
 carefully inspects the stock of the average re- 
 tailer and sees the large proportion coming 
 from many different sources realizes how widely 
 distributed are his purchases. This situation 
 arises not only from the natural, human desire 
 of the dealer to give orders to as many salesmen 
 as possible, but often, likewise, from the undue 
 haste and hurry of the salesman, who is desirous 
 of getting through with each customer as quickly 
 as possible in order to go on to the next one, 
 that he may thus cover another lap in the end- 
 less Marathon race over his territory. So he 
 fails to estimate the true possibilities of sales 
 to each particular customer. For selling goods, 
 especially to the retail trade, is a matter requir- 
 ing infinite patience as well as infinite tact. As 
 
WORK ON THE ROAD 19 
 
 a rule the salesmen who sell the largest amount 
 of goods are those who sell each customer a 
 large proportion of the goods he buys in the 
 salesman's line. 
 
 It is not enough that the salesman take the 
 orders from the customer's want book the 
 book containing the record of the goods the 
 customer needs. He must go further and use 
 the power of suggestion as to what he believes 
 the customer may or will need, or some item 
 of new goods to be added, or some line to be 
 replenished which escaped the customer's eye, 
 or the completion of some assortment, or nu- 
 merous other suggestions that ingenuity, keen 
 observation and business insight may suggest. 
 
 All this takes time, much time in fact. It can- 
 not be done successfully, in fact not at all, if the 
 salesman is too much bent on catching the next 
 train to the nearest town. The more goods the 
 salesman sells to any customer, the more diffi- 
 cult he makes it for his competitors to sell goods 
 to that customer. Also, it is cheaper in many 
 ways to sell large amounts to one customer than 
 the same volume to many customers. Selling 
 to each customer as many goods as he can well 
 pay for is usually good policy and should be the 
 ultimate ambition of most salesmen. 
 
 But, of course, this plan has its limitations 
 
20 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 and is not always either feasible or practicable. 
 Under certain conditions it may be better judg- 
 ment and more profitable to go on to the next 
 town, where there is a reasonable certainty of 
 getting good orders, than to stay over where 
 he is with the full knowledge that the few ad- 
 ditional orders he will receive will not pay for 
 the extra time thus spent. The salesman's 
 route also may be so large and contain so many 
 towns, many of them small ones, that he has 
 Hobson's choice of either spending a compar- 
 atively small period of time in each one, or else 
 partly neglecting some of them, or else not 
 "making" (visiting) them at all. The time at 
 the disposal of the salesman, the arrangement 
 of train schedules along his route, the pecul- 
 iarities of his various customers, and the nature 
 of the goods he sells, are all factors in determin- 
 ing this question for him. 
 
 Train schedules have to be carefully studied 
 so that the best advantage of them may be 
 taken to save time. The salesman often finds 
 that like the old man cited in Ecclesiastes "he 
 rises at the voice of the bird," to catch the early 
 morning train, and likewise goes to bed with 
 the owl on his arrivals at towns on late night 
 trains in order that he may start work early the 
 next morning. Sometimes when train schedules 
 
WORK ON THE ROAD 21 
 
 are not favorable, he can save time, and really 
 save money, by hiring an automobile to go from 
 one town to another. This latter recourse is 
 the only way he can cover those "high-grass 
 towns " off the railroad. 
 
 Experience seems to indicate that the most 
 successful plan, so far as selling a large volume 
 of goods is concerned, is for the salesman to have 
 a territory just large enough for him to cover 
 completely and to allow him sufficient time to 
 work each town thoroughly. This method, of 
 course, applies better and more logically to 
 thickly settled states where railroad facilities 
 are good and where carriage or automobile trips 
 to towns not on the railroad do not have to be 
 resorted to often. Conversely in some of the 
 sparsely settled districts of the West, where 
 railroads are few, it is often found advantageous 
 to have railroad territories and automobile 
 territories covered by separate salesmen. 
 
 The salesman soon finds that he needs all 
 his tact and diplomacy to have his customers 
 realize that his time is valuable, and that it can 
 be best conserved by the customer talking busi- 
 ness with him promptly, and either giving him 
 an order or else telling him that there is "nothing 
 doing." This is not an easy matter to compass, 
 for it is about as difficult and futile an under- 
 
22 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 taking to hurry the retail dealer, especially in a 
 small town, as it is to hustle the East, as Kip- 
 ling puts it. The dealer in the small town lives 
 in an atmosphere of quiet and of slow-moving 
 events, and the nervous haste of the city-bred 
 man usually irritates him when it does not 
 excite his somewhat pitying though good-na- 
 tured criticism. The desire of the traveling 
 man to get through business quickly, not in- 
 frequently appears to the customer as rather a 
 reflection upon the importance of the business 
 the salesman is conducting with him. The 
 business in question is naturally of moment to 
 the dealer and should be duly considered and 
 thought over as is his wont in all similar trans- 
 actions. The average dealer, however, has that 
 usual good nature, which generally accompanies 
 the man who lives far from the madding crowd's 
 ignoble strife, and it is therefore the business of 
 the salesman to have the dealer realize that the 
 salesman's time is really valuable, especially 
 because it is not his own time, but his firm's. 
 Furthermore, the dealer is aiding the sales- 
 man in making a success of his business by 
 assisting him in conserving and economizing 
 his time. So that the dealer's consideration 
 is most helpful to the salesman, and does 
 much to further his success. Of course the 
 
WORK ON THE ROAD 23 
 
 salesman must inevitably waste much time 
 waiting for the dealer when the latter is serving 
 customers. For the customers are apt to take 
 their time, since making purchases is with them, 
 especially if they be women, both an event and 
 an adventure, and something not to be lightly 
 entered upon, nor hastily carried through. 
 
 Under such circumstances there is but one 
 thing for the salesman to do, and that is to 
 avoid altogether the least appearance of im- 
 patience, no matter what are his inward feel- 
 ings. For to exhibit such feeling would be 
 fatal. He can put in the time, chatting with 
 any clerk who may not be busy, and thus be 
 making friends who may fulfill the second part 
 of the little girl's definition of a lie, that "it was 
 an abomination in the sight of the Lord, but 
 an ever present help in time of trouble." For 
 in time the getting of the good will of everyone 
 in the store adds much to the chances of the 
 salesman's procuring larger orders. On the 
 other hand, the salesman may gain a knowledge 
 of the dealer's stock and assortment by a not 
 too obvious examination of the goods on the 
 shelves. Or he may tactfully assist the dealer 
 in making a sale to the customer whom the 
 dealer is serving. 
 
 In all such situations few things so befit the 
 
24 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 salesman and so advance his cause with the 
 customer as modesty and patience. Modesty, 
 which prevents him from over duly impressing 
 his customer with the importance of his (the 
 salesman's) time, and the patience which good- 
 naturedly waits while his customer is busy with 
 his own affairs. 
 
 When, however, that relation, which every 
 ambitious salesman aspires to, is finally reached 
 in the course of time, namely, when there is com- 
 plete understanding and mutual respect and 
 regard between the salesman and the dealer, 
 then it becomes much easier for the salesman 
 to get the entire and ready cooperation of the 
 dealer in all ways that tend to conserve the 
 salesman's time. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WORK ON THE ROAD 
 
 Clerical work Importance of and best methods of 
 handling Selection of samples Their use and ef- 
 fectiveness Familiarity with and demonstration of 
 them Disposition of shop-worn samples. 
 
 The salesman traveling for a large jobbing 
 house, carrying an extensive line of goods with 
 a complete assortment, finds a large proportion 
 of his time taken up in what seems to him 
 unproductive clerical work. It appears unpro- 
 ductive, and often is, because it does not appar- 
 ently have any direct relation to the main busi- 
 ness in hand that of selling goods. Many 
 firms make the serious mistake of burdening their 
 traveling men with work which should be han- 
 dled in the house by clerks. In order to get the 
 best results the salesman should be left as free 
 as possible to devote his time to selling. Yet 
 under the most favorable circumstances the 
 traveling salesman finds much clerical work 
 thrust upon him that cannot be neglected nor 
 evaded. There are route sheets to be written 
 up and sent in to his house, giving his addresses 
 
 25 
 
26 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 and stopping places for the next week or two. 
 There are reports of claims that he has adjusted, 
 or concerning which he reports progress. There 
 are expense accounts to be filled in. Always 
 there are letters from his firm on innumerable 
 subjects, and many of these letters require 
 answering. There are memoranda of orders 
 taken during the day to be written up in proper 
 form before being sent in. In passing, it must 
 be remembered that the salesman saves himself 
 and his firm much time and trouble by sending 
 in his orders in such shape that they are en- 
 tirely intelligible to those in the home firm who 
 handle them, and can consequently get out the 
 goods and ship them without the necessity of 
 having to write or wire the salesman for further 
 information or exercise their ingenuity in guess- 
 ing what he means and what he wants. In 
 making out his orders the salesman should leave 
 nothing to the imagination of those in the firm 
 who handle them. The name and address of 
 the customer should be written so plainly that 
 literally he who runs may read and understand. 
 All terms, datings, cash discounts, freight al- 
 lowances and the like, which form a part of the 
 order, should be plainly stated. 
 
 A large proportion of the misunderstandings 
 which arise between the home firm and the 
 
WORK ON THE ROAD 27 
 
 customers are due to the failure or oversight of 
 the salesman to state things plainly in his orders. 
 All articles on his orders should have proper 
 numbers, and descriptions should be exactly the 
 same as used in the catalogue from which the 
 salesman sells his goods. He must not over- 
 look the fact that his orders are often got out by 
 stock clerks who have not a thorough knowl- 
 edge of the goods, and are not familiar with 
 the various local or colloquial names of the 
 goods, and consequently do not recognize these 
 names when they see them and may errone- 
 ously report the goods as out or short. 
 
 All this and much more clerical work which 
 the salesman cannot escape has to be done at 
 night, or on the train, or during occasional spare 
 moments during the day. Usually it has to be 
 written out in long hand, since stenographers 
 are not always available, nor are they always 
 time-savers. The salesman usually finds that 
 it is a mistake not to clean up each day's work 
 as he goes along. Ragged ends postponed and 
 carried over until the next day only get more 
 frazzled, and once the salesman gets behind in 
 his work it seems impossible for him to catch 
 up. It is better to devote the necessary time 
 to disposing of each day's work, even if it trench 
 somewhat upon the night or be at the sacrifice 
 
28 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 of some pleasure. Constant, unceasing industry 
 is one of the fundamental factors in successful 
 salesmanship, and the lack of this essential 
 quality cannot be supplied by the possession 
 and practice of more engaging and brilliant 
 qualities. 
 
 In all clerical work there is much accom- 
 plished by the simple practice of doing one 
 thing at a time, and completing it before let- 
 ting it go. It is probably the most effective 
 method of accomplishing work, and the one 
 least consistently followed. There are several 
 short cuts and direct routes of arriving at re- 
 sults, such as making answer on the same letter 
 sheet that needs reply, using a pencil in place 
 of a pen if more convenient, making letters as 
 brief as possible, and never writing unneces- 
 sary letters. Napoleon wisely said that most 
 letters answer themselves in three weeks' time, 
 but the firm usually expects discriminating cor- 
 respondence from the salesman and prompt 
 answers to inquiries. 
 
 Although one of the most important elements 
 of work on the road is carrying samples, unless 
 proper use is made of them, they cost more than 
 they earn. Some salesmen take out a line of 
 samples, probably several trunks full of them, 
 and leave them most of the time at their head- 
 
WORK ON THE ROAD 29 
 
 quarters, where they repose peacefully the 
 trunks unopened and samples unused. The 
 better plan for the salesman is to make his 
 headquarters a depot for his sample trunks, 
 and take out on his various trips such of them 
 as are needed. 
 
 Carrying samples is a very expensive practice 
 when full use is not made of them by showing 
 them and selling from them. There are excess 
 baggage charges, tips to depot and hotel porters 
 to insure prompt handling of the trunks, deteri- 
 oration of the goods by constant exposure to 
 dust and moisture, and the expense of sample 
 rooms at the hotels. The number and amount 
 of samples to be carried depends upon many 
 things: the nature of the business, and the na- 
 ture of the goods; the condition and character 
 of the salesman's territory; and the general 
 business conditions of the times. In lines of 
 goods which change constantly according to the 
 dictates of fashion it is practically necessary 
 to carry samples of almost every article to be 
 sold. In some other lines where a large propor- 
 tion of the items have a long and honorable 
 lineage, only comparatively few samples need 
 to be shown. In most branches of business 
 new goods should be generally sampled by the 
 salesman, since very few experienced buyers 
 
30 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 care to purchase new items from photographs 
 or descriptions, but prefer to see the real article. 
 Buyers as a rule have that Missouri trend of 
 mind that needs "to be shown." There are 
 innumerable instances, also, where it proves 
 the part of wisdom to carry samples of well- 
 known and familiar goods. 
 
 There is an innate desire in the mind of prac- 
 tically every purchaser to see the article that 
 he is buying. In some lines, dry goods and 
 shoes for instance, almost everything is sold 
 by samples. An attractive sample is practically 
 the best selling and talking point that a sales- 
 man can use. The more expensive and the more 
 stylish the goods, the wiser and more necessary 
 it is for the salesman to carry samples of them. 
 This is equally true of all goods associated with 
 outdoor sports, of all manner of luxuries and 
 things of ornamentation, and of every kind of 
 wearing apparel. 
 
 One of the difficult problems which the trav- 
 eling salesman encounters is to persuade cus- 
 tomers to come to the hotel and inspect the 
 samples. Some customers do not want to take 
 the trouble, others dislike being away from 
 their stores when it can be avoided, others are 
 indifferent and, like the guests bidden to the 
 wedding feast in the New Testament, with one 
 
WORK ON THE ROAD 31 
 
 accord begin to make excuses. There is another 
 contingent who are loath to come because of 
 well-founded fear on their part that, once see- 
 ing samples, they will buy more goods than at 
 first they really intended to. So when the cus- 
 tomer will not or cannot come to the hotel to 
 inspect the samples, it is incumbent upon the 
 salesman to take his samples to the customer's 
 store, as far as this is practicable. Sometimes 
 this has to be done by taking an entire trunk 
 or again it may be possible to get the customer 
 to look over a few items of the more attractive 
 articles which can be carried in a roll. 
 
 A very experienced salesman once said that 
 the successful use of samples consisted in "know- 
 ing them and showing them." The salesman's 
 talk to the customer about samples should con- 
 tain first that elemental quality which news- 
 paper men call a story. There should be inter- 
 est to it and a point, not didactic at all, not too 
 technical, and yet sufficiently so to indicate the 
 salesman's mastery of his subject. As in Ham- 
 let's adjuration to the players, the salesman 
 should "speak his speech trippingly on the 
 tongue," not as though learned by rote and 
 recited, but with all the similitude of spon- 
 taneity and of being purely extemporaneous. 
 
 The principal point is a telling presentation 
 
32 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 of the merits of the goods. For it is the power 
 of conviction, as well as the psychology of per- 
 suasion which finally accomplishes the sale. 
 Most necessary of all is it that the salesman 
 believe his own story, else he will never get 
 anywhere. In the long run he will fail to con- 
 vince others unless he himself is first convinced. 
 It is one of the wonders of this world that so 
 many "four flushers" and fakirs make successes 
 and get away with it. But it is not of record 
 that they make successful salesmen in the same 
 line of goods for any length of time. This is 
 especially the case where the buyer is an ele- 
 mental man in a small town and whose native 
 instinct of perspicacity more than compensates 
 for his lack of experience. He soon detects the 
 lack of sincerity and discovers the pretense of 
 the salesman. With the enthusiasm for his 
 goods the salesman must mix such a measure 
 of common sense and proportion as restrains 
 him from claiming for his goods merits and 
 excellencies which they do not possess; other- 
 wise he hurts his own cause by exposing its 
 weakness. 
 
 The salesman must also be careful not to 
 fall into the error of talking too much and too 
 often about the merits of the goods he is selling. 
 This can easily be done until it becomes weari- 
 
WORK ON THE ROAD 33 
 
 some to the customer. If constant repetition 
 impresses us at first, it finally, when carried 
 too far, becomes tiresome and loses its pristine 
 effectiveness. The judgment and perception 
 of the salesman must tell him where to stop 
 and when to refrain. 
 
 It is always a matter of concern with the 
 salesman to dispose as economically as possible 
 of such samples as he does not return to the 
 firm to be refinished and put back into regular 
 stock. It is generally better to sell such samples 
 as have become shopworn, instead of returning 
 them to the firm and expecting it to dispose of 
 the goods. This can usually be done to some 
 customer at a slight concession in price. The 
 salesman should be very careful to keep his 
 sample account checked up so that he can at 
 any time show the firm what he has still in use, 
 and what he has disposed of and accounted for. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS 
 
 Deference Respect Confidence Fear Independence 
 Good feeling Avoiding arguments with customers 
 Holding the customers' trade. 
 
 The attitude of the young salesman making 
 his first trip on the road is apt to be like unto 
 that of Agag, v King of Amalekites, towards 
 Samuel, the prophet of Israel, as related in the 
 Book of Kings. Agag was a captive in Jeru- 
 salem, and was bidden to come into the temple 
 of Jehovah, where he found Samuel standing 
 before the Altar with a drawn sword. And the 
 veracious chronicle naively adds: "And Agag 
 walked delicately before Samuel." 
 
 The deference of the seller to the buyer is a 
 business tradition and convention, though fad- 
 ing somewhat and losing much of its force in a 
 time which more clearly recognizes the mutual- 
 ity of obligation between the two. A deference 
 which descends to obsequiousness and truck- 
 ling is always a serious mistake, since it appeals 
 only to that comparatively small class of buyers, 
 who like Bimi in Kipling's story, have too much 
 
 34 
 
CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS 35 
 
 ego in their cosmos, or in street parlance, 
 suffer from an acute case of swelled head. Most 
 men in their hearts despise a sycophant, however 
 much their vanity may be flattered. It is always 
 a mistake for a salesman to be afraid of his 
 customer to the extent of allowing the fear of 
 losing that customer's trade to influence him 
 to the degree of departing from the correct 
 principles and policies of his business. Trade 
 got by such methods hangs by a slender thread, 
 is usually short lived, and is always unsatisfac- 
 tory to the salesman's firm as well as to the 
 salesman himself. In order to obtain the con- 
 fidence of his customer the salesman must first 
 command his respect, and no buyer really re- 
 spects a salesman who is "easy" and whom he 
 can "work" without difficulty. It is a difficult 
 matter for a salesman to travel over the same 
 route for a number of years and not make some 
 enemies and lose some good customers, often 
 through no fault of his. Misunderstandings 
 will arise between seller and buyer despite the 
 utmost care and caution on the part of the 
 salesman. There is always a certain percentage 
 of unreasonable customers and of cranks whom 
 few can please. Often the best and most effect- 
 ive way of handling such customers is in coun- 
 try parlance, to give them as good as they send, 
 
36 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 and to meet them on their own ground with 
 frank, outspoken bluntness. Often this method 
 gains and holds both their respect and their 
 trade when an effort to conciliate and please 
 them is of no avail. For it often happens that 
 such cranks are sound at the core and more 
 responsive to displays of courage and independ- 
 ence than to ways of conciliation and truckling. 
 Many years of observation and study make 
 evident that the only salesmen who travel their 
 territory for a long time and still hold their trade 
 are those who command the respect and con- 
 fidence of their customers. This is the bed-rock 
 foundation principle of successful salesmanship. 
 Shrewdness, knowledge of his business, keen- 
 ness of intellect, low prices, and an attractive 
 line of goods are of small avail in a salesman 
 without that personality which inspires con- 
 fidence in the man and his motives. This is 
 especially the case in the South where goods are 
 still sold more largely on personality than on 
 any other factor. Lacking this, the salesman 
 may as well "pack his doll rags and go home," 
 so far as any hope of permanent success is con- 
 cerned. The distinguishing mark of merit in a 
 salesman in that section is that he "totes fair" 
 with his customers. Doing this, he is their 
 friend, always welcome, and it is apt to be his 
 
CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS 37 
 
 own fault if he does not sell them goods indefi- 
 nitely. As to winning this confidence, the way 
 and means thereto, as expressed in the Prayer 
 Book, is a long and consistent story. 
 
 In the beginning of the salesman's career it 
 is well to observe many little things. Neatness 
 and cleanliness of appearance count for much, 
 and can never safely be neglected, no matter 
 how well the salesman may be acquainted with 
 his customer. No matter how "sloppy" or 
 careless a man may be in his own appearance, 
 he does not approve of it in others. By the 
 same token, neat appearance in the matter of 
 dress should never be permitted to verge on 
 display, showiness, or excess, for that indicates 
 a vanity that the average customer dislikes even 
 more than untidiness and neglect. 
 
 The salesman should always keep his engage- 
 ments with his customers to the minute, even 
 though the customers be tardy or forgetful. 
 If the salesman advises the customer by mail 
 that he will call on a certain day he should not 
 fail in this, or else he should later, but in advance 
 of the appointment, advise the customer of his 
 inability to do so. 
 
 Some salesmen, in their desire to save time, 
 telephone to a customer from a neighboring 
 town to learn whether the customer has any 
 
38 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 orders and inquire if they shall call. Nine times 
 out of ten the customers answer "no" on gen- 
 eral principles, for they feel the implied slight 
 that their trade is not of sufficient value for the 
 salesman to come after it. A traveler has to 
 know his customer very well and for a long 
 time to venture on anything of this nature. 
 Even then it is not safe to do it often. 
 
 It is always well to avoid argument with a 
 customer, as far as possible, particularly on 
 outside topics of the day, such as religion and 
 politics. Arguments of this sort usually get 
 nowhere and are apt to lead to controversy and 
 to cause bad feeling. This does not mean that 
 the salesman shall be a spineless creature with- 
 out the courage of his convictions, or that he 
 shall fail to stand by his guns when occasion 
 demands. Rather that he use such tact and 
 diplomacy as make evident his desire to avoid 
 unprofitable or vexatious discussion, while in 
 no way seeking to conceal his real convictions. 
 It often requires genuine tact to express an 
 honest difference of opinion and still avoid a 
 wordy and futile discussion. How possible it 
 is to do this under trying circumstances was 
 well illustrated in the Presidential campaign 
 of 1896 in this country. A salesman for a large 
 jobber in the Central West was a strong Gold 
 
CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS 39 
 
 Standard man, being so by much study and 
 reflection. He traveled in the Free Silver State 
 of Nebraska at a time when political differences 
 of opinion on the financial question of the day 
 aroused bitter, personal animosities. Yet he 
 went through the entire campaign selling goods 
 as usual, with rare tact and discretion and never 
 lost a customer. He accomplished this very 
 delicate and difficult task by the simple process 
 of never allowing himself to be drawn into an 
 argument nor entangled in a controversy on the 
 subject which then was largely absorbing the 
 thought and attention of the country. When 
 with customers whose views differed from his, 
 he confined his conversation solely to business 
 or to topics which did not invite differences of 
 opinion. 
 
 It is invariably a blunder for a salesman to 
 abuse his competitors or to speak slightingly 
 of them and their wares. It instinctively 
 arouses opposition in the customer, is usually 
 ascribed to envy and jealousy on the part of 
 the salesman and generally results to the benefit 
 of the competitor. Such abuse invariably ex- 
 cites the suspicion, whether in selling goods or 
 any other phase of life, that the one doing the 
 attacking, as Shakespeare says, "like a drab, 
 unpacks his heart with words," because of 
 
40 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 sheer spite and rancor. More than one can- 
 didate for President of the United States has 
 spoiled his chance by violating the elemental 
 rule of salesmanship which requires that you 
 speak well and courteously of your competitor 
 as far as a conformity with the truth permits. 
 It is both wise and politic to avoid the sub- 
 ject of competitors and their goods as far as 
 possible. 
 
 Entertaining customers is like unto self- 
 decapitation described by Koko in the "The 
 Mikado," as a delicate and difficult operation. 
 It is perfectly true that most men like being 
 entertained, and often expect it. Yet there are 
 those who resent it, especially from a new and 
 unknown salesman, as being a reflection on 
 their independence of action, and a covert and 
 insidious method of winning their favor and 
 attempting to influence their judgment in buy- 
 ing. It is seldom wise to attempt anything of 
 this nature until after a long acquaintance and 
 friendship and at times when it can be tendered 
 merely as a natural courtesy without any further 
 thought than that of cementing friendship. 
 Everything depends upon the manner in which 
 the entertainment is offered. It should be done 
 simply as a natural expression of good will and 
 a desire for a chat and intercourse. It is always 
 
CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS 41 
 
 an advantage to get a customer away from his 
 business surroundings when he has on the ar- 
 mor of professional conventions and is con- 
 stantly disturbed and harried. Thus in quiet 
 and sociability the real man may be got at, 
 and some common ground of sympathy and 
 understanding be reached. 
 
 As salesmanship is largely a study of applied 
 psychology, it is essential that the salesman 
 get an intelligent idea of the buyer's point of 
 view, and find some congenial trait or interest. 
 Often the apparently most ordinary and com- 
 monplace man has some subject which excites 
 his serious interest, and of which he has much 
 first-hand knowledge. This is well illustrated 
 by the example of a retail hardware dealer in a 
 small town in Mississippi, who through sheer 
 force of much deep reflection obtained not only 
 a clear comprehension of the many economic 
 and social problems forced upon the South by 
 the invasion of the cotton boll weevil, the drain- 
 ing of swamp lands, and the consequent destruc- 
 tion of the malaria-bearing mosquito, and the 
 freeing of the South from the Texas cattle tick, 
 but likewise an equally intelligent understand- 
 ing of the results which were likely to arise in 
 the future out of these causes. The salesmen 
 who appreciated the quality and trend of thought 
 
42 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 of this dealer were likely to get nearer to him 
 in all business ways than the superficial trav- 
 eler to whom such matters were of no concern. 
 
 There can be no formula or rule in dealing 
 with customers. Human nature is too diverse 
 for that, and each customer possesses a personal 
 uniqueness and is a study by himself. Among 
 buyers, as among men in all callings, there are 
 perverse and contrary specimens of humanity. 
 Some few delight in misusing the advantage 
 which the buyer naturally possesses, and many 
 use it for devious purposes and sharp practices. 
 Others are prone to exercise the little brief 
 power which their position gives them in ways 
 which make the salesman uncomfortable. These 
 men have to be treated according to their mer- 
 its or demerits as the case may be. Sometimes 
 patience and good nature win their trade if not 
 their good will. Sometimes a firm, decided 
 stand, accompanied by a declaration of inde- 
 pendence is necessary. 
 
 It is usually a fatal mistake for the salesman 
 to borrow money of his customers, save in an 
 emergency. It generally makes an unfavorable 
 impression, and is a bad habit easily acquired 
 and not so easily broken. It gives the customers 
 a low estimate not only of the salesman, but 
 also of the firm he represents. For the salesman 
 
CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS 43 
 
 should never forget that the customer measures 
 the firm by its representatives. 
 
 The customer assumes that the firm does not 
 knowingly and consciously engage a man to 
 represent them on the road in whom they do 
 not have confidence and whom they do not 
 indorse. Consequently many dealers, if they 
 do not like a salesman, refuse to trade with 
 the house. The author knows of a retail dealer 
 who ceased dealing for several years with a 
 firm because its salesman spit tobacco juice 
 on his new maplewood floor. This was an ex- 
 treme instance, but well illustrates an elemental 
 truth. This instinctive feeling of the dealer 
 finds expression in another marked manner. 
 One of the most unfortunate things that a busi- 
 ness house can do is constantly to keep chang- 
 ing salesmen on a route. Inevitably the dealers 
 come to the conclusion that there must be some- 
 thing wrong with a firm which cannot hold its 
 employees. Evidently it either does not know 
 how to treat them or else is a poor judge of men 
 and chooses only inefficient representatives. 
 
 It is true that salesmen often delude them- 
 selves as to the amount of business which they 
 "own," as is the phrase, and which they believe 
 they take with them to any house which em- 
 ploys them. They soon discover that one of 
 
44 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 the strong elements in every successful organ- 
 ization is its standing with its customers, and 
 this good will of the customers towards the 
 house is one of the chief reasons why the sales- 
 men sell goods so easily and so readily. Yet 
 it is equally true in the last analysis, no matter 
 how strong a firm is and how well equipped, 
 that it cannot sell goods to its full advantage 
 and capacity unless it be represented on the 
 road by capable salesmen. One modern in- 
 stance will illustrate this. In a large city on 
 the Missouri River there were two jobbing 
 houses very dissimilar in their character. One 
 was progressive, with a large line of goods and 
 a complete assortment. The smaller house was 
 rather staid and slow, with a smaller line and 
 much inferior assortment. Yet in a territory 
 immediately adjoining the city the smaller house 
 sold twice as many goods on a certain route 
 because their salesman was far more competent 
 than the representative of the larger house. 
 As has been well expressed by one of the most 
 successful business men of the day, as well as 
 one of the best judges of salesmen, "It's all in 
 the man." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 COMPETITION AND PRICES 
 
 Friendly relations with competitors Studying their 
 methods Personality as a selling asset Advantage 
 of being connected with a good house Methods of 
 meeting competition. 
 
 The hardest problem a salesman has to solve 
 is how to meet the endless and sleepless com- 
 petition which confronts him at every turn. 
 It is a continuous performance, with compet- 
 itors who seek to get the trade which he has, 
 to outwit him in every way, and to make lower 
 prices than he makes. 
 
 There is a true saying among traveling men 
 that it is easier to get trade than it is to hold it, 
 and that the most difficult task of all is to get 
 back trade that you have lost. 
 
 Nowadays, competition is usually open and 
 above board, and the rules and ethics of the 
 game are generally well observed. Also, as in 
 football, you are apt to be on good terms with 
 your opponents and competitors, but none the 
 less you are engaged in a contest, and rejoice 
 
 45 
 
46 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 when you win, even though the element of 
 personal feeling be largely absent. 
 
 The best modern practice is to be friendly 
 with the traveling salesmen of competing houses, 
 though not to the extent of injudiciously be- 
 traying business secrets or telling too much 
 about your own affairs or those of your concern. 
 The annals of traveling salesmen are full of 
 good turns and kindnesses done by one com- 
 petitor to another, especially in the way of one 
 salesman getting a good position for a compet- 
 ing salesman whose ability and character he 
 has learned to respect. 
 
 One of the necessary adjuncts of salesman- 
 ship is observing closely the work of compet- 
 itors. First, there is the study of the ways of 
 an opponent, as in the game of chess, that you 
 may know the answering move, and may learn 
 both the skill and the weakness he displays. 
 
 A very observing salesman traveling on the 
 Pacific Coast had a competitor who gave him 
 a hard time. This competitor had every qual- 
 ity of a good salesman except industry. Like 
 the sloth, he turned to slumber in the morning 
 and broke engagements for early hours. Now 
 hard work was the "long suit" of the first sales- 
 man. With quick perception he at once saw 
 his opportunity. If the first salesman failed 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 47 
 
 to show up early, the industrious traveler was 
 on hajid ready to take orders. He was tactful 
 enough never to refer to his competitor save in 
 complimentary terms regarding those fine and 
 salesmanlike qualities which the other man 
 undeniably possessed. Often the provoked 
 and irritated dealer gave the order intended for 
 the absent salesman to the man who showed 
 enough appreciation of the dealer's business to 
 be on hand working for it. Thus, in the begin- 
 ning of his career, the industrious traveler 
 learned the invaluable lesson that day and 
 night must be alike to the salesman who would 
 succeed, and that quiet persistence and cease- 
 less industry win most desirable things in this 
 world, all the way from orders for goods up 
 to wives. On the other hand, the story of the 
 lazy though brilliant salesman was that of a 
 gradual loss of business and a steady slipping 
 in his hold upon the trade. 
 
 Then again, the salesman should have his 
 competitor "sized up" because often his firm 
 needs a new salesman, and he can recommend 
 some one from his competitors who is ambitious 
 for a better route or a better salary and this 
 may be a benefit to his firm as well as to the 
 other man. These opportunities occur con- 
 stantly, for many traveling salesmen are a peri- 
 
48 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 patetic lot, and change frequently. One potent 
 reason for this is that the results of the travel- 
 ing salesman's work are always in evidence, 
 more so in fact than in any other positions in 
 commercial life. His sales, expenses, and prof- 
 its are matters of record that cannot be con- 
 cealed, nor can they well be explained away, 
 when the net results are unsatisfactory. 
 
 Stated baldly, the salesman must either "de- 
 liver the goods" or seek a new job, though often 
 enough he may be the victim of misfortune or 
 represent a house which fails to back him up. So 
 among traveling salesmen, there is a certain 
 proportion who in their time travel for many 
 houses, either because they are ambitious and 
 seek to make better connections, or because 
 they do not like their jobs and consequently 
 do not understand them, or because they fail 
 to get with the right and congenial house, or 
 else they lack industry, or tact, or knowledge 
 of human nature or some other indispensable 
 element of salesmanship, or because of some 
 incurable habit or fault which entirely mars 
 their business career. 
 
 Then there is the competition of the traveler 
 representing a better house than the one you 
 are with. The other man's house may have a 
 superior line of goods and more complete assort- 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 49 
 
 ment. It fills its orders more completely and 
 makes prompter shipments. It treats its cus- 
 tomers liberally. Its prices average lower than 
 yours, so you are put to your "stumps" to offer 
 reasons why dealers should buy goods of you. 
 This is the problem that confronts many sales- 
 men and it is not easy of solution. The only 
 answer that avails is the personality of the 
 salesman, and the efficient manner in which he 
 prosecutes his business, in spite of undeniable 
 handicaps. The very existence of these handi- 
 caps, however, only emphasizes the advantages 
 which a salesman possesses who travels for a 
 house who makes it easier for him by the serv- 
 ice it gives its customers and by backing him 
 up in all his efforts. Likewise it renders it 
 easier for him to meet competition from other 
 quarters. 
 
 One salesman traveling for a good house on 
 his initial trip in the Far West, conscious of 
 his own inexperience and his own lack of knowl- 
 edge of the business, in a most frank and alto- 
 gether manly way told the dealers that this 
 was his chance to make good, that his only art 
 in the severe competition he encountered was 
 to ask them to encourage him by an order. 
 That if he got through his first trip success- 
 fully he would have no trouble hereafter and 
 
So TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 those who befriended him by giving him busi- 
 ness would never have occasion to regret it. 
 His appeal "went," and to-day after many 
 years, he is still traveling in that same terri- 
 tory. 
 
 One of the severest forms of competition the 
 regular salesman encounters is from the " spe- 
 cial" salesman selling a limited line of goods, 
 and who has an undeniable prestige because 
 of the superior and intensive knowledge of his 
 goods which he is supposed to possess, since 
 his efforts and study are centered on a com- 
 paratively few articles, whereas the regular 
 salesman has to spread knowledge over a vast 
 line. 
 
 The only reply, of course, is for the regular 
 salesman to become thoroughly saturated and 
 familiar with the part of his own line similar 
 to that handled by the special man. As Pooh 
 Bah says in the Mikado, "I have known it 
 done," and done very successfully. In such 
 cases the regular salesman has the great advan- 
 tage of special inducements in other parts of 
 his line as reasons for the purchase of the com- 
 petitive goods and thus combats the limited 
 repertoire of the special man. Yet it must be 
 confessed that the natural tendency of the aver- 
 age traveling man is to follow the line of least 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 51 
 
 resistance and leave the field largely to the 
 special man. Sometimes the special man has a 
 better and more complete line and lower prices. 
 But often the inability of the regular man is 
 due not to the weakness of his line, but to his 
 lack of industry and application in attaining 
 familiarity with his own goods that he may 
 present them with the same confidence and 
 the assurance that distinguishes the special 
 salesman. 
 
 Every line of business has certain goods, 
 such, for instance, as fine dress goods in the dry 
 goods trade, whose apparent complexity deter 
 the average salesman from mastering their 
 seeming intricacies and thus making him a foe- 
 man worthy of the well-posted special man. 
 What the regular salesman thus loses is not only 
 much business that he would otherwise get, 
 but likewise the profound gratification and 
 education which come from the mastery of a 
 knotty subject, whose difficulties are conquered 
 by earnest and persistent study. The average 
 salesman is apt to underrate the nature and 
 strength of his competition. It is a fatal de- 
 lusion. For it breeds that over-confidence which 
 causes one to go "to sleep at the switch." 
 
 Not long ago there traveled in the South- 
 west a salesman for a small manufacturer in 
 
52 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 the Central West, and whose annual sales were 
 out of all proportion to the size of his concern. 
 He was an adept at keeping his own counsel, 
 and never made the fatal mistake of boasting 
 of the amount of his sales. Like most travel- 
 ing salesmen he talked the usual patter about 
 business being good, but it was always in glit- 
 tering generalities and never any reference to 
 his own achievements. His competition largely 
 went unnoticed by the salesmen of the larger 
 manufacturers in his line, which was just what 
 he planned, for he was left alone as being merely 
 small game, and entitled to such pickings as he 
 might secure. 
 
 One of the most difficult forms of competition 
 is from a salesman whose firm gives good service 
 in the way of prompt shipments, orders filled 
 complete, and quick deliveries. It is the hardest 
 of all competition, requiring the utmost in- 
 genuity and skill to overcome. It is a com- 
 petition often characteristic of a well-organized 
 and well-managed concern. 
 
 There was a salesman traveling in the Far 
 Northwest for a firm, such as that spoken of, 
 over 2,500 miles east of his territory. It took 
 from three to four weeks for goods shipped 
 from his house to reach his customers. Mean- 
 while, he was hemmed in by local competitors 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 53 
 
 who made deliveries in from three to four days. 
 Yet, he had a large and growing business. He 
 was eminently resourceful and presented the 
 arguments of an unequaled line both in scope 
 and variety of everything that any dealer could 
 want or need, of broad and liberal treatment of 
 his customers by his firm who backed him up 
 in all his statements and all his agreements, of 
 the very best goods and the best assortment 
 in his branch of business. He had his customers 
 realize that by his competition he was a stabil- 
 izing force in prices, and prevented local com- 
 petitors from taking advantage of any emer- 
 gency to exact unduly high prices, also he had an 
 unlimited supply of goods in times of local scar- 
 city. He persuaded his customers that it was to 
 their mutual advantage to combine their pur- 
 chases from him and enable him to ship "col- 
 lective cars," thus securing lower freight rates 
 and less time in transit than if shipped in less 
 than car loads, and he used the collective car 
 method to bill to his customers the goods of 
 luxury and high quality at reasonable prices. 
 He made the argument that thus every dealer 
 on his territory had access to a great market 
 for all the goods in his line, and thus avoided the 
 fate of some sections away from great central 
 markets that though buying staple goods cheap, 
 
54 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 yet they had to pay unduly high prices for less 
 staple and less well-known articles. 
 
 The very necessities of the situation brought 
 out all the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the 
 salesmanship in him and from the Nettle Neces- 
 sity he plucked the Flower Success. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 COMPETITION AND PRICES 
 
 Competition and prices Price only one of the factors in 
 selling Service and the human equation Quality 
 a more enduring element than price Differing 
 methods of selling Need of traveling salesmen 
 "Baits" and their purpose Declining prices and 
 their effect upon buying. 
 
 The problem of prices is that of a troubled sea, 
 ever moving, ever changing, with eddies, and 
 cross currents, so that any scientific and certain 
 diagnosis of the situation is, from the very nature 
 of the case, quite impossible. There are many 
 factors which enter into sales; ease, propin- 
 quity, price, service, and the human equation. 
 And the greatest of these are service and the hu- 
 man equation. It is an economic dictum that the 
 natural instinct of the average person is to buy 
 in the cheapest and to sell in the dearest market. 
 Whatever may be the abstract truth of this 
 statement, it is very certain as a matter of ex- 
 perience, that in daily life its effect is so pro- 
 foundly modified by those other factors of which 
 I speak, that price is not the principal factor 
 
 55 
 
56 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 in making sales, and frequently is entirely over- 
 borne by other influences. One has only to use 
 common sense and observation to establish the 
 truth of this statement. In our own individual 
 experience we purchase constantly from those 
 dealers who are conveniently located near us, 
 or whom we like, or from whom we receive 
 satisfactory service. Even in the case of the 
 woman shopper, who is keen for bargains, the 
 personal element and the quality of service are 
 apt to be determining factors in her choice of 
 purchases. A most striking instance is afforded 
 by the great cities where large department stores 
 are enabled by good management and great 
 buying power, because of the large volume of 
 their purchases, to offer low figures to the gen- 
 eral public. Yet, in such great cities, often in 
 the shadow of these great department stores, 
 there are hundreds and thousands of small 
 shops which make money or a living and rarely, 
 if ever, on the basis of low prices. 
 
 Quite a proportion of buying is merely for- 
 tuitous. Purchasers drop in at certain shops 
 because it is convenient to do so, or because 
 they are passing by. Other buying is a matter 
 of habit, especially if the human equation of 
 the shopkeeper or his clerks enters into the 
 transaction after a pleasant fashion. 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 57 
 
 Even more compelling are the questions of 
 service and quality which are coming more and 
 more to be recognized as the determining factors 
 both in obtaining and holding trade. There 
 is a homely saying that "the proof of the pud- 
 ding is in the eating." So in every phase of 
 commercial life the story of experience is that 
 the permanently successful organizations are 
 those which combine quality of product with 
 good service in distribution and in the general 
 treatment of their customers. It is an interest- 
 ing fact that neither in manufacturing nor dis- 
 tribution has there ever been more than an 
 occasional instance of other than a temporary 
 success of the organization whose principal bid 
 for trade was that of low prices. The solu- 
 tion of the problem of prices lies in that instinct 
 of human nature which desires always to get 
 its money's worth, which realizes that those who 
 habitually sell goods cheap are apt to sell cheap 
 goods. No goods habitually sold cheap give 
 satisfaction on the whole. And the summing up 
 of the situation is found in the saying of a very 
 wise business man of much experience, that 
 "the recollection of quality remains long after 
 the price is forgotten." 
 
 The business of the concern that rests upon 
 low prices is built upon the sand, while that of 
 
58 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 the house which relies upon quality and serv- 
 ice has its foundations on a rock, and it alone 
 can endure the stress and trials of changing 
 time and fortunes. If goods could be sold prin- 
 cipally on price, it is obvious that there would 
 be no need for the salesman and that all that 
 would be necessary would be quotations through 
 the mail with tempting low prices. This method 
 of selling is much in vogue in some sections and 
 apparently is growing. Yet it is equally of 
 note that the traveling salesmen are still the 
 chief means of selling in by far the greater part 
 of the manufacturing and distributing world of 
 commerce. The former method, that of selling 
 largely by price, sets forth the importance of price 
 as a factor; while the latter method, that of the 
 traveling salesman, emphasizes the inherent and 
 inalienable value of the human equation and the 
 call that merit and quality must always make 
 upon the buyer. Moreover, there are long lines 
 of goods, which can be sold adequately and ef- 
 fectively only through the medium of the travel- 
 ing salesman. Such goods are largely those of 
 quality and merit which depend upon the per- 
 sonal exposition of their attractiveness or their 
 merit where it is such that it cannot be con- 
 veyed by the printed page, nor by photographs 
 nor by any graphic representation of the article. 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 59 
 
 Moreover, in every phase of human life there 
 are certain results which can be attained in 
 their perfection and completeness only by the 
 human equation, while on the other hand, sys- 
 tem, method, and every form of machinery 
 fail of the ultimate purpose sought to be at- 
 tained. It is upon this eternal and inherent 
 fact of every phase of human life that the sales- 
 man must rest his cause and give reason for the 
 faith that is in him. There are many things 
 in life that seem logical but are not so. Hence, 
 it is that commercial history contradicts the 
 alleged super-importance of price as the prime 
 factor in making sales. 
 
 The matter of bargain prices, as often exem- 
 plified in the history of the department stores 
 in large cities, has some analogy to the same 
 methods sometimes used by traveling salesmen, 
 as incidental divertisements rather than the 
 main theme. They are familiarly known to the 
 trade as "baits," and are estimated and ranked 
 accordingly; so much so that they are not the 
 sign manual nor the custom of the experienced 
 salesman, who knows that the road to success 
 does not lie that way. Moreover, the shrewd 
 buyer purchases only the low-priced bargains 
 and does not allow the salesman to recoup 
 himself by selling the buyer more expensive 
 
60 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 and more profitable goods at regular market 
 figures. 
 
 One of the sidelights on prices and one of the 
 paradoxical happenings in commercial history 
 is that declining prices almost invariably exer- 
 cise a strong deterrent effect upon buying, and 
 the lower prices go, the more purchases are cur- 
 tailed, until at the bottom buying is strictly 
 from hand to mouth, and is confined almost 
 entirely to absolute necessities. This was strik- 
 ingly and succinctly shown in the long commer- 
 cial depression from 1893 to 1896 when prices 
 of commodities were the lowest recorded in the 
 history of the country and the business of buy- 
 ing and selling was almost at a standstill. 
 
 The explanation and the psychology are 
 simple enough. The buyer fears that prices 
 once started downward will continually decline, 
 and believes that by waiting he will secure lower 
 figures. But in the mass he never realizes when 
 the bottom has been reached but anticipates 
 still lower figures. Contrariwise, in a rising 
 market, the natural instinct of the buyer is to 
 purchase eagerly and liberally lest the oppor- 
 tunity pass quickly away, and he perforce be 
 compelled to pay higher prices. So by the same 
 token he never realizes when the top has been 
 reached, and goes on buying without rhyme or 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 61 
 
 reason. Much truer than the economic dictum 
 as to the tendency of the individual to buy in the 
 cheapest and sell in the dearest market is the 
 Wall Street jibe that the shorn lamb, who wan- 
 ders into the Street, and finds no tempering 
 wind, always buys at the top of the stock mar- 
 ket, and sells at the bottom. 
 
 There is one phase of prices concerning which 
 there is much general misconception and mis- 
 understanding, and both are largely reflected in 
 books on economics. It is the statement, appar- 
 ently logical, that there is much wasteful and 
 expensive effort because of many and diffused 
 methods of production especially manufactur- 
 ing and distribution, when the same effort in 
 concentrated form would result in great econ- 
 omies, both in production and distribution, 
 with consequent lowering of prices to the general 
 consuming public on the articles thus affected. 
 This is one of those many instances of appar- 
 ently logical and unanswerable reasoning on 
 paper which proves entirely fallacious in actual 
 experience. This was very definitely illustrated 
 in the early years of the present century when 
 the great consolidations in some large and im- 
 portant manufacturing lines took place as one 
 of the indirect results of the Spanish-American 
 war. It was conclusively shown at that time 
 
62 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 on paper that such consolidation would re- 
 sult in many economies because of the elimina- 
 tion of much useless and expensive duplication 
 of work, and the concentration of all major 
 activities under one central control. It was 
 argued, for instance, that the number of offices 
 would be reduced, there would be fewer travel- 
 ing men, fewer employees, and there would be 
 in practice all those economies which go with 
 unified control. 
 
 It was held out as one of the prime reasons 
 for these consolidations that the general pur- 
 chasing and consuming public would receive the 
 benefit of these economies in lower prices of the 
 manufactured articles so affected and in con- 
 sequently lower costs of living. What actually 
 happened was in direct contradiction to all 
 these promises and prophecies. Expenses in- 
 creased, because of the very size of the con- 
 solidations and the impossibility of successfully 
 controlling all the avenues of expenditures. 
 Besides, additional expenses, foreign to the small 
 manufacturing concerns, became a natural and 
 apparently inescapable part of the consolida- 
 tions. They essayed and undertook many new 
 functions which had no direct connection with 
 their original purpose of manufacturing, and 
 all of them cost much money. The net result 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 63 
 
 was an increase in the cost of the manufactured 
 articles to the general public, and the very com- 
 plete demonstration that free and unrestricted 
 competition with the opportunity for that in- 
 dividual initiative, which is so distinctly a part 
 of our nation, is the surest factor in insuring 
 reasonable prices and good service to the gen- 
 eral public. 
 
 After all, Wisdom is justified of her children, 
 and Experience has demonstrated that the con- 
 trol and monopoly of any article invariably 
 results in higher prices and poorer service to 
 the consumer. 
 
 The traveling salesmen are the best proof 
 to dealers that competition is in reality the life 
 of trade in not only keeping down excessive 
 prices, but most of all in insuring good service. 
 The very business existence of the salesman 
 depends upon the service he renders his custom- 
 ers. For at every town he encounters the keen- 
 est competition from others of his tribe, so that 
 the spur of necessity, the greatest of all incen- 
 tives to action, is ever with him as a cause for 
 constant and unremitting effort. Much of the 
 apparent duplification of effort, such as the 
 calling of a dozen salesmen in one line of busi- 
 ness upon the dealer, is offset by the benefit to 
 the dealers in reasonable prices, but more es- 
 
64 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 pecially in good service, both of which factors 
 would be largely modified were much of this 
 keen and ceaseless competition eliminated. 
 
 STABILIZING PRICES 
 
 There is always a great deal of current and 
 absolutely theoretic discussion in the daily 
 papers and in the magazines as to the wisdom 
 and the necessity of stabilizing prices. By 
 which seems to be meant there should be some 
 kind of stability free from fluctuations in the 
 prices of a great many staple articles, notably 
 those of food products. It is a vain delusion. 
 We might as well talk of stabilizing the tides. 
 What is really needed is that there be free and 
 unrestricted play of the natural laws of supply 
 and demand that prices may fluctuate accord- 
 ingly. Evils that arise in the changes of prices 
 are largely brought about by arbitrary regu- 
 lation by the Government or other artificial 
 interference and by the constant attempt of 
 human agencies, usually in combinations, to 
 depress or elevate prices of certain articles which 
 they seek to control solely in their own interest. 
 
 An illustration of the daily evils of selfish 
 control and manipulation is found in the gam- 
 bling on margins in the stock markets and in 
 the grain pits of the country. They are serious 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 65 
 
 economic and social evils despite the fallacious, 
 untenable excuses offered in explanation of this 
 practice. It is a curious instinct in human na- 
 ture, when engaged in questionable proceedings 
 or even in proceedings that are distinctly wrong, 
 that they invariably offer some other reason 
 and excuse than the real one, which is merely 
 that of selfish gain. 
 
 At one period in our history, not so long ago, 
 the evils of associations which sought to control 
 prices became so apparent that they were legis- 
 lated against by what are known as anti-trust 
 laws. This legal procedure, however, illus- 
 trates in a very singular and significant manner 
 that it is impossible to interfere with the nat- 
 ural play of the laws of supply and demand, 
 no matter how urgent and necessary the situa- 
 tion nor how commendable the motive, without 
 creating trouble and paying the inevitable price 
 of such interference. In other words, in every 
 phase of interference with natural laws one 
 evil simply produces another. Usually com- 
 binations in the beginning seek to control prices 
 for their own benefit and in defiance of public 
 weal. 
 
 The restraint of the law is then imposed upon 
 such actions with the result that an entirely 
 well-meaning business finds itself hampered 
 
66 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 and restrained in its natural course. This is 
 again illustrated in the Government control 
 in relation to the price of food products during 
 the recent European War. 
 
 The short harvest of wheat in 1917 precipi- 
 tated a grave crisis. It was necessary for this 
 country to produce food in great abundance for 
 the needs of the Allies in order that the war 
 might be won. Because of this extraordinary 
 demand from abroad and because of reduced 
 supply in 1917 there was every prospect, in 
 fact every certainty, that the price of wheat 
 would reach abnormal figures with consequent 
 great social unrest, not only in this country but 
 abroad. The Government, therefore, fixed the 
 price which seemed fair, both to the producer 
 and consumer, stabilizing the otherwise wild 
 speculation in food products. This fixed price 
 continued into 1918 and the Government guar- 
 anteed the prices of the crop of 1919 in wheat, 
 as no ending of the war seemed likely in the 
 near future and the demand for wheat showed 
 no diminution. When peace came, in November, 
 1918, there immediately ensued an instantaneous 
 change in the situation and it became apparent 
 at once that since the Government promise, as 
 to the fixed price of wheat to the farmer, must 
 be made good until the first of June, 1920, the 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 67 
 
 consumers of this country were facing an enor- 
 mous and unprecedented loss because of the 
 price they must pay to the farmer for his wheat 
 crop a price far above the market price of 
 wheat as indicated by other wheat exporting 
 countries. 
 
 An attempt to regulate prices according to 
 human needs by human theories is thus always 
 accompanied by disturbance to the ways of 
 business, so that the real problem consists merely 
 in such government or other artificial regulation 
 and control as shall prevent the manipulations 
 and operations of human greed and shall simply 
 allow the laws of supply and demand free and 
 unrestricted play. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 COMPETITION AND PRICES CONCLUDED 
 
 The salesman's part in sustaining prices Cooperation 
 with his concern Necessity of salesman making 
 satisfactory profits Example of salesman selling 
 profitably Its good effect upon the customer Bar- 
 gain sales Economic aspect of high prices. 
 
 It will be seen by the previous chapter, there- 
 fore, that the salesman's part in the mainte- 
 nance of prices is a far-reaching one in which the 
 genius and spirit of salesmanship has the great- 
 est scope for action very early in his career. 
 The salesman must have the courage of his con- 
 victions and ask his prices as though he expected 
 to get them and not as mere offers for barter 
 and compromise. The purpose of selling is 
 not mere volume, but rather profit, for it is small 
 advantage to sell many goods unless they show 
 satisfactory remunerative returns. In the last 
 analysis, the test of salesmanship is selling goods 
 at a satisfactory profit, for any tyro can dispose 
 of them at losing figures. 
 
 There are two salient facts which the sales- 
 man must always bear in mind. The first is to 
 
 68 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 69 
 
 cooperate with his concern and be guided by 
 its policy in the prices he makes. The most 
 successful houses suit their action on prices of 
 certain staple lines to conditions. In eras of 
 prosperity when prices are advancing they hold 
 their salesmen strictly to the prices given in 
 their catalogues or price lists, since in such times 
 the demand is so great that the principal con- 
 cern of the buyer is to get goods rather than 
 vainly endeavor to obtain lower figures. In 
 general, however, the policy of such houses is 
 to exact from every salesman that he show a 
 satisfactory profit on his sales or else his serv- 
 ices are of no value. The salesmen who drift 
 from one house to another in service, usually in 
 a descending scale, are, as a rule, those who 
 fail in the first essential of their calling, that 
 of making a satisfactory profit for their house 
 and consequently for themselves. One of the 
 best teachers of salesmen in this country, im- 
 pressed upon his men that they owed themselves 
 and their families this primal duty of making a 
 profit on their sales in which not only the firm 
 but the salesman and those dependent upon 
 him would share. Failing in this, there was 
 only one sure fate he could expect: to face the 
 future with decreasing earning powers and the 
 consciousness that he had thrown away golden 
 
70 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 opportunities because of lack of foresight and 
 courage. For it is only by sustained courage 
 and determination that the salesman can make 
 a success of his calling. 
 
 The instinct and conscious purpose of the 
 buyer is always to obtain a better figure, and 
 thus an advantage; while the business and aim 
 of the seller is to resist as best he can this cease- 
 less pressure which tends to reduce the level of 
 prices and thus of profits. Like modern war- 
 fare it is a contest where the natural advantage 
 rests with the offense rather than the defense. 
 From time immemorial the attitude of the buyer 
 is often that of a plea of necessity that he must 
 have lower prices or else be unable to meet the 
 competition of other dealers who evidently 
 have the figures he asks for, or they would not 
 be able to make the prices which seem habitual 
 with them. Or, as expressed in the Book of 
 Proverbs: "It is naught, it is naught," saith 
 the buyer, "and when he goeth his way he 
 boasteth. " 
 
 The tendency of the salesman is to yield here 
 and there until great gaps have been torn in his 
 line. It is then that he needs to remember the 
 second great salient fact of his calling and that 
 is that not only his job but his future depends 
 upon his upholding his margin in such fashion as 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 71 
 
 shall be satisfactory to his firm and profitable 
 to himself, for nowadays most traveling sales- 
 men in some way and to some degree share in 
 the profits they make for their house. 
 
 There are many methods by which the buyer 
 seeks to obtain lower prices than the salesman 
 offers. Not often by deliberate falsification nor 
 by sharp practices, which in effect are deception, 
 and which are becoming more and more dis- 
 credited in the business world, though often the 
 buyer is himself honestly in error as to figures 
 he can obtain from others, and which he expects 
 the salesman to meet. 
 
 There are a large number of instances of these 
 alleged low prices, which are merely mistakes 
 or half-truths. The average man is more or 
 less superficial, taking much for granted, and 
 rarely getting to the bottom of things. Investi- 
 gation often reveals many modifying or even 
 entirely different conditions which completely 
 alter the original statement. The price quoted 
 may be for a quantity which the buyer was un- 
 able to reach, or it may be an old quotation 
 which has been withdrawn, or it may be for an 
 article other than that mentioned by the buyer; 
 or perhaps it was a palpable mistake, or any 
 one of a dozen other things, which entirely 
 change the situation. As regards attempts on 
 
72 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 the part of the buyer to deceive, it may be said 
 while the old Adam remains in human nature 
 that sharp practices will always prevail in some 
 phases of business, but the ethics of buying and 
 selling are on a much higher level than those 
 which were prevalent a quarter of a century 
 ago, and this is true likewise of business prac- 
 tices in general. One of the methods used by 
 buyers is to maintain an impenetrable silence 
 so that the salesman's imagination depicts a 
 much lower price than the buyer really possesses 
 and in the end he is simply bidding against 
 himself when as a matter of fact his own price 
 may have been the lowest that the buyer really 
 possessed. There are ways of conveying wrong 
 impressions without actually making false state- 
 ments, akin to the shrug of shoulder, spoken 
 of in Hamlet, and the giving out of ambiguous 
 phrases as "I might if I could or I would," 
 and the like, intended to create- the belief in the 
 mind of the seller as to certain information 
 possessed by the buyer about prices, which he 
 cannot divulge, but concerning which the sales- 
 man can easily draw his own inference. There 
 are times also when the buyer frankly discloses 
 to the salesman prices which he has from sales- 
 men of other firms, giving ocular evidence in 
 the shape of invoices from these same firms or 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 73 
 
 orders placed with them. He may even tell the 
 salesman that these evidences of low prices are 
 shown only to him as a proof of the confidence 
 the buyer has in this particular salesman. There 
 are occasional instances where this is really 
 true, but in general it is a dangerous and often 
 a fatal mistake for the salesman to credit such 
 statements, even though his vanity may lead 
 him to do so. It is usually well to remember 
 that a buyer who betrays the prices of one sales- 
 man is likely to follow the same practice with 
 other salesmen, and that there is a homely 
 saying among hunters, that "a dog who will 
 fetch, will also carry." 
 
 How the salesman is to meet and combat 
 the various methods cited in preceding pages 
 is practically a study of human nature. He 
 must know his man and how far he may go and 
 what he can say in the discussion of the subject. 
 There are those among his customers whose 
 veracity and accuracy of statement are entirely 
 dependable. To doubt their word, or even to 
 ask for proof, may be very poor policy. There 
 are others whom he can frankly ask for facts, 
 that he may be sure that there is no mistake. 
 
 While the salesman in general should keep 
 posted as to what his competitors are doing, 
 there is a danger point in this soon reached 
 
74 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 where he allows such information unduly to 
 influence his own prices, until he becomes that 
 unsuccessful salesman of whom there is a famil- 
 iar saying in the trade, that "he knows too 
 much about his competitors' prices." The 
 business of the buyer is to purchase as cheaply 
 as he can, as a general proposition, and he is 
 justified in using all legitimate means to that 
 end. The ultimate and inevitable effect upon 
 the salesman who is too much influenced by 
 prices his competitors make is gradually to 
 reduce the level of his selling prices, and to im- 
 bue him with the feeling that his prices are not 
 right in those lines which he does not sell readily. 
 One of the hardest tests a salesman has to 
 face is that of an order offered him at a certain 
 price, which he must accept if he is to receive the 
 order. In other words, he can take it or leave it. 
 Few .arguments are more potent in securing 
 low prices than an actual order which speaks 
 for itself in a most persuasive manner. It takes 
 both courage and resolution in a salesman to 
 refuse an order, even though he knows it will 
 have to be taken at a loss, or that it means 
 making lower prices than he consistently should 
 and for which there is probably no real neces- 
 sity. He is also apt to delude himself by think- 
 ing that by accepting this order he opens up 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 75 
 
 the way to further business at regular prices. 
 There are times when this is so, and when it 
 pays to start in thus with some concern to which 
 he has never sold at all or only in a small way. 
 But oftener it is a confession of weakness and 
 gives the buyer the impression of the salesman 
 being easy, so that he will endeavor to repeat 
 the same experiment at the first subsequent 
 opportunity. It is often merely a trap laid for 
 the salesman and which should be spread in 
 his sight in vain. 
 
 Against these and innumerable other tempta- 
 tions to scale down his prices the salesman must 
 oppose not only resolution but intelligent meth- 
 ods. He must refuse orders constantly for goods 
 which are clearly unprofitable and the taking 
 of which does not help him in any other way. 
 He should in general expect to be right in his 
 prices that is, be in position to meet legiti- 
 mate competition on staple items, but his 
 constant purpose must be to maintain a satis- 
 factory profit on his sales on the whole, or else 
 some day he will find himself in dire distress. 
 
 There are many ways of achieving his pur- 
 pose. One is to always bear in mind the curi- 
 ous fact that often the easiest goods to sell are 
 those on which he has fixed prices and conse- 
 quently no leeway. On such goods the buyers 
 
76 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 soon find that arguments are of no avail in ob- 
 taining lower figures and so accept the situa- 
 tion. This is especially true of patented and 
 trade-marked articles and of special brand goods. 
 One obvious reason for the easy sale of such 
 goods is the confidence the salesman feels in 
 asking their prices as he knows he will get them 
 and that there is no real argument why he 
 should take less. Another notable way whereby 
 the salesman may maintain his percentage of 
 profit and still keep up his volume of sales is by 
 demonstrating to his customer that his the 
 customer's interest lies principally in buying 
 those goods which bear a good profit. This is 
 well illustrated by the experienced dry goods 
 salesman who displays his line of shirts, and, 
 with rare good judgment and tact, instead of 
 first showing the cheaper and more staple num- 
 bers, which the customer would probably buy 
 in any case, proceeds to call attention to the 
 higher priced and higher grade numbers, dilating 
 upon the material of which they are made, the 
 workmanship, and the style. He first shows 
 a shirt for $72.00 per dozen, speaks of the de- 
 mand there is for such an article among those 
 of good taste and wealth, calls the attention 
 of the dealer to the fact that the shirt can easily 
 be retailed for $10.00 each, thus showing a 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 77 
 
 handsome profit of $4.00 each or forty per cent 
 on the selling price. Also how much more it 
 shall profit the dealer both in the way of money 
 made and satisfaction afforded the wearer to 
 sell one shirt of such grade and quality than a 
 half-a-dozen of the cheaper grades on which the 
 profit would be only fifty cents each. He then 
 persuades the dealer to buy a small assortment 
 of each color and size of collar, say one-quarter 
 dozen each, and suggests to the dealer that he 
 put some of these shirts in his show window as 
 the best possible method of advertising them. 
 He next takes up a $60.00 per dozen shirt, and 
 so on down the line until he reaches the cheaper 
 and most staple grades which he sells at the 
 usual market price, but as few as possible. When 
 he has shown his samples and finished his sales 
 he has run the whole gamut of salesmanship. 
 He has satisfied his customer by selling him 
 the competitive grades of shirts at the regular 
 going competitive prices, and thus taken care 
 of him, as is the trade phrase. He has done 
 more, however, with benefit both to himself 
 and his customer. For he has sold the latter 
 goods of high quality and merit on which both 
 make a satisfactory profit and which are the 
 best possible advertisement with the consumer 
 who wears the shirts. The story of a sale such 
 
78 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 as this, being merely a recital of many actual 
 daily experiences, is an example of a very vital 
 way by which a salesman can help his customer 
 to prosper, and this is among his first and most 
 important duties. He can bring to the customer 
 the absolute necessity of building up his busi- 
 ness on the lines of giving satisfactory service 
 to his customers the consumers and how a 
 large part of such a service must lie in the dealer 
 himself being a salesman and selling goods in 
 the main which the consumer will always re- 
 member with pleasure and satisfaction. 
 
 Every dealer, like every salesman, must 
 carry and sell some cheap goods, and must be 
 prepared to meet current market quotations 
 without, however, being a cutter of these prices. 
 But these goods, however, are not the ones 
 upon which stress is to be laid nor any great 
 effort made to sell. As a matter of fact, they 
 usually sell themselves. The goods of higher 
 grade and higher price, bearing a better profit, 
 are the ones which the dealer will find require 
 salesmanship to sell, but which are the surest 
 foundation on which he can build his business. 
 An actual incident well illustrates this. A car- 
 penter was once buying a handsaw and was 
 persuaded by the dealer to buy a high-grade 
 saw of a well-known brand at $2.00 for the saw, 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 79 
 
 instead of a cheaper saw cheaper both in 
 quality and price which he had originally 
 intended to buy. As time went on he was so 
 well satisfied with the saw that he bought all 
 of his tools of the same dealer and of the same 
 brand as the handsaw. At the end of twenty- 
 five years the saw, though much worn, was 
 still in use, and the carpenter was a living, walk- 
 ing advertisement of the merit of that particular 
 brand of goods which the dealer carried and 
 which were by far the cheapest as well as the 
 best in the long run. 
 
 There are times, of course, when the salesman 
 will have bargains, genuine bargains, to offer. 
 His firm may have bought an extremely large 
 quantity of goods at a very low price, and on 
 that particular lot will make very low prices. 
 Or they may control a certain desirable article 
 and are thus enabled to make very low figures 
 on it. In such cases the salesman should not 
 only cooperate with his concern by selling as 
 many of the goods in question as possible but 
 should also use this as a lever and an argument 
 why his customers should also buy more largely 
 of his regular line in recognition of the value 
 of the bargain priced article he is offering. 
 
 In his effort to uphold prices against the 
 ceaseless effort of the dealer to beat them down, 
 
8o TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 the salesman, perhaps unconsciously, is giving 
 voice to a great economic axiom whose truth is 
 but dimly beginning to be perceived. 
 
 Competition is undoubtedly the life of trade 
 and the cause and inspiration of good service. 
 
 That is a lesson we have had deeply imbedded 
 in us by the war, which showed that unified 
 control, fitting and necessary in war, is entirely 
 unsuited and unfitting to peace. So it is equally 
 true that unrestricted competition, carried to 
 its logical and natural, tends to destroy those 
 who employ it. Meanwhile, we have not yet 
 evolved, nor even conceived any practicable 
 form of socialistic endeavor which is capable 
 of solving this abstruse and forbidding problem. 
 Therefore, we are beginning to understand that 
 merely low prices are not in themselves desira- 
 ble nor necessary to our social and economic 
 welfare, and that in fact the lowest prices are 
 those which are the earmarks of bitter and often 
 prolonged eras of depression. 
 
 The advanced economic thought of the day 
 leans to the concept of the general welfare of 
 the many as the surest and most enduring 
 foundation of the prosperity of any nation. 
 Such a statement carries with it a generally 
 high plane of living and consequently an en- 
 hanced cost of labor, which must affect the cost 
 
COMPETITION AND PRICES 81 
 
 of every phase of production. So long, there- 
 fore, as our present industrial system endures 
 we cannot separate the economic relation of 
 prices and of the purchasing power of the con- 
 sumer, and the most feasible solution of this 
 association seems to be in a permanent increase 
 of the latter factor. As a rule the only way 
 to stimulate production is by making it re- 
 munerative and this inevitably means at least 
 comparatively high prices. There is a point 
 beyond which these prices become profiteering 
 at the expense of the many, and just what the 
 point is and how to prevent prices going beyond 
 that point seems to be the outstanding problem 
 of our present economic life. In this, however, 
 we must not lose sight of the momentous fact 
 that increased production in many lines is 
 really the greatest need of our civilization, that 
 all may have some share of those advantages 
 and possessions now confined to the compara- 
 tive few. Thus increased production may be 
 found the solution of some of our present prob- 
 lems of the inequalities of distribution and use 
 of the material abundance of the world. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 SOME PHASES OF SELLING. SELLING NEW STOCKS 
 
 Value of new stocks to the salesman and his firm Test of 
 salesmanship Price as a factor Confidence and 
 good reputation best arguments Leads to enduring 
 relations Consistency in treatment Articles suit- 
 able for establishing agencies Difficulties and per- 
 plexities of such agreements Mutuality of obliga- 
 tions Tact and diplomacy. 
 
 Selling new stocks of merchandise to dealers 
 starting in business involves the fine arts of 
 salesmanship, since it demands all the varied 
 accomplishments and gifts of a salesman to 
 compass it successfully. 
 
 The initial importance of the sale consists in 
 establishing close relations with a new customer 
 by providing him with the necessary merchand- 
 ise in the beginning of his career. The secondary 
 and often the greater result, is the continuing 
 sale of future wants to this same dealer, pro- 
 vided the new stock be so well and tactfully 
 sold as to be profitable to the customer as well 
 as to the firm making the sale, and thus leave a 
 pleasant taste in the mouth of the buyer. This 
 
 82 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 83 
 
 is much more difficult than making a sale of 
 equal volume and value to a dealer already 
 established, because it is often the first venture 
 in business of the buyer of the new stock of 
 merchandise, and he is apt to be nervous and 
 apprehensive and not infrequently very partic- 
 ular and "fussy" about it. He often attaches 
 undue importance to the size of the bill he is 
 buying and expects unreasonable concessions 
 in the way of terms and prices. Besides there 
 are generally several firms bidding for the stock. 
 Hence, keen competition soon brings about that 
 condition often experienced in such situations 
 when the dealer obtains lower prices than he is 
 likely to get afterwards. When the buyer decides 
 to shop, going from one city to another, and 
 one firm to another, the matter soon resolves 
 itself into a mere contest of prices and the order 
 is apt to go to the lowest bidder, regardless of 
 other considerations. The only value of the 
 sale then is the possibility of business in the 
 future from the same dealer at more remun- 
 erative figures. For by tacit understanding 
 between seller and buyer prices made on new 
 stocks are not to be regarded as precedents in 
 days to come. 
 
 The highest art practiced by the salesman 
 consists of selling the stock by eliminating com- 
 
84 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 petition. It becomes then the old, old story of 
 gaining and holding the confidence of the pros- 
 pective customer so that he trusts largely to the 
 fairness and judgment of the salesman both as 
 to prices and selection of goods. It often hap- 
 pens that the intending purchaser has but scant 
 experience in the business in which he is em- 
 barking, especially if it be a complicated line 
 of much extent and variety. He consequently 
 finds it impossible to form an intelligent judg- 
 ment of the figures presented him as to whether 
 they are really cheap, and is often very much 
 at sea as to the quantity of goods to be bought 
 and the assortment to be selected. He realizes 
 that he may make a serious blunder by over- 
 stocking himself with unsalable goods or too 
 great quantities, so he is prone to rely upon the 
 judgment and experience of some salesman who 
 can guide him through the tangled maze. 
 
 This is the opportunity of the experienced 
 salesman. His part is to demonstrate to the 
 intending purchaser that the only wise course 
 is to put himself into hands where his interests 
 will be safeguarded. His story commences 
 with his own firm, its reliability, its standing, 
 its capacity and ability, as well as its desire to 
 take care of the dealer. There enter into his 
 argument all the details of the assortment and 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 85 
 
 nature of the goods carried by the salesman's 
 firm, of its carefulness in shipping goods com- 
 plete, in attractive containers, properly packed, 
 and of the business efficiency which insures a 
 prompt delivery of the entire order in such 
 shipshape that the customer will have but 
 little difficulty in transferring the goods to his 
 own shelves in a speedy and intelligent way. 
 
 The salesman must dwell upon this sale be- 
 ing merely the beginning of cordial and satis- 
 factory relations between his firm and the cus- 
 tomer and intimate that it is all important 
 that the dealer get started right, and thus lay 
 the foundation for future success. The sales- 
 man must impress upon the intending customer 
 the supreme importance of making connections, 
 in the beginning of his career, with a concern 
 with whom he will be content to maintain close 
 and profitable relations in the years to come. 
 Thus illustrating his principal argument which 
 is that the buying of the new stock is not so 
 important as the establishing of connections 
 in the very beginning with a firm possessing the 
 qualifications necessary to relations which will 
 be permanent and profitable to both of the 
 contracting parties. 
 
 The question of prices is one upon which the 
 dealer must be satisfied without the necessity 
 
86 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 of those unduly low figures which unrestricted 
 competition implies. The salesman should real- 
 ize that the customer must be in a position in 
 the beginning of his career to meet competition 
 from those already in the business; consequently 
 that taking advantage of the dealer, through 
 the latter's ignorance, or trust in the salesman, 
 by charging unduly high prices is sure to prove 
 a boomerang should the dealer either rightly 
 or wrongly conclude that he has been imposed 
 upon. 
 
 Selling a new stock and then failing to con- 
 tinue the connection in the way of a large con- 
 secutive business is a tacit confession of a lack 
 of foresight and energy on the part of the sales- 
 man. It is in effect a sowing without reaping, 
 and the story of a neglected opportunity be- 
 cause of bungling in the beginning, or else fail- 
 ure to follow up a favorable commencement. 
 
 Selling a new stock gives the salesman an 
 opportunity to get a larger share of the business 
 of the new concern than often is afforded him 
 in his relations with those longer-established 
 customers. It is natural and inevitable that 
 in the days to come the new concern will divide 
 its trade and at least buy to some extent of 
 others. But the observant and tactful salesman 
 will still retain a greater share than if he had 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 87 
 
 allowed some one else to sell the new stock. 
 This is particularly true where the salesman 
 was farsighted enough to induce the new cus- 
 tomer to buy largely of goods owned and con- 
 trolled by the salesman's firm. Here, however, 
 is where the salesman's judgment must clearly 
 see the wisdom of not overdoing this to the 
 extent of stocking up the new customer with 
 brands that are not both salable and profitable. 
 
 Persuading the intending customer to place 
 himself in the salesman's hands in the matter 
 of the new stock rather than letting it out to 
 the lowest bidder is a triumph of salesmanship 
 which must be an absolutely sincere procedure 
 if the salesman's relations with the new firm are 
 to be permanent. In effect, the salesman must 
 make good, not only for the time but in the 
 future, alike in his promises and performance 
 if the selling of a new stock is to carry with it 
 the full measure of benefit and profits to the 
 salesman's firm. The new customer must be 
 made to realize by deeds rather than words 
 that the connection he has made is to his last- 
 ing benefit. 
 
 Paradoxical as it may seem to those who 
 reckon price as the main factor in selling and 
 buying, probably the wisest, most farsighted, 
 and altogether profitable method, from the 
 
88 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 point of view of the customer, in purchasing a 
 new stock is to make such connection as has 
 been indicated, with a reliable and capable con- 
 cern which will give him that comprehensive 
 service which is the thing most to be desired 
 in all business connections 
 
 ESTABLISHING AGENCIES 
 
 In every branch of business there are a num- 
 ber of articles which are distinctive and pecul- 
 iar either in the way of construction, quality, 
 patent rights, trade-marks, or extensive adver- 
 tising. There may be, and usually are, other 
 articles which serve the same purpose equally 
 well but which are not so widely or favorably 
 known. It is, therefore, the natural desire and 
 purpose of the distributer, whether wholesaler 
 or retailer, to monopolize such well-known 
 articles and to have the sale exclusively for his 
 own trade territory. By so doing he is sure of 
 obtaining favor in the eyes of his customers by 
 being the sole source of supply of a favorably 
 known and popular article. He thus acquires a 
 certain prestige for his enterprise and initiative. 
 He is likewise enabled to take advantage of the 
 established reputation of the articles in question 
 by selling in a market already created for him 
 and thus reap where others have sown. 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 89 
 
 If it is to his advantage to obtain the ex- 
 clusive sale of these articles for his territory, 
 it is often equally to the advantage of the owner 
 or seller of them to give such exclusive sale or 
 agency, as it is usually termed, to some enter- 
 prising dealer who will thus have an incentive 
 to push the sale of the goods and increase their 
 output. 
 
 Take the concrete case of a well-advertised, 
 hence well-known, efficient and registered trade- 
 mark line of heating stoves handled by some 
 jobber who has secured the exclusive agency 
 of them from the manufacturers for a certain 
 territory, say the states of Missouri, Illinois, 
 Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. The manufac- 
 turer agrees not to sell the stoves in these states 
 to any one other than the jobber in question. 
 
 In return for this concession the jobber binds 
 himself to push the sale of these stoves in the 
 territory named and to use his utmost endeavor 
 to sell as many as possible. Not having any 
 competition on them in the restricted territory 
 agreed upon, the jobber has no difficulty in 
 always obtaining a satisfactory price for the 
 stoves from his trade. This price, of course, 
 must not be so high as to restrict or hamper in 
 any way the sale of the goods, and is usually 
 proportionate to that prevailing in neighboring 
 
90 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 states, and is often set by the manufacturer 
 himself. For while the retailers in these states 
 cannot buy from the manufacturer nor from 
 any jobber in the said states, other than the 
 one having the agency, there is usually nothing 
 to prevent them buying from some other jobber 
 handling these same stoves in some other 
 states, as they will be likely to do if the jobber 
 having the agency charges more for the stoves 
 than they can be bought in some neighboring 
 state. 
 
 The part the salesman plays in establishing 
 these agencies is a very diplomatic one when 
 the salesman travels for a wholesale distributing 
 house. In certain lines of goods, establishing 
 agencies is often the only feasible and practicable 
 method of creating a large business for the goods. 
 For almost every retail dealer in such lines has 
 the agency for some one brand and centers his 
 attention on making sales of this particular 
 brand. He finds this concentration gets better 
 results than spreading his energy thinly over 
 two or three brands of practically the same 
 article. There is naturally the exception that 
 in the line there must be brands of different 
 quality and prices, but these, of course, do not 
 conflict. Moreover, the owners or sellers of the 
 lines of goods usually sold on the agency plan 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 91 
 
 are not content to give the agency of their brand 
 to any dealer who will not devote his attention 
 to their sale exclusively. 
 
 The problem, therefore, of the salesman for 
 a jobbing house which wishes to establish agen- 
 cies for articles of a certain brand is to select in 
 each town he "makes" (visits) the dealer best 
 fitted to obtain results in the shape of large 
 sales of the article under consideration. This 
 selection is sometimes made by the salesman, 
 sometimes by his firm, and oftener by mutual 
 cooperation between the two. 
 
 The first consideration for the dealer or jobber 
 is mutuality of obligation, since always there 
 are some dealers who either through indiffer- 
 ence or neglect fail to perceive that their own 
 interests, as well as those of the jobber, are 
 bound up in a heavy output of the article under 
 the agency plan. For obviously the jobber has 
 no other means of distribution of the agency 
 article save the retailer in question. So if the 
 retailer fails to make adequate sales the jobber 
 either must suffer the loss of business which 
 might be his, or else withdraw his agency from 
 the retailer, which may cause a breach between 
 the two and consequent breaking off of business 
 relations. This latter is sometimes a question- 
 able procedure, especially when the other busi- 
 
92 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 ness of the retailer may be of greater value than 
 that of the agency article. Hence, the part of 
 the salesman either in selecting or in advising 
 the choice of the dealer who shall have the 
 agency is a matter of good judgment and dis- 
 cretion. He must know his men and their pos- 
 sibilities, so that his choice will finally rest upon 
 that one who is the most dependable in the 
 long run to realize his share in the agency. 
 
 Most dealers are ready enough to accept an 
 agency, when they are not already committed 
 to something similar, but not all are so ready to 
 fulfill their implied obligations. It is not alone 
 a matter of conscientiousness but also of in- 
 itiative, energy, and industry. So in establish- 
 ing the agency the salesman is banking not only 
 on the dealer continuing in business long enough 
 to make the agency worth while, but likewise on 
 his business ability, his character, and his tem- 
 perament. Besides, the salesman may offend 
 some other good customer in the town, who 
 also wants the agency. A matter of this nature 
 is not easy to arrange without trouble and pos- 
 sibly some loss of trade. 
 
 Complications of this nature test not only 
 the tact and diplomacy but also the firmness 
 and strength of character of the salesman who 
 may have to be very frank, though friendly, 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 93 
 
 in announcing why the choice was made of one 
 customer rather than another. 
 
 A most effective plan of preventing com- 
 plications is to offer to the other customer some 
 article which the salesman's firm may carry as 
 suitable for an agency arrangement. 
 
 The choice once made, it becomes the sales- 
 man's further duty to follow up the matter by 
 watchfully seeing that the customer carries 
 out his share of the bargain by sufficient sales 
 of the agency article to make the continuation 
 of the arrangement worth while. He can also 
 materially aid to this end by suggestions and 
 by assistance to the customer in advertising the 
 agency article. 
 
 There are apt to arise complications which 
 the salesman can often straighten out, since his 
 firm is some distance away and he is on the spot. 
 For instance, two dealers in towns several miles 
 apart both have agencies of the same articles 
 for their towns. A customer in one town, for 
 some cause does not trade with the dealer in 
 his town who has an agency article which he 
 wishes, so he buys it from the other town. Or, 
 one of the dealers sells the articles to the farmer 
 lying between the towns at a less price than 
 asked by the dealer in the other town. What 
 usually happens is best expressed by the homely 
 
94 1RAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 phrase that the fat is in the fire. For the ag- 
 grieved dealer, he who lost the sale, is pretty 
 sure to demand that the firm or the salesman 
 discipline the other dealer, sometimes threaten- 
 ing to abandon the agency unless the offender 
 makes reparation or else ceases his practices. 
 
 The renewal of peaceful relations between 
 these two competitors is not always an easy 
 matter, since the average dealer is rather in- 
 dependent when he feels that his rights have 
 been assailed. Sometimes persuasion prevails, 
 sometimes the common sense appeal of the 
 salesman to the better judgment of the two 
 dealers. It is in such cases that the personality 
 and standing with the trade of the salesman are 
 most effective in settling the difficulty, especially 
 when the salesman is courageous as well as 
 tactful in carrying out the policies of his firm. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SOME PHASES OF SELLING CONTINUED; SELLING 
 TO ALL THE DEALERS IN A TOWN 
 
 Selling all dealers Its great difficulties Complications 
 arising from human nature Methods of handling 
 them Maintaining the salesman's independence 
 Results of a divided territory The reason for quan- 
 tity prices Their advantages Complications Not 
 an important factor. 
 
 The opposite problem of establishing agencies 
 is, as far as possible, selling to all the dealers in 
 a town. On the face of the proposition it is 
 obviously the best and most profitable policy 
 and yet it is the rare salesman who carries it 
 out to anything like its full possibilities. It is 
 fraught with all manner of difficulties, chief 
 among them being those set up by human nature 
 itself. 
 
 There is a curious instinct in the buyer, which 
 often finds expression in a desire to have the 
 salesman with whom he does business, confine 
 his visits to his town to the buyer's firm alone. 
 It is not often put as baldly as that but the 
 desire itself is not uncommon. Akin to this is 
 
 95 
 
96 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 the wish that any special concessions or prices 
 given by the salesman be confined to the buyer 
 alone; for the latter realizes that such conces- 
 sions or prices are no longer special when en- 
 joyed by more than one purchaser, for the 
 chances then are that they will serve merely 
 to reduce the general price to the consumer. 
 Then again there may be a strong rivalry be- 
 tween two or more dealers and they may not 
 all like to buy from the same salesman. Be- 
 sides the salesman cannot always be sure of 
 gaining the good will and confidence of every 
 dealer, despite the utmost tactful efforts on 
 his part. Under such conditions, and they are 
 constantly encountered in more or less modified 
 phases, the average salesman is apt to choose the 
 line of least resistance and to sell to those to 
 whom he can with the smallest effort and even 
 to become that sad figure the "one man in a 
 town salesman," often justifying his course by 
 the amount of business that he receives from 
 his lone customer. 
 
 The disadvantages of such a method are 
 obvious, and usually result from causes, or 
 rather weaknesses, which the salesman rarely 
 admits, even to himself. Usually they are the 
 lack of energy and industry on the salesman's 
 part, sometimes born of a desire to cover his 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 97 
 
 territory too quickly, and at the sacrifice of 
 his own independence and courage, because he 
 is not willing to take the chance of offending a 
 good customer by soliciting the trade of this 
 customer's competitors. 
 
 There is always the serious possibility and 
 likelihood of this one customer dying, or going 
 out of business, or failing, or having some falling 
 out with the salesman or the salesman's firm. 
 Then indeed the salesman is strictly "up against 
 it," stranded high and dry. For under such a 
 contingency it is certain that the other dealers 
 in the town will not buy, if they can possibly 
 avoid it, of one who so completely turned them 
 down in the past. 
 
 One successful method for the salesman to 
 maintain his independence and his trade at the 
 same time is an effort to call the customer's 
 bluff. The argument is something like this: 
 "All right, if I agree to what you request and 
 confine my sales to you and do not call upon 
 any other dealer in town, will you on your part 
 agree not to buy any goods in my line from any 
 one but me? There are always, you know, 
 two sides to an understanding and, of course, 
 you will not ask me to do anything that you in 
 turn are not willing to do yourself." This ar- 
 gument usually shows up the pretense and 
 
9 8 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 selfishness of the dealer's proposition since he 
 is apt to refuse to make any such initial agree- 
 ment as the salesman suggests. So that the 
 latter is left with a good and valid case, which 
 the dealer has not been able to overthrow. Nor 
 is he able to offer any real business reason why 
 the salesman should assume all the obligations 
 in a one-sided bargain. 
 
 Of course, these considerations apply more 
 particularly to the general salesman with a 
 large and varied line of goods; for it is another 
 story with the salesman of a line of specialties 
 only, or of some patented or trade-marked 
 article, or a manufacturer's salesman with a 
 limited line and assortment, for often in such 
 cases the situation is much akin to that of es- 
 tablishing agencies, and consequently selling 
 to one dealer in a town is the best and most 
 productive method. 
 
 Selling to as many dealers as possible in a 
 town means in the beginning that the salesman 
 must travel more slowly and must comb his 
 route most carefully. There will be occasions 
 when he will lose more time than will be com- 
 pensated for by the small orders received. He 
 will also have to make his choice between cover- 
 ing a large territory with longer intervals be- 
 tween visits to each customer and taking a 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 99 
 
 smaller territory and working it more thor- 
 oughly. 
 
 How frequently the average salesman fails 
 to realize and reap the possibilities of his terri- 
 tory is shown by a familiar example. For vari- 
 ous reasons the firm concludes to divide the 
 territory of a salesman, usually against his 
 strong protest that he cannot possibly get 
 enough business out of his moiety to make it 
 pay. What frequently or rather commonly 
 happens is that each salesman sells as many 
 goods in each of the divisions as the original 
 salesman sold in the former whole. It's all in 
 the man, rather than in the territory. The 
 reason of this is obvious. In the first instance, 
 that of the large territory, the salesman mani- 
 festly neglected a lot of trade, and because of 
 this lack of attention it went to other salesmen 
 and other firms. In the second instance, that 
 of the divided territory, both under the spur of 
 necessity and pride the salesman let nothing 
 escape him and his reward was a larger business 
 in the secondary half than the primal whole. 
 Instances such as this illustrate the vital neces- 
 sity of the salesman's working his territory care- 
 fully and thoroughly. 
 
 In selling to as many dealers as possible in a 
 town there is involved a frank and courageous 
 
ioo TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 stand by the traveling salesman that he is simply 
 following the dictates of duty and carrying out 
 his obligations to his firm. Some dealers may 
 bring pressure to bear on him not to sell to cer- 
 tain of their competitors. He must make plain, 
 however, that his endeavoring to get all the 
 business he can in the town does not mean that 
 he will fail in his full duty to each individual 
 customer, recognizing and meeting their separate 
 claims to his consideration according to their 
 business merits. 
 
 There are occasionally some dealers in a 
 town whose businesses, or character and reputa- 
 tion are such that it is most unwise for a sales- 
 man to call upon them. 
 
 Otherwise the most successful salesman is 
 apt to make a practice, with the exception* of 
 such cases, of selling to as many dealers as good 
 judgment dictates. It is an interesting fact of 
 experience that the salesmen who consistently 
 follow this practice are usually the most popular 
 and esteemed men in their calling. For neces- 
 sarily they must combine tact and diplomacy 
 with courage and independence but do not 
 find it necessary or wise to display these latter 
 traits in a flamboyant fashion. Beyond this 
 is the fact that the average retailer in any rep- 
 resentative line of business is constantly up 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 101 
 
 against the hard facts of life, and is usually 
 endowed with that common sense and fairness 
 which are the saving graces of the nation. More- 
 over, he is a seller as well as a buyer and in- 
 stinctively recognizes the arguments of the seller 
 and their compelling force as to the necessity 
 of the traveling salesman selling to whomsoever 
 he can within reason. Experience also teaches 
 that the dealer loses nothing by this plan that 
 is not the result of his own lack of initiative 
 and energy. Furthermore, it is evident that a 
 larger market for a line of goods is created by 
 greater competition. 
 
 In the distinction in prices that the salesman 
 may find it wise and necessary to make to differ- 
 ent customers there cannot here be even an 
 approach to the statement of a general policy. 
 Just how the salesman shall differentiate in 
 prices in respect to his different customers de- 
 pends upon the line of goods he is selling, the 
 policy and instructions of his firm, the condi- 
 tions of business in general and those surround- 
 ing each line that he handles, and the nature 
 of the competition he encounters, and the 
 volume and nature of each customer's business. 
 
 All these things are matters of experience 
 and not of formulas. In some branches of busi- 
 ness, for instance, it is a well-recognized custom 
 
102 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 to give certain special prices or discounts for 
 larger quantities than usual, or what are called 
 quantity prices. If, for instance, there is one 
 price for a certain article bought in one or two 
 dozen lots, and a somewhat lower price for full 
 case lots, containing five dozen in a case to be 
 taken at one time, such distinctions as these 
 are based upon what experience seems to in- 
 dicate as sound business policy; the argument 
 being that the cost of selling five dozen of an 
 article at one time is necessarily less than selling 
 one-half dozen of that article ten times in order 
 to reach the same volume. For as far as the 
 salesman's time is concerned, as well as the 
 time of the workers in the firm filling the order, 
 it costs as much to write out the half dozen on 
 the order, to get out the goods in the house, to 
 pack and ship them, and to make out a bill for 
 them as it costs to put an order for five dozen 
 through all these operations and yet the amount 
 of the sale of a half dozen is only one-tenth as 
 much as the sale of five dozen. And in the 
 final analysis the costs and profits of a firm are 
 figured on the dollars and cents amount of the 
 business done rather than on the tonnage and 
 the unit of quantity. 
 
 In making quantity prices the salesman has 
 to be most cautious never to quote them to a 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 103 
 
 customer who cannot take advantage of them, 
 that is, to one whose purchases are not suffi- 
 ciently large to enable him to buy the necessary 
 quantity in one shipment. For the human na- 
 ture of the buyer is such in every station of 
 life, that knowing of the quantity price, he feels 
 that he should get it, even though the volume 
 of his purchases does not fulfill the conditions 
 upon which the quantity price is contingent. 
 So he makes such pleas as being entitled to it 
 when his purchases in time reach the total 
 volume required, or because he is at a disad- 
 vantage with the competing dealer who gets 
 the quantity prices unless he likewise gets the 
 same concession. In homely phrase what " sticks 
 in his craw" is the uncompromising and un- 
 comfortable fact that a competitor is buying 
 goods at a less price than he is. 
 
 Of course the only logical reason for the 
 quantity price is for the entire quantity to be 
 handled at one time as a matter of economy 
 to the seller and the only basis upon which he 
 can afford to make the concession. Incidentally 
 it is a constant reminder to the salesman of the 
 correlated economy in his selling as far as pos- 
 sible all goods in original packages, that is, the 
 small packages whose volume makes up the 
 full case lots. For instance, an article may be 
 
io 4 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 packed one-half dozen in a box, and six dozen, 
 or ten boxes, in a case. In such instances the 
 salesman should always endeavor to persuade 
 the customer to buy at least a half dozen of 
 these and thus save the salesman's firm the 
 often useless expense of breaking the original 
 package, and thus having to wrap up the smaller 
 quantity bought, say a quarter dozen, leaving 
 the remainder in the box to become all the more 
 easily shopworn and unsightly. 
 
 As a matter of fact, in actual experience quan- 
 tity prices play but a small part in the business 
 of most concerns. The comparatively few ar- 
 ticles to which this method can be applied, 
 the few customers who can really take advantage 
 of such prices without seriously overstocking 
 themselves, and the constant complications 
 which ensue, usually do not make the game 
 worth the candle. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 SOME PHASES OF SELLING CONTINUED; CHANGING 
 CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION 
 
 Changing channels of distributions Legitimate business 
 Department stores and retail stores disregard tradi- 
 tion Fundamental necessity of selling profitable 
 goods Keeping track of sales Selling futures 
 Advantage to customers and dealers. 
 
 Closely allied to the policy of selling to as many 
 dealers as possible in a town, is that of detect- 
 ing and taking advantage of the constantly 
 changing channels of distribution. These altera- 
 tions in the currents of distribution usually come 
 so slowly and so imperceptibly that often the 
 transformation has taken place before the aver- 
 age man realizes its import. It is a general trait 
 of human nature to consider the present as per- 
 manent, and most men are unable to conceive of 
 anything radically different from that now exist- 
 ing. This is why some firms persist in clinging 
 to a line of goods when the days of its usefulness 
 are nearly over; this, too, in spite of warnings 
 and manifestations that are plain to all save 
 those, who having eyes, see not. 
 
 105 
 
io6 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 It was the business creed of the past that 
 certain lines of trade must confine themselves to 
 what was called legitimate business, and that 
 handling any articles outside of those particular 
 lines was contrary to good business principles 
 and consequently was tabooed. Grocery stores 
 were not supposed to sell hardware, nor must 
 dry goods stores sell groceries, nor must hardware 
 stores sell any of the foregoing lines. At best 
 there was never any consistency in the practice 
 of the various branches of business, since each 
 division of trade was apt to trench upon the 
 prerogatives of other divisions by handling such 
 items outside of its supposedly legitimate sphere, 
 as could be sold to advantage. 
 
 These forays into each other's territory were 
 not presumed to take place and such infractions 
 were tacitly overlooked unless they assumed un- 
 due proportions. The modern department store 
 set the fashion of handling everything under one 
 roof, and other retail stores followed suit to the 
 extent of handling such outside lines as attracted 
 trade or added appreciably to their volume and 
 profits of business. 
 
 In the main the distinctive character of each 
 branch of business remains unaltered, clustering 
 around a central core of a characteristic line of 
 trade, yet upon the fringes are many new addi- 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 107 
 
 tions, many of them seemingly irrelevant and 
 not germane to the great body and character 
 of the business, though in fact they are in gen- 
 eral the effect of a definite demand. 
 
 The limitations as to the nature and assort- 
 ment of the stock of merchandise of any dis- 
 tributing commercial organization are largely 
 those set by the matter of the possible sale and 
 profit of any new line and also by human con- 
 ventions. A most compelling reason among 
 wholesale distributers is the nature of the goods 
 handled by their retail customers. A dry goods 
 jobber, for instance, finds that retail dry goods 
 dealers have taken to handling trunks, valises, 
 and jewelry. So he immediately adds these 
 goods to his assortment since it is both easy and 
 economical for him to sell these articles along 
 with his regular lines of dry goods. Consumers 
 follow the inherited habit of going to certain 
 kinds of shops for certain kinds of goods, and, 
 save in department stores, are not easily at- 
 tracted to stores for articles which they do not 
 naturally associate with the character of mer- 
 chandise most carried by such concerns. 
 
 One rather notable economic revolution, on a 
 small scale, in opposition to this practice has re- 
 cently upset many of these conventions as to 
 where goods are to be bought. The inherent 
 
io8 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 problem of drug stores has been of late, how to 
 obtain a sufficient volume of business to over- 
 come their expense account. The reasons for 
 this are numerous and are principally the small 
 purchases of drugs in dollars and cents made 
 by each customer. The problem was compli- 
 cated by the obvious fact that the desired volume 
 could not readily be found in an increase in sales 
 of drugs and kindred articles. An apparently 
 little thing, the soda water fountain, furnished 
 the solution, by first attracting to itself cus- 
 tomers who afterwards became purchasers of out- 
 side lines and articles which the intelligent and 
 enterprising druggists added to their assortments, 
 such as stationery, magazines and periodicals, 
 candy, some articles of outdoor sports such as base 
 ball and tennis goods, fishing tackle, some readily 
 selling lines of cutlery, shaving appliances playing 
 cards, and a number of other items all taken from 
 other lines of business and apparently without 
 necessary connection with the drug trade. 
 
 So the retail grocer added wooden ware, house- 
 hold utensils, wash boards, step ladders, and the 
 like. 
 
 Then the retail hardware dealer added auto- 
 mobile sundries, bicycles, paint, and sometimes 
 window glass, crockery, and a line of silver 
 plated ware. 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 109 
 
 So now it is hard to make any distinction as 
 to what is legitimate to a distributing business 
 and what is not. 
 
 The natural effect upon the jobber was not 
 only to cause him to add to his line everything 
 that the retail trade in his branch of business 
 carried in stock, but to seek to sell what he car- 
 ried to those outside retailers who handled 
 similar articles. 
 
 The problem still remains for the salesman 
 whom he shall regard as "legitimate," and to 
 whom he shall sell without offending and pos- 
 sibly estranging some of his regular trade. He 
 may find that the druggist sells more of some 
 of the new lines he has recently added than the 
 retailer who has always handled them. Yet, 
 this regular dealer with difficulty brings himself 
 to regard the druggist as a legitimate competitor. 
 
 The salesman's province is to watch and judge 
 whither the channel of distribution is drifting, 
 for that in the main must be his trend. If he 
 fails to sell to the dealer in new goods, it is cer- 
 tain that some one else will do so. Yet, in some 
 instances he may display poor judgment if he 
 risk the large trade of his regular customer for 
 that of comparatively unimportant items bought 
 by the outside dealers. It is here that judgment 
 and diplomacy are needed largely in the begin- 
 
no TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 ning, for later the matter usually takes care of 
 itself. After the initial readjustment the con- 
 suming trade goes to those who most deserve it, 
 and the good sense of those in the regular trade 
 who at first may have felt aggrieved accepts the 
 situation and it often stimulates them to re- 
 newed efforts to recover the trade they seem in 
 danger of losing. 
 
 So the salesman who consistently, yet tact- 
 fully, follows the policy of selling to as many 
 dealers in a town as possible and as far as good 
 judgment permits, finds himself still in the chan- 
 nels of distribution, so long as he ceaselessly ob- 
 serves their trend and tendency. Moreover, the 
 channels are not always entirely changed but 
 are often rather subdivisions shared between the 
 regular and the new trades. There are changes, 
 however, which are permanent, such as the ab- 
 sorption of the saddlery "and harness shop and 
 likewise the tinshop by the retail hardware deal- 
 ers, and here the salesman must have prescience 
 to see the inevitable before it happens, and not 
 afterwards, and adjust his course accordingly. 
 
 SELLING PROFITABLE GOODS 
 
 The aim and purpose of selling is to make a 
 profit as well as to attain volume. The best way 
 to accomplish this is by selling as many profit- 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING in 
 
 able goods as possible. There is often a wide 
 difference in the margin of profit between lines 
 of goods and this difference is caused by condi- 
 tions beyond the control of the salesman. Cer- 
 tain lines in each branch of business bear a small 
 and often insufficient margin of profit, and the 
 salesman has to accept this condition. 
 
 There is, however, a compensation for this, 
 and it lies entirely with the salesman, for it is a 
 matter of experience that the salesman can de- 
 termine to an appreciable degree the nature of 
 the goods he sells. In this lies the distinction, 
 as deep as a well and as wide as a church door, 
 between a real salesman and one who merely 
 takes such orders as his customers give him. A 
 salesman for a grocery jobber often finds himself 
 forced by competition to sell sugar on a very 
 small margin. Under such conditions it is a test 
 of his salesmanship to "sweeten up" the order 
 through persuasion with the customer by also 
 working in a line of fancy groceries, high-grade 
 food products, and similar profitable items. 
 
 It is one of the interesting facts of business 
 history that a salesman usually sells what he 
 likes to sell, and this generally consists of goods 
 that he knows and fancies. The most success- 
 ful salesmen are those who sell the most goods 
 and make the best profits and in so doing sell a 
 
ii2 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 great variety of goods in order to make a good 
 general average of profit. 
 
 Most firms have some kind of an arrangement 
 with their salesmen whereby the latter share to 
 an extent in the profits which they make, so that 
 the salesman has constantly before him the in- 
 centive of enlightened self-interest. He must 
 also remember that it is most desirable to sell 
 as many as possible of the goods which his house 
 controls. There is no competition on them, for 
 they can be had only from his firm. So on such 
 lines the salesman is assured of a continuing 
 business. 
 
 KEEPING TRACK OF SALES 
 
 It is well for the salesman to keep track of the 
 total volume of sales he makes each customer if 
 his firm is willing to furnish him this informa- 
 tion from its books. He can thus know all the 
 time whether he is gaining or losing ground, and 
 seek the cause and apply the remedy in the 
 latter case. By the same token the salesman 
 on the occasion of his visit to each customer finds 
 it of great advantage to refer to his order book 
 and see what he sold the customer in question 
 on his former trip. It gives him an immediate 
 start, especially in the line of seasonable goods. 
 If, for instance, he has sold a line of winter dress 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 113 
 
 goods the previous season to a certain customer, 
 when the time comes around, he can, by refer- 
 ring to his order book, refresh his memory on 
 the former transaction as to goods, quantities, 
 and prices. He is then primed for the sale and, 
 moreover, can make quite an impression upon 
 the customer by calling attention in detail to the 
 former sale of a year ago, showing entire famil- 
 iarity with it, and suggesting certain changes 
 for the coming season. The customer is very 
 apt to feel flattered at the interest and knowl- 
 edge of the transaction displayed by the sales- 
 man as it indicates an interest in the affairs of 
 the customer. 
 
 SELLING FUTURES 
 
 One of the most important phases of salesman- 
 ship is what is known as futures and consists 
 principally in selling seasonable goods for future 
 delivery. Seasonable goods are those which sell 
 largely at certain seasons of the year, because of 
 the weather conditions prevailing at such periods. 
 For instance, ice-cream freezers are seasonable 
 in warm weather and sell in the Summer, while 
 heating stoves are seasonable in cold weather 
 and sell in Winter. 
 
 Every branch of business has a large propor- 
 tion of seasonable goods in its assortment, such 
 
n 4 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 as winter and summer clothing in the dry goods 
 trade, agricultural tools and machinery in the 
 implement trade, and the like. Articles used in 
 outdoor sports are naturally seasonable, such 
 as skates in Winter and baseball and tennis 
 goods in Spring and Summer, and guns and 
 ammunition for hunting wild game in Fall and 
 Winter. 
 
 Consequently all these goods are sold as fu- 
 tures. They must be made up by the manufac- 
 turer some time in advance of the actual use 
 by the consumer that they may be ready for the 
 user when the season opens. They are first 
 bought by the .jobber, then distributed to the 
 retailer who has them ready for the final sale 
 when the season opens. Thus seasonable goods 
 used by the consumer from May to July are pre- 
 pared for by the manufacturer the previous 
 August, who then purchases the necessary ma- 
 terial to go into these goods and makes his con- 
 tracts with the wholesale distributer for ship- 
 ments at a future date, say from November to 
 January, according to latitude, hence the name 
 futures. The wholesaler in turn sells to retailers 
 for shipments from February to May. Spring 
 and Summer seasonable goods are naturally 
 bought earlier in the season in Southern latitudes 
 than in Northern latitudes, while naturally Fall 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 115 
 
 and Winter seasonable goods are purchased ear- 
 lier in Northern latitudes. 
 
 As the goods are bought both by jobber and 
 retailer some time in advance of their actual use 
 the matter is equalized by a well-understood 
 system of terms and datings from manufacturer 
 to jobber, and from jobber to retailer. Certain 
 seasonable goods bought by the jobber in De- 
 cember and January will be made payable April 
 or May, less the usual cash discount, and the 
 wholesaler will extend the same general terms to 
 the retail dealer. 
 
 The argument of the salesman to the retail 
 dealer to induce him to place his order for stoves 
 in January and to have them shipped in July is 
 based upon the necessity of the retailer thus 
 anticipating his wants if he is to be sure to get 
 the goods when he needs them. Should the re- 
 tailer delay in so doing he runs the risk of finding 
 that other more forehanded dealers must be 
 served first, and that consequently he may not 
 get the goods, say stoves, until it is very late in 
 the season and thus may miss many sales. For 
 in the height of the season, say in November and 
 December, when the demand is for stoves for 
 immediate use by the consumers, the factories 
 are so crowded with "rush orders" or "fill in" 
 orders that they usually have more business 
 
ii6 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 than they can handle promptly. If all the job- 
 bers and retailers refused to buy stoves until 
 they actually needed them in cold weather, it 
 would be impossible to get them. 
 
 One system of selling futures is what is known 
 as collective car lots. A jobber, for instance, in 
 the Central West has a salesman traveling in 
 the Southwest who sells futures in the shape of 
 agricultural hand tools and implements in the 
 way of collective car lots. As the salesman 
 travels from town to town he makes up this 
 collective car by taking enough orders from his 
 customers to fill the car in question. The goods 
 are then assembled in one car, "a collective 
 car," shipped from his firm to a central point in 
 his territory, where bulk can be broken and the 
 various lots quickly reshipped to the town of 
 each respective customer. The advantages of 
 this method are that the full car takes less time 
 in transit than the same shipment in less than 
 car lots and the goods are apt to go through in 
 better condition because as there are fewer ship- 
 ments they are not handled so often. The goods 
 are to be used by the farmers in the Spring but 
 are shipped by the wholesale distributer along 
 in January or February, so that the dealer has 
 them on hand when the demand comes in the 
 Spring. 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 117 
 
 The system of future orders offers many op- 
 portunities to the resourceful and observant 
 salesman to get business which he otherwise 
 could not obtain. He assures his customers by 
 this method that they will have seasonable goods 
 when they need them if they will give him the 
 orders in advance. The real merchandising 
 value of seasonable goods consists in having 
 them in stock when the demand for them comes, 
 because their season is short compared with 
 regular goods, and lost opportunities in the way 
 of being out of the goods in their season cannot 
 be repaired. Besides the retailer acquires great 
 prestige by having the goods on hand for his 
 customers, who usually wait until the last mo- 
 ment before purchasing, and then are much dis- 
 gruntled if the dealer cannot supply their wants. 
 The salesman also finds that the plan of future 
 orders, especially in collective cars, is of great 
 advantage in his competition with the nearby 
 jobbers, whose leading argument for getting 
 business, and the one he finds hardest to answer, 
 is their ability to make prompt deliveries to the 
 trade in their territory because of their being so 
 close at hand. This does not apply to such an 
 extent on future orders where time is given and 
 the necessity for haste is not immediate. The 
 salesman always finds that future orders, prop- 
 
ii8 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 erly handled by him and his firm, are a source of 
 strength to him with his trade and assist him 
 greatly in getting "fill in" orders later in the 
 season for the same goods that are wanted for 
 immediate needs. 
 
 Contrariwise, futures badly handled, not 
 shipped promptly nor complete, are handicaps 
 which his trade remembers and which excuses 
 and explanations fail to remove. 
 
 Nothing is of more importance in selling fu- 
 tures than that the salesman have his customer 
 realize how necessary it is that the customer get 
 the goods in early and thus have them when 
 needed. That is the matter of prime importance 
 compared with which the price paid is a minor 
 affair. On the other hand the salesman should 
 not persuade the customer to overstock himself 
 in his purchase for this results in the cus- 
 tomer's carrying the surplus stock over into the 
 next season, some months away, and at quite 
 an expense to himself. The customer is apt to 
 get "sore" over such a happening and to cherish 
 it against the salesman, especially as he has con- 
 stantly before him, in the goods themselves, a 
 reminder of his own bad judgment. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOME PHASES OF SELLING CONCLUDED; 
 
 ADVERTISING 
 
 What advertising accomplishes The power of suggestion 
 The salesman's part in it The power of conviction 
 The contagion and power of enthusiasm Loyalty, 
 a misunderstood virtue Its obligations Advantage 
 and profits of new articles Mistake of selling un- 
 salable goods to customers Assisting customers in 
 methods of merchandising. 
 
 There is one phase of advertising which is little 
 understood by the average advertiser, and yet 
 which is vital to the success of an advertising 
 campaign by any manufacturer or wholesale 
 distributer. It is the possession of an efficient 
 selling force as a necessary adjunct to successful 
 advertising. Well done advertising does not, as 
 is commonly supposed, of itself create such a 
 demand for the article advertised that it then 
 will be generally called for by the consuming 
 public. What is really accomplished by adver- 
 tising is done through the power of suggestion 
 so that the intending purchaser of an article will 
 be favorably disposed toward it when brought 
 to his attention. 
 
 119 
 
120 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 The retailer cannot be expected voluntarily 
 to herald the merits of each advertised article 
 that he carries in stock, but must rather center 
 his attention on those which pay him the great- 
 est profit. 
 
 The part the salesman has to play is keeping 
 constantly before his customers the merits and 
 advantages of the particular advertised articles 
 which his firm handles. If these are profitable 
 to the retailer, his arguments will then be all the 
 stronger and more compelling. His ultimate 
 aim must be gradually to persuade his trade to 
 call the attention of their customers to these 
 advertised articles and thus complete the chain 
 of the effects of advertising. 
 
 While it is true that success in advertising 
 depends largely upon constant reiteration and 
 keeping everlastingly at it, yet it is equally true 
 that the salesman must beware of overdoing the 
 matter by too unceasingly dwelling upon the 
 articles advertised. There is an element in 
 human nature which grows weary of constant 
 repetition of the same story and this often with- 
 out regard to the nature of the tale. The only 
 distinction is, that matters of much merit are 
 not so soon wearied of as those of more transient 
 attractions. The Greeks got tired of hearing 
 Aristides called the Just, and so banished him 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 121 
 
 to get rid of him. It is also on record that after 
 the National Assembly of France, during the 
 Reign of Terror, had formally abolished the 
 Deity as non-existent, he was discovered in a 
 new form by Robespierre, and was so exploited 
 by the latter that Danton was driven to remark 
 that Robespierre and his "Supreme Etre" (Su- 
 preme Being) were getting to be a bore. The 
 salesman must consequently mingle considera- 
 tion and prudence with his enthusiasm in voic- 
 ing the merits of his favorite brands. 
 
 The most effective way in which the salesman 
 can further the sale of the advertised articles 
 is convincing his customers that they are all 
 they are claimed to be. Hence the dealer can 
 consistently advocate the sale of such articles 
 as will surely give satisfaction and will there- 
 fore prove to be repeaters, that is, they are goods 
 which are constantly called for, and thus in fact 
 largely sell themselves, which is the final end 
 and aim of all advertising. 
 
 Most men are responsive to the call of genuine 
 merit, and moreover take pleasure in commend- 
 ing and recommending it. Besides the salesman 
 must himself be the best advertisement of his 
 special line of goods by the sincerity of his belief 
 in them and in their merit. Indeed, this sin- 
 cerity of belief is only another phase of the en- 
 
122 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 thusiasm which is one of the most convincing 
 and most essential qualities of salesmanship. 
 Conviction, like charity, begins at home. But 
 when thoroughly domiciled it is one of the most 
 contagious of all human traits. History is full 
 of the stories of fanatics, wild-eyed philoso- 
 phers, and authors of more fantastic and impos- 
 sible theories who impressed mankind and had 
 innumerable and devoted followers because 
 they were first of all profoundly convinced of 
 the undying truth of the doctrines they preached. 
 Belief in one's self must invariably precede the 
 belief of others in you. So the enthusiasm of 
 the salesman for the articles he sells is the surest 
 way to further his cause by convincing his cus- 
 tomers of the truth of his own belief. This phase 
 of enthusiasm is not easily simulated nor does 
 the imitation pass muster for any length of time. 
 The business world in which the salesman travels 
 quickly and unerringly recognizes whether he 
 rings true or merely gives forth an uncertain 
 sound. It is true of every man that he fools 
 himself oftener than he does others. 
 
 The most convincing arguments of the sales- 
 man are the genuine enthusiasm with which he 
 presents the story of his wares as the reasons 
 why they should be bought. The manner in 
 which a dry goods salesman tells the quality, 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 123 
 
 merit, and style of the fine laces and embroideries 
 he displays may easily be a type of the persuasive 
 power of giving evidence of the faith that is in 
 him. It is the same trait and the same method 
 which makes converts of men in the serious 
 matters of life and which sustains them in time 
 of stress and trial. 
 
 Akin to this enthusiasm for his calling is the 
 loyalty the salesman must feel for his firm, when 
 such loyalty is deserved and well placed. We 
 are apt to think of loyalty as an instinctive, but 
 most praiseworthy, and undiscriminating virtue, 
 when in reality it should mark every form of em- 
 ploying and employment if the best results be- 
 tween the two are to be had. 
 
 The Stuarts, Kings of England, stand out in 
 history as types of monarchs and leaders upon 
 whom for four generations there was lavished 
 an untold wealth of misplaced and unappre- 
 ciated loyalty. Many of the best and finest 
 characters of the times gave their fortunes and 
 lives gladly in the cause of a race who furnished 
 some of the worst kings England ever knew. 
 Nowadays loyalty is more discriminating, not 
 so long lived, and more careful where it bestows 
 itself. The firm which the salesman represents 
 should first of all deserve his loyalty, knowing 
 that it is in its power to have and to hold it. 
 
I2 4 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 Equally must the salesman recognize the mu- 
 tuality of obligation by unchanging loyalty on 
 his part to the firm and its interests. He must 
 always be their representative in every sense 
 when on the road, and never speak of them 
 slightingly nor in fault-finding fashion. This 
 does not mean that he shall not be conscious of 
 such mistakes as they must inevitably make at 
 times, just as the salesman does in like manner. 
 But it is the manner in which he handles such 
 mistakes which is the real test of his loyalty. 
 On the one hand he can explain to the customer 
 how fallible even the best regulated and most 
 systematic concerns are, and at the same time 
 assure the customer that he can depend upon 
 the firm doing the right thing when the facts 
 are fairly presented to them. Or on the other 
 hand he can criticise the action of his concern 
 without offering any palliation or excuse. The 
 first method, when done reasonably and tact- 
 fully, is the surest way to gain the customer's 
 respect. The second plan is almost sure to 
 lose that respect. There is an instinctive feel- 
 ing in every man which is expressed in the 
 homely condemnation of the dog which bites 
 the hand which feeds it. If for any reason 
 the salesman cannot truly be loyal to his firm, 
 then he should find other employment, and 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 125 
 
 meanwhile refrain from any expression of his 
 real feeling. 
 
 It makes a strong impression upon customers 
 for the salesman always to have the newest and 
 latest articles in his line. Such a course estab- 
 lishes for him and his firm the reputation for 
 energy and progressiveness. It also offers the 
 customer the opportunity to constantly bring 
 new and attractive articles to the notice of his 
 own trade, and thereby gain the reputation of 
 being up to date in his stock and assortments. 
 Moreover, new articles are usually more profit- 
 able, while their novelty lasts, than those 
 familiar to the trade. Also, they are better 
 sellers, for their mere newness is one of their 
 attractions. 
 
 It is always a mistake to sell to customers goods 
 which they cannot readily dispose of. They are 
 sure ultimately to blame the salesman for having 
 taken advantage of them, and remember it 
 against him often to the extent of affecting their 
 business relations. It is one thing to sell a cus- 
 tomer close-out goods, overstocks, and job lot 
 goods at prices in accordance with their actual 
 values, and quite another thing to unload "stick- 
 ers" on him. In the former case the customer 
 buys at bargain prices and takes his chances of 
 selling the goods; in the other he forgets the 
 
126 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 price he paid and remembers only the unsalable 
 goods. 
 
 By the same token the salesman can often be 
 of great benefit by going over his customer's 
 stock of goods and suggesting where he can save 
 money by closing out certain dying articles 
 which are going out of fashion, or by reducing 
 his overstocks in certain lines, or add to the 
 attractiveness of his line by buying certain new 
 and desirable articles. Very often the dealer is 
 not a good hand at merchandising, either in the 
 turnover of his stock or in the assortment, and 
 little realizes how costly such neglect is. So the 
 salesman from his general knowledge and ex- 
 perience can often be of genuine benefit to his 
 customer. 
 
 It is even a greater mistake for the salesman 
 to "stuff orders," that is, to put in his orders 
 goods which the customer did not authorize. It 
 can lead only to one thing and that is trouble, 
 and later on the loss of the confidence of the 
 customer. 
 
 It is not infrequent for the customer to tell a 
 salesman in whom he has confidence to write 
 up an order for what the salesman thinks the 
 customer needs. It is shortsighted to abuse this 
 privilege and overstock the customer so that the 
 latter feels that his confidence has been imposed 
 
SOME PHASES OF SELLING 127 
 
 upon. Often the salesman can save time by 
 making a brief memorandum of the customer's 
 wants, and writing up the order afterwards in 
 regular fashion at the hotel. 
 
 It is a very good plan for the salesman to en- 
 deavor to persuade each customer at intervals 
 to go through his catalogue or price list with him 
 so that the customer may be thoroughly posted 
 as to the line of goods carried by the salesman's 
 firm. It usually results in the customer ordering 
 a number of new articles. It is a very difficult 
 thing to induce a customer to do this, because it 
 demands both time and patience, and the cus- 
 tomer rarely cares to expend much of either in 
 this fashion at his store during business hours. 
 Often it has to be done at the hotel at night. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CLAIMS 
 
 Expensiveness and unsatisfactoriness of claims Danger 
 of misunderstandings Salesman's part in adjust- 
 ments Credits not to be judged from superficial 
 appearances Advantage of salesman working with 
 Credit Department Relations of credit to volume 
 of business. 
 
 It has been said of claims that they are the only 
 part of business of which the greater the volume 
 and the more satisfactory the settlement to the 
 customer, the more unprofitable the result. They 
 are likewise a constant source of irritation both 
 to the firm and customers. This proceeds largely 
 from the fact that they are adjusted principally 
 by correspondence and this is the surest method 
 of prolonging misunderstandings. 
 
 The claim man, "the trouble wagon," in a 
 firm should be a composite salesman, credit man, 
 diplomat and all around "mixer." He is usually 
 none of these things, and too often inexperienced 
 in the ways of human nature and intent only in 
 getting the claim settled with as little direct 
 pecuniary loss to his concern as possible. 
 
 128 
 
CLAIMS 129 
 
 The indirect results of claims are the ones 
 most to be avoided since they are frequently 
 of the greatest consequence and cause the great- 
 est loss. It is constantly impossible to locate 
 the fault, and upon this the entire claim usually 
 hangs. A retailer reports to his jobber that 
 there was one box of soap missing in a recent 
 shipment. The jobber investigates and finds 
 that all the records indicate that the soap was 
 shipped and was packed in the case containing 
 the other goods of which the retailer acknowl- 
 edges receipt. The retailer makes another search 
 in the excelsior or hay used in packing the other 
 goods but fails to find the box and so reports. 
 "So there you are." One large well-known firm 
 had a simple and direct method of settling such 
 claims by the simple formula, "the customer is 
 always right." Such a policy is based on the 
 belief that it is cheaper in the long run to grant 
 the claim whenever there is any question of 
 doubt than to let the matter decline into a con- 
 troversy which would probably result in the loss 
 of the customer and his future trade. On the 
 other hand, the policy of the customer being al- 
 ways right is supposed to make the customer a 
 firm friend to the extent of securing his trade 
 for the future. The question as to whether such 
 gain is offset by the comparatively few who take 
 
i 3 o TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 advantage of this liberal policy to impose upon 
 the concern is obviously incapable of answer 
 since it is impossible to obtain reliable data. 
 
 The opportunities for misunderstanding and 
 disagreements on claims are numerous and al- 
 ways present. It is easy for an incautious and 
 undiplomatic claim agent to give offense to cus- 
 tomers by seeming to doubt their word, or their 
 honesty, when all he really doubts is their ac- 
 curacy and when his whole desire is merely to 
 ascertain the facts that he may make settlement 
 accordingly. 
 
 Some dealers in small towns are averse and 
 unaccustomed to long correspondence, and to 
 cross question and argue with them merely irri- 
 tates them, since they do not understand why 
 the claim is not settled without further ado, 
 when they have told the whole story as they 
 see it, and are entirely honest in their convic- 
 tions as to the justice of their position. A good 
 many valuable and desirable accounts have been 
 lost to the seller by the technical and unwise 
 manner in which claims have been handled. 
 
 It must likewise be remembered that the 
 dealer in a small town is not and cannot be 
 aware of the necessary detail which has to be 
 gone through in any large house before all the 
 facts can be gathered in relation to his claim. 
 
CLAIMS 131 
 
 Nor is he familiar with the intricate legal points 
 often involved and is apt to resent anything of 
 this nature being brought into the discussion. 
 Often all he knows is that he has a just claim, 
 from his point of view, and fails to see why it 
 should not be settled. 
 
 It is largely within the province of the sales- 
 man to prevent these misunderstandings ever 
 coming to a head by disposing of them in their 
 incipiency. In fact, it is one of the character- 
 istics of the good salesman that very few claims 
 from his territory ever reach the home claims 
 department. 
 
 In the beginning of his career the traveling 
 salesman requests his customers to hold all their 
 claims until he comes around and he will settle 
 them promptly. He is on the spot and can size up 
 the situation, and get the facts far better than can 
 be done by correspondence. He knows his cus- 
 tomers and can tell whether they are sincere or 
 are trying to "work" him, whether they are 
 careless and superficial, or careful and accurate. 
 He also can overcome that curious feeling which 
 exists in some dealers that the large concern 
 can better afford the loss than the smaller con- 
 cern and should, therefore, stand it. He makes 
 the settlement as though it were his own, and 
 brings his personal equation into the transaction 
 
132 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 as of one man to another. Such concessions as 
 he makes, in a disputed case, are usually far less 
 than are apt to be finally yielded in correspond- 
 ence, as a matter of policy, and then often with- 
 out removing the feeling created by the mis- 
 understanding. The salesman has his firm's 
 interest at heart, and because of its being a 
 personal deal between him and his customer it 
 usually ends in being satisfactory to the customer 
 and reflecting to the credit of the house. The 
 matter of the claim thus becomes merely the 
 matter of a discussion between two people who 
 know each other well, and the usual result is a 
 prompt settlement, in lieu of what might have 
 developed into a long drawn out correspondence 
 with an unsatisfactory termination. The sales- 
 man makes the settlement often more easily 
 than the claim man in the home firm, because 
 he knows the customer and his peculiarities and 
 because it is always easier to make arrangements 
 and to settle differences by personal contact 
 than by correspondence. 
 
 CREDITS 
 
 The modern methods of ascertaining the true 
 financial conditions of most business organiza- 
 tions are so complete, and on the whole so re- 
 liable that the manufacturer or wholesale jobber 
 
CLAIMS 133 
 
 who loses an undue proportion of his sales 
 through bad debts is guilty of poor judgment or 
 great negligence or both. Not so with the re- 
 tailer whose means of ascertaining the true finan- 
 cial state of his customers are very scanty, and 
 are often merely those of hearsay and common 
 report. We frequently see this illustrated in the 
 career of individuals who go through the world, 
 obtaining credit with but little difficulty and 
 making a great show of well-being until death 
 or some economic or social calamity discloses 
 the mockery of their pretensions. Added to this 
 usual inability to get accurate knowledge is the 
 fear common to many retailers of losing trade 
 by being too insistent in their collections. Es- 
 pecially is this the case in small towns where 
 dealers fear to give offense to those who stand 
 high in the community and whose influence is 
 such that it may be an expensive thing to incur 
 their ill will even though they are slow in settling 
 their accounts. 
 
 The close collector is not necessarily one who, 
 like Pharoah of old, hardens his heart, but rather 
 one who has moral courage to ask that which is 
 due him and for no other reason than it is his 
 because it is due. 
 
 The wholesaler must take these and other 
 characteristics and peculiarities of the retail 
 
134 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 dealer into consideration in extending credit, 
 and there is no one who can better assist him in 
 reaching true conclusions than his traveling 
 salesman. In such matters the salesman must 
 bear in mind that his natural tendency is to sell 
 goods and to shift the burden of collecting for 
 these goods upon the credit man. This is why 
 some firms in making credits to the salesman for 
 his profits, likewise give him demerits for the 
 bad debts he incurs for the concern. The sales- 
 man must likewise remember that, much as he 
 desires to sell goods, he is doing a very unwise 
 and calamitous thing to sell them to a new cus- 
 tomer without first investigating that custom- 
 er's financial standing. There are various ways 
 of finding this out that give the salesman a fair 
 measure of his customer's status. Is the dealer 
 prompt in collecting from his customers or does 
 he allow their accounts to run and thus fail to 
 provide himself with funds to meet his obliga- 
 tions? Is he a borrower from the banks, and if 
 so to what extent, and what does he pledge in 
 the way of collateral ? Does he carry sufficient 
 fire insurance policies on his store buildings and 
 contents, on his stocks of merchandise, and also 
 on his own home, if he has one? Has he any 
 mortgages on his store building, his stock of 
 merchandise, and his own home, and if so, to 
 
CLAIMS 135 
 
 what extent? Does he take advantage of cash 
 discounts in his purchases, and does he pay his 
 bills promptly when due? Has he insurance on 
 his own life, if so, to what extent, and does he 
 meet his premiums promptly when due? Has 
 he many overstocks, slow-moving goods, and 
 dead stocks in which he has too much capital 
 invested for the good of his business? Last 
 and most vital of all, what are the customer's 
 habits, and what is his character? For in the 
 final analysis, sales and loans are made on char- 
 acter more than on any other one factor. 
 
 The answers to these questions determine the 
 financial status of the customer and the extent 
 to which it is safe or unsafe to sell to him. They 
 are likewise the points upon which the sales- 
 man's firm most desires to be posted, and upon 
 which he can be their best means of information. 
 Nor are they so difficult to find out as might 
 seem at first blush, especially where the salesman 
 pursues his inquiries with tact and discretion. 
 In many cases the customer himself will tell the 
 whole story to a salesman in whom he has con- 
 fidence. It is often because of this confidence 
 that the salesman is able to determine at 
 times, even better than his credit department, 
 that it is both wise and profitable to carry 
 the customer over a period of distress when 
 
136 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 on the face of affairs it may not seem safe to 
 do so. 
 
 On the other hand, the well-posted salesman 
 will advise his house that it is high time to col- 
 lect from some customers, and to collect 
 promptly, sometimes through the medium of 
 the salesman, that there be no delay. It is a 
 distinguishing mark of a good salesman that 
 his house does not have many bad debts in his 
 territory, since he uses the knowledge he pos- 
 sesses of his customers' affairs to see that they 
 do not "get into him" too deeply and that he 
 sells to them from time to time only as they 
 keep paid up. 
 
 What the salesman soon realizes and perceives 
 is the vast importance of a credit policy which 
 will permit him to sell freely and thus extend 
 the volume of his sales and yet not incur undue 
 risks. He must always remember, however, to 
 keep a curb on his natural inclination, which is 
 to sell all the goods he can and let the credit de- 
 partment walk the floor about collecting the 
 bills. Knowing his people and his territory he 
 can be of great help and assistance to the credit 
 department by the information he can give it 
 as to the danger of the risks it may run, and, on 
 the other hand, the chances which it can safely 
 take with certain customers. In agricultural 
 
CLAIMS 137 
 
 sections it often pays the wholesaler to take long 
 chances with some of his customers in whom he 
 has confidence, because one or two good crop 
 years will compensate for as many bad ones, 
 and, on the whole, make the chances taken a 
 paying proposition. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE HUMAN EQUATION 
 
 Faculty of making friends Enduring nature of business 
 friendships Cultivating the good will of the clerks 
 Keeping in touch with his firm The study of the 
 average man Influence of the traveling salesman 
 His mission Insight into conditions and their trend. 
 
 When all has been said, the story of salesman- 
 ship is the tale of personality, albeit there is 
 needed much method and system and a de- 
 veloped art, much patient detail and ceaseless 
 industry, to bring the story to a successful 
 ending. 
 
 MAKING FRIENDS 
 
 One of the greatest assets in life is the faculty 
 of making friends. By this, however, is not 
 meant the smile of mere veneer, which fools no 
 one but its possessor, nor that typical hail- 
 fellow, well-met, of the politician's stripe, who 
 has guile for his compelling motive. The seeking 
 of popularity which springs from the selfish mo- 
 tive of the hope of advancement soon gets its 
 proper measure by the world in general, and 
 
 138 
 
THE HUMAN EQUATION 139 
 
 verily it has its reward. Enduring friendships 
 are founded on a deeper basis than this, and 
 so too are even those casual acquaintance- 
 ships whose cheery greetings are a large part of 
 the traveling salesman's existence. It is per- 
 fectly true that it pays to make friends of the 
 Mammon of Uprighteousness in the shape of 
 passing humanity, but it is equally true that 
 many friendships so made take on a more serious 
 phase and develop into a genuine liking. The 
 real reward of such friendships is not the ma- 
 terial advantages which so often accrue, but the 
 reactions of the salesman himself. 
 
 It is a familiar saying that happiness is found 
 only in the dictionary, yet the awakened interest 
 in others, which the exercise of friendly ways 
 and actions stirs in the man himself, insensibly 
 infuses sincerity in all the outward expressions 
 of a kindly spirit. Whatever may be the original 
 motive which inspires the traveling salesman to 
 make himself popular, the usual result is the 
 formation of many genuine friendships which 
 outlast business contact. Furthermore, there 
 are not many successful salesmen who are un- 
 popular on their routes, for being so, handicaps 
 them at every turn. The train men and hotel 
 clerks with whom the salesman is in constant 
 contact can do him good or ill turns, depending 
 
140 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 upon whether they like or dislike him. They 
 can, and do, tell him of new stocks to be sold, 
 of how to approach various customers, of the 
 movements of his competitors, of the financial 
 standing and report of certain firms, and of 
 numerous other matters of moment. They take 
 a friendly interest in him if they like him, or they 
 let him alone, save with bare civility, if they do 
 not. In their likes they sense the quality of his 
 friendliness, whether it be genuine kindliness, or 
 the mere suits and trappings of shallow pretense. 
 In his own case his sincere interest in others 
 brings the genuine reward of the discovery of 
 certain kinds of knowledge, or of interesting 
 characteristics unsuspectedly possessed by those 
 who at first seemed mere common-place clods of 
 humanity. Most important of all is the nature 
 and extent of the salesman's friendship with his 
 customers, for contrary to an impression prev- 
 alent among many, such friendships are both 
 general and enduring. It is a common saying 
 among traveling men that there is serious danger 
 of disrupting friendships begun socially by after- 
 wards entering into business relations, although 
 the most enduring friendships are those com- 
 menced as mere business acquaintances and 
 gradually ripening into mutual regard. Prob- 
 ably the reason is that such business relations 
 
THE HUMAN EQUATION 141 
 
 form a solid ground of common respect, without 
 which most friendships are frail and ephemeral 
 affairs. Such friendships are not only the surest 
 basis of continued business relations, but they 
 do much to relieve the tedium and monotony of 
 the traveling man's life. The real reasons for 
 these friendships are often not realized nor 
 analyzed by the contracting parties. 
 
 Far more than he suspects is the traveling 
 salesman interesting to the customer, because he 
 brings to him the story of other people and other 
 places. He is essentially cosmopolitan in his 
 attitude of manner and of thought, though 
 all unconsciously, because he mingles constantly 
 with all sorts and conditions of men and women. 
 Through his house he has the latest and best 
 things in his line and is in touch with modern 
 conditions and methods of business. He knows 
 how to impart this information, not didactically, 
 nor with the air of superior knowledge, but as a 
 matter of friendly interest. For there are few, 
 however apparently stolid or indifferent, who 
 do not really crave knowledge when told in terms 
 of their own living. The consequent influence 
 of the traveling men with their customers is 
 but little understood and realized. While it is 
 evasive and seemingly indefinite, it is none the 
 less real and significant, for it proceeds from the 
 
i 4 2 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 friendly clash of two minds who know and sym- 
 pathize with each other and speak in terms of 
 mutual understanding. Moreover, their inter- 
 ests are absolutely identical. 
 
 The traveling salesman cannot profit unless 
 his customers prosper, and the dealer owes much 
 of his welfare to the direct and indirect influences 
 on the salesman. The result is seen in the pres- 
 ent steady growth of both salesman and dealer 
 in correct business ways and methods, and the 
 constant widening of their mental horizons. It 
 is an axiom in business that one can often learn 
 from the practices of one's competitors. So the 
 traveling salesman carries with him from town 
 to town and from dealer to dealer the story, 
 gathered by his keen observation, of successful 
 ways and new methods. He can, therefore, from 
 practical study make constant suggestions to his 
 customers of better ways of merchandising, of 
 advertising, of selling, and of handling em- 
 ployees. In this latter respect the salesman 
 finds it both wise and profitable to be on friendly 
 terms with the clerks of the dealer. They al- 
 ways like and appreciate such attention when 
 tactfully bestowed, and repay in kind. They 
 put the salesman "wise" to bills he can sell, 
 and to goods that are needed which the "old 
 man" may have overlooked. 
 
THE HUMAN EQUATION 143 
 
 One of the most successful salesmen of many 
 traveled for a large jobbing house in the Central 
 West, over 2,500 miles from his home base, yet 
 he sold many goods and many profitable goods 
 as well. One of his best "stunts" was teaching 
 the clerks at odd moments in the stores he called 
 upon how to sell goods, and especially such 
 profitable goods as he sold the dealers. He made 
 it evident that thereby they found favor in the 
 eyes of their employers, because they added to 
 their employers' profits, and at the same time 
 increased their own chances of advancement. It 
 is needless to say that the results cemented the 
 liking of both employers and clerks for this 
 salesman. 
 
 In the freemasonry which prevails among the 
 tribe of traveling men there is constant knowl- 
 edge and experience to be acquired from the 
 salesmen in other non-competing lines. They 
 often impart most valuable information of op- 
 portunities in lines in which they are not inter- 
 ested, and their friendliness and good report 
 are valuable assets to any salesman. There is no 
 formula for making friends, especially those who 
 wear well. The don'ts are numerous, and include 
 the minor vices and petty faults as well as the 
 greater ones. Especially are there barred all the 
 ways of deceit, treachery, deviousness, and all 
 
144 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 the evil crop of lying and envy. Tact and di- 
 plomacy go far, but probably sincerity and good 
 faith are the surest foundations. 
 
 In the salesman's contact with his firm he must 
 ever have in mind his house as his first and best 
 concern, and the one to which his loyalty is due. 
 The more he gains and deserves the confidence 
 of his own people the more latitude will be given 
 him and the greater will be his scope in all mat- 
 ters. The salesman is judged by results, and 
 the more satisfactory these results, the wider 
 play will be permitted his ability and his per- 
 sonality. He will find it wise to come in at in- 
 tervals and get freshened up with the knowledge 
 of new things which he learns from the buyers 
 and managers of his own house. He needs these 
 revivifying experiences, lest he grow weary and 
 callous and indifferent because of the ceaseless 
 competition and the never ending fight for 
 business. He learns to take account of stock of 
 himself, his ways and methods, and to discern 
 wherein he has been slipping, and wherein he 
 has fallen down. He thus sees where new oppor- 
 tunities can be seized, not only as to the possi- 
 bilities of his territory, but likewise as to the 
 amount and nature of the goods he can sell. 
 Personal contact with the buyers and officials 
 of his house gives him an opportunity for assist- 
 
THE HUMAN EQUATION 145 
 
 ing them in their purchases by cooperating in 
 those goods they wish to push. Also, he can 
 give much information as to the competition he 
 encounters, and thus put the buyers on the 
 track of procuring better or cheaper goods and 
 prices in order to enable the salesman to meet 
 the competition which distresses him. There is 
 also the exchange of knowledge with the credit 
 and collection departments as to different cus- 
 tomers, the state of their accounts, and the line 
 of credit to which they are entitled. Finally 
 there is the restatement of the policy of the 
 concern with the heads of the firm and what 
 they expect the salesman to stand for a while 
 on the road. 
 
 VISION AND ANALYSIS 
 
 It has ever been the earmark of those writers 
 of genius, who make an enduring appeal, that 
 they write of those things whereof they know, 
 and their story is that of observation, experience 
 and insight. It has been so from the dim historic 
 scribes of the Old Testament to Robert Burns 
 and Rudyard Kipling of modern times. So the 
 education of the traveling man is that which 
 comes from the unconscious study of the homely 
 people and the homely things which he has 
 round about him in his ceaseless daily travels. 
 
146 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 Thus is he the observer and student par excel- 
 lence not only of material conditions, but of the 
 trend of thought among his people. It is upon 
 his intelligent analysis of these factors in busi- 
 ness life that his daily bread depends. The 
 story of the crops, of industrial life, of mining 
 interests, of the probable cut of lumber, and of 
 the enterprises of construction and development, 
 are matters of vital moment to him personally 
 and to his house as well as to the nation at large. 
 He must have a thorough comprehension not 
 alone of present business conditions in his terri- 
 tory, but of all the likelihoods and possibilities 
 of the future. Vision must follow hard upon 
 analysis if the salesman is to have a clear con- 
 ception of whether the territory in which his lot 
 is cast is to be worth while for a long pull and a 
 long stay, for some territories have their possi- 
 bilities clearly defined as to the amount of busi- 
 ness that can be got out of them. To the am- 
 bitious salesman such a territory may be all too 
 small for his pent-up ambition, save as a school 
 wherein he may make good and thus be called 
 to a wider sphere. 
 
 In sober truth the traveling salesman is a mis- 
 sionary, though often an unconscious one, in 
 many things. He is naturally in sympathy with 
 progressive ways and methods and brings to the 
 
THE HUMAN EQUATION 147 
 
 dealers in the small town the wider vision of one 
 in constant contact with all sorts and conditions 
 of men. His influence in great national ques- 
 tions was well illustrated in the recent war when 
 he was an apostle of patriotism, instinctively so, 
 because he could see no other way out. 
 
 So it happens that the traveling salesman is 
 beyond question the most accurate, the most 
 dependable of all observers of the conditions and 
 the people on his route. This is a fact but little 
 realized, and of which as a rule but scant use 
 is made. The knowledge he thus acquires of 
 men and things comes from constant contact 
 and observation, and unconsciously imbues and 
 permeates his entire thought and purpose. He 
 naturally drifts into the habit of endeavoring to 
 forecast the future of his territory from the 
 workings of the daily forces round about him, 
 for in such forecast his own fortunes are bound 
 up. So he is sure, all unconsciously, to become 
 an apostle of progress, though of the persuasive 
 rather than the fiery type; for his teachings are 
 never obtrusively obvious, but rather along the 
 lines of persuasion and somewhat rare advice. 
 
 In the days of not long ago when first the in- 
 vasion of the cotton boll weevil seemingly 
 threatened the agricultural existence of the 
 South, the traveling salesman was the first to 
 
148 TRAVELING SALESMANSHIP 
 
 perceive the marvelous regeneration and re- 
 making of Southern economic and social life 
 that lay concealed in this apparently dire menace. 
 So it is that often the territory whose business 
 possibilities are seemingly narrow and circum- 
 scribed contains for him the possibilities that 
 come only from analysis and vision. Fortunately 
 for the truth and certainty of his vision as af- 
 fecting his own future, he has the unusual char- 
 acteristic said to have been a dominant trait in 
 George Washington of always looking facts 
 squarely in the face. He seldom dwells in a 
 Fool's Paradise, nor yet in Castles in Spain, for 
 his abiding common sense tells him that facts 
 are the only things worth considering in the long 
 run, unless he is willing to essay the role of the 
 bluffer and the four-flusher in a gamble with fate. 
 There is enough romance and interest in the 
 seemingly homely facts of everyday life, if one 
 has only power of analysis and vision to under- 
 stand their meaning and their possibilities. 
 
 THE ULTIMATE END 
 
 The great handicap to the true comprehension 
 of the real nature and purpose of the calling of 
 the traveling salesman is that it is too constantly 
 undertaken as a mere prelude to other careers. 
 It is true enough that the experience gained 
 
THE HUMAN EQUATION 149 
 
 on the road is often the best possible prepara- 
 tion for the highest responsibilities of business 
 life, and many salesmen engage in traveling 
 as a stepping stone to less onerous and more 
 remunerative positions. It is a saying among 
 traveling men that the salesman is always going 
 to quit the road next year. In sober truth it is, 
 when viewed from the outside, largely a monot- 
 onous and prosaic life, full of endless work and 
 ceaseless motion, accompanied by constant rep- 
 etition, and apparently getting nowhere when 
 the sum of it all is cast up. It is looked upon as 
 the antithesis of domesticity, and the destruc- 
 tion of those homelike ways which are supposed 
 to sanctify a man's life. Yet equally in sober 
 truth, as in every other phase of life, the matters 
 of most moment are the story of experience and 
 the satisfaction of things done. The life of the 
 salesman is taken up in perpetual study of human 
 nature and an equally perpetual accomplishment 
 of an extraordinarily difficult task, and success 
 in these must ever be his true and lasting reward. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Advertiser, 119 
 Advertising, 119, 120 
 Agencies, 92 
 
 establishing, 88, 90, 95 
 Analysis, 147, 148 
 Anti-trust laws, 65 
 Arguments, 38 
 Articles, 13 
 
 advertised, 120, 1 21 
 
 demand for, 13 
 
 new, 125 
 
 Baits, 59 
 Bargain, 59, 78 
 Business, 2 
 
 legitimate, 106, 109 
 Buyer, i, 2, 3, 42, 59, 60, 
 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 95 
 
 Catalogue, 15 
 
 Claim agent, 128, 130 
 
 Claims, 26, 128, 129, 130 
 
 reports of, 26 
 Clerical work, 25, 27, 28 
 Collector, 133 
 Collective car lots, 116 
 Competitive, 7, 45, 46, 48, 
 
 Competitor, 47, 73, 94 
 Complications, 92, 93 
 Confidence, 36 
 Consolidations, 62 
 Conviction, 122 
 Cooperation, 69 
 Credit policy, 136 
 Credits, 133, 134 
 Crisis, 66 
 Customers, 7, 1 8, 23, 30, 31, 
 
 44> 53> 97> H3> Il8 > 
 126, 127, 129, 135, 
 136, 141, 142 
 
 contact with, 7 
 
 dealing with, 42 
 
 entertaining, 40 
 
 Dealers, i, 22, 23, 43, 47, 
 
 49> 53> 78, 91, 9 2 > 9 6 > 
 
 loo, 130, 142 
 Deference, 34 
 Diplomacy, 21, 38 
 Distribution, 61, 105 
 Drummers, 4 
 
 Ease, 54 
 Embroideries, n 
 
152 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Engagements, 37 
 
 keeping, 37 
 Expense, 62 
 
 accounts, 26 
 Experience, 21 
 
 Firms, 112 
 Friends, 138, 140 
 making, 139 
 Futures, 113, 114, 116, 118 
 
 Goods, n, 51, 76, 78, 125 
 
 dress, 51 
 
 familiarity with, 1 1 
 
 profitable, no 
 
 seasonable, 113, 115, 117 
 
 selling, 18, 19, 25, 110 
 
 unsalable, 125 
 Grain pits, 64. 
 
 House, 44 
 
 Human equation, 8, 54, 59 
 
 Human nature, 12, 42, 73 
 
 Impatience, 23 
 Industry, 28 
 
 Jobber, 6, 16, 89, 91, 107, 
 129 
 
 Laces, n 
 Law, 65 
 
 restraint of, 65 
 Letters, 26 
 
 Limitations, 107 
 
 of stock, 107 
 Loyalty, 123, 144 
 
 Market, 2 
 
 buyers, 2 
 
 stock, 64 
 
 Misunderstandings, 35 
 Modesty, 24 
 Money, 42 
 
 borrowing, 42, 43 
 
 Neatness, 37 
 
 Orders, 26, 27 
 articles on, 27 
 future, 117 
 memoranda of, 26 
 rush, 115 
 stuff, 126 
 
 Patience, 24 
 Personal element, 56 
 Prices, 7, 45, 54, 57, 60, 61, 
 69, 71, 74, 101, 102, 103 
 
 alleged low, 71 
 
 bargain, 59 
 
 quantity, 104 
 
 question of, 85 
 
 stabilizing, 64, 66 
 Production, 61, 81 
 Propinquity, 54 
 Purchaser, 30 
 
 Quality, 57, 58 
 
INDEX 
 
 Repetition, 33 
 Respect, 35, 36 
 Retailer, 115, 120, 129 
 Revolution, 107 
 
 economic, 107 
 Road, 7 
 
 preparation for, 7 
 
 work on, 7, 17 
 Route, 20 
 
 salesman's, 20 
 
 Sales, 2, 54, 80 
 
 Salesman, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 14, 
 
 i$> i7-33> 35> 36, 41- 
 52, 59, 63, 68-76, 78, 
 83, 84, 85, 86, 90, 91, 
 93, 96-101, 103, 109, 
 
 IIO, III, 112, 115, 117, 
 
 118, 120-123, 126, 127, 
 130, 134, 135, 136, 139, 
 141, 144, 146, 147, 149 
 
 classes for, 13 
 
 definition of, 6 
 
 essentials of, 10 
 
 personality of, 49 
 
 prospective, 14 
 
 special, 50-51 
 Salesmanship, I, 2, 3, 4, 41, 
 
 , 87 
 
 aim of, no 
 art of, 3 
 definition, I, 2 
 factors in, 28 
 
 Salesmanship, function, I, 6 
 
 importance, 4 
 
 nature of, I, 4, 6 
 
 principle, 4 
 
 purpose of, 1 10 
 
 reason, I 
 
 science, 4 
 
 test of, 68 
 
 Samples, 28,29,30,31,33 
 Schedules, 20 
 
 train, 20 
 Seller, i 
 Selling, 8, 58, 80 
 
 phases of, 8 
 
 purpose of, 68 
 
 stock, 86 
 Service, 54, 57, 58 
 
 quality of, 56 
 Sincerity, 32 
 Stickers, 125 
 
 Tact, 21, 38 
 Territory, 17 
 
 covering, 71 
 Towns, 20 
 
 high grass, 20 
 Trade, 38 
 
 Traveling man, 22, 45 
 Trouble wagon, 128 
 
 Vision, 145, 146, 148 
 
 Want book, 19 
 Wholesaler, 133 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 NOV 6 1947 
 
 JAN 22 1948 
 FEB 6 1948 
 
 LD 2l-100m-12,'46(A20 
 

 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY