Salesmanship UC-NRLF B 3 151 fiSS ■ : i t'. A. GLOVER. C. A, GLOVER. READ'S LESSONS ^=^^ IN SALESMANSHIP BY Harlan E. Read Principal of Brown' s Business College, Peoria, Illinois Published by J. A. LYONS & COMPANY Chicago New York ws Copyrighted, 1910, by J. A. Lyons A Company EDUCATION DEPf. FOREWORD THIS course is specially prepared for students of the commercial branches. Its object is to train young people to sell goods in person and by mail, and to that end it develops the idea throughout that salesmanship is at the foundation of all business success, because any transaction involving an agreement between two persons calls for the exercise of the salesmanship quality. Everybody needs to know how to *'talk business" and how to write business-getting letters. This is a course of fifty lessons on the simple principles of salesmanship, and should occupy the time of one recita- tion period a day, five days a week, for ten weeks. It contains no startling or strange statements about sales- manship, but is a simple, direct statement of the well-known fundamentals of the science of selling, arranged for the study of young men and women. Each day's work consists of a short lesson to be studied by the student, and an exercise or paragraph to be written. Throughout Parts I and II these written exercises consist of arguments on the point of the lesson in each case. Through- out Part III the written exercises consist of letters, the letter for each lesson to embody in a practical way the instructions given in the lesson. It should be remembered that this course is as interesting and valuable for girls as for boys, its chief value being in the life and originality it will give to the writing of business letters. CONTENTS PART 1— ELEMENTS OF SALESMANSHIP Pages Lesson 1. A fair bargain benefits both parties 5-8 Lesson 2. Outlines and definitions. Sales classified 9-14 Lessons 3-5. The customer 15-26 Lessons 6-8. The thing sold 28-41 Lesson 9. The salesman' s house 41-45 Lesson 10. Your competitor's house. Other considerations. 45-49 Lessons 1 1-13. The salesman 50-67 Lesson 14. Selecting prospects. Planning visits 68-73 Lesson 15. The normal selling talk 73-76 Lessons 16-24. Answering objections 76-80 PART II — MAKING A SALE Lesson 25. Mind control. The five senses 81-89 Lessons 26-30. Presenting the argument. Process of a sale 89-1 16 Audience. Attention. Interest. Desire. Action. Lessons 31-35. Practical applications 1 16-117 Lesson 36. Supplemental requirements 118-124 PART III— SALESMANSHIP BY CORRESPONDENCE. Lesson 37. Similarity to salesmanship in person 125-128 Lessons 38-39. Process of the sale by letter 1 29-137 Audience. Attention. Interest. Desire. Action. Lesson 40. The five senses, in correspondence 137-139 Lesson 41. The length of a letter 139-144 Lessons 42-45. A series of form letters 144-150 Lessons 46-50. Test exercises 150-151 4 PART I Elements of Salesmanship LESSON 1 A Fair Bargain Benefits Both Parties It is essential for the salesman to understand the funda- mental principles of commercial transactions. One of these principles will engage our attention in our first lesson. This is the fixed business rule that every fair bargain must benefit both parties. There is an amazing number of people in the world who imagine that the law of business is that one must make a profit by getting an advantage over others. As a matter of fact, the very opposite is the case. It is an established truth that those firms that are operating most successfully are the ones that are benefiting their customers most; in short, the ones that recognize the fundamental proposition that a fair bargain must benefit both parties. Let us see why this is the case. Suppose you are in need of a pen. Your business cannot be transacted without something to write with, and you decide to manufacture a pen. You must go to a mine and dig for iron. You must build a furnace in which to heat the iron and unite it with carbon to make steel. You must then, through a hundred processes, reduce your steel to the proper shape and size to use as a pen, and, in this process, use much expensive machinery. Your pen would cost you thousands of dollars, if you made it yourself. Yet a manufacturer who makes millions of pens at a time, buys his steel in large quantities, and spends a fortune on ,6.',"." Lessons in Salesmanship I ^ o '' o " * o , expensive machinery and skilled workmen, finds that his pens cost him less than a fifth of a cent apiece. When he sells you these pens at five or ten cents a dozen, both you and he have been benefited. Examine the following illustration: You are employed on a farm four miles from town and desire to sell four pounds of butter to a customer named Henderson, who lives half way between your farm and town. You could get 30c a pound for your butter in town but would prefer to sell it to Mr. Henderson for 25c a pound, or $1.00 for the four pounds, to save the time and trouble of a trip to town. The following paragraph, which contains fewer than seventy-five words, explains why this would benefit both parties. It is in the exact words of the speaker after he has mentioned the price, quality, and weight of the goods. "Mr. Henderson, in town I can get $1.20 for this butter but I can save time and trouble by selling it to you for $1.00. I believe that the time I will save will be worth more than 20c to me, and I am willing to give you the benefit of the 20c. So you see, it will benefit us both. Do you want the butter for $1.00?" It is true of every honest transaction that both parties must be benefited and the salesman must ever remember this. As a rule, do not try to persuade the customer that you are losing money by trading with him. The famous advertisement, 'Tf you don't buy my hats we both lose money," expresses this same idea in a different way. It does not necessarily follow that both buyer and seller should make an equal amount of money. On the contrary, the customer must often be shown that his profits (or ad- vantages) will be worth many times the entire cost of the article, before he will buy it at all. The question then naturally arises : ''How should profit be divided between the two parties to a bargain ?" The answer to this question is that the man who has mer- chandise for sale must put a price on his goods that will give Elements of Salesmanship 7 him enough profit to pay him for engaging in business and at the same time give his customer enough profit or benefit to induce him to begin or cause him to continue as a customer. In order to do this intelligently, he must know what the world's supply of his product is, and what the demand for it is in his locality. He must understand how to create that demand, where it does not exist already. He must understand how to produce high grade goods at low cost, and be able to explain these advantages to his customers. To summarize the above, the division of profit depends on : (1) The law of supply and demand, (2) The manufacturer's ability to produce high grade goods at low cost, (3) The salesman's ability. By understanding these things the man who fixes a price will know how to increase the amount of profit, or benefit, his firm may wisely or safely obtain in its transactions. The salesman who sells goods which his customer expects to sell again at a profit must be honest in his desire for his customer to make money. Nothing else will win in the long run. A firm's profit usually depends upon the continued patron- age of customers. In the case above cited, this depends upon the customer's ability to make money with his goods. If your customer is not making money on your line, and finds it out, he will buy from you no longer. If he does not find it out, and you are selling him most of his goods, he will fail. In either case, you are a loser as well as he. Student's Exercise for this Lesson You are a salesman for a shoe manufacturer in your city. You have a shoe which you sell at $24.00 a dozen to any point in the United States, express or freight charges prepaid. Since there will be no such charges if you sell the goods to a dealer in your own town, you are willing to sell him six dozen of these shoes at $23.50 a dozen. Write an argument of fifty to seventy-five words, explaining to him why this sale will 8 Lessons in Salesmanship benefit both parties. Do not mention any other points. The dealer's name is Jackson. Use it in speaking to him. CHART ONE CO < CO W < CO Kinds of Salesmanship fl. In \2. By 13. By Person By Correspondence By Advertising fWholesale Salesmen Kinds of Salesmen i Retail Salesmen LCanvassers fCustomer (see chart 2) -| Commodity (see chart 4) [Salesman 3. Factors of Sale Sales Classified AS TO Simplicity Class 1 Class 2 -fEasy Very easy Requires Accuracy fMedium fAccuracy Class 3 \ Requires < Industry L tP^i'sonality r\ A {^^^^ fAccuracy tArgument Class 5 'Very Hard .Requires Accuracy Industry Personality Argument Persuasion Read the above chart before studying Lesson 2, and refer to it as your study progresses, comparing it with the shorter outlines which are presented throughout the lesson, and en- deavoring to fix the outlines in your mind. Refer to it in review after completing Lesson 2. Elements of Salesmanship LESSON 2 Preliminary Outlines and Definitions SALESMANSHIP Kinds of salesmanship. Kinds of salesmen. Factors of the sale. Sales classified as to simplicity. Salesmanship, as generally understood, means the art of selling goods, usually at a profit. In this book it is given a broader meaning and refers to the science of disposing of goods, services, or anything else of value upon terms desirable to the seller. It is the basis of business transactions. The elements of salesmanship are those physical, intel- lectual, and inspirational qualities that are necessary to the accomplishment of a sale. By FACTORS of the sale we refer to the three essential definite objects that must be considered in every sale, — the customer, the commodity, and the salesman. There are three kinds of salesmanship, as follows: {In person. By correspondence. By advertising. Salesmanship in Person refers to sales in which the buyer and seller, or their agents, come together face to face for the transaction of their business. Salesmanship by Correspondence refers to sales made through the medium of letters. Salesmanship by Advertising is not treated in this book, except that kind of advertising which is accomplished through business-getting circular letters. This book deals with salesmanship in person and by corre- spondence, and shows their intimate relation to each other. The science of salesmanship is as important to the writer of 10 Lessons in Salesmanship good business letters as to the travelling salesman with his grip in his hand. Parts I and II of this text refer to salesmanship in person. Part III to salesmanship by correspondence. There are three classes of salesmen : 'The wholesale salesman. SALESMEN J The retail salesman. The canvasser. The wholesale salesman represents either a manufacturing or a jobbing house and sells to retail dealers. Most of these men are travelling salesman, though a few of them sell goods in their own stock rooms. The retail salesman represents a different branch of sales- manship, for he sells goods usually in single items and almost entirely to customers who come to him instead of requiring him to go to them. The canvasser usually sells single items like the retailer, but goes out for his customers as the Vv^holesale salesman does. These three kinds of salesmen sell by different methods, but certain fundamental truths hold good with all three. The factors of a sale are: 11. The customer. 2. The commodity. 3. The salesman. It is the purpose of this course to teach you first how to understand each of these factors separately, and second, how to use this knowledge to accomplish the sale ; and also to show you that the rules that govern the making of a sale are just as firmly established as are the factory rules for the manu- facture of the goods themselves. For convenient study, the sale has been divided into five classes, according to simplicity. These classes are discussed in considerable detail in the four pages following. Study these pages with great care, *as it is important for you to understand thoroughly this fundamental classification. Elements of Salesmanship 11 Sales Classified as to Simplicity Class 1. The simplest business sale is one in which the customer is so anxious to buy at a specified price that he comes to the salesman and voluntarily offers him the proper amount of money for the goods. As an illustration, take the ticket seller in the box office of a theatre. A line of customers is waiting. Each customer is ready to pay for his ticket as soon as it is given to him. You will at once see that there is only one requirement of the salesman here. This is the require- ment of accuracy in handling a transaction the details of which are simple and usually so well known by the buyer as to require no selling talk whatever. Class 2. The customer is not anxious as in the previous case, but is perfectly willing to buy at a given price of any salesman who may happen to ask for his business. Take as an illustration another kind of ticket seller. Sup- pose a concert is to be given and a number of people are engaged in canvassing for the sale of tickets. Mr. Smith, a prospective customer, is perfectly willing to buy a ticket to the concert from the first person who asks him. You will at once perceive that the salesman must have industry or activity, in addition to meeting the requirement of accuracy as in the first case. This industry may be either of the body or of the mind. For instance, suppose a young man selling tickets for a concert is anxious to sell more than his competitors but per- haps is not conveniently situated so that he can personally visit as many prospective buyers as others can. He goes to a telephone and calls up twenty or thirty people, securing their pledges to buy tickets of him. Thus by directing mental activity, he achieves more than his competitors who use mere physical activity visiting customers in person. You will observe that in this second class, the requirements are (1) accuracy, as in Class 1, and (2) energy. Class 3. * Sales of Class 1 and Class 2 are so simple in 12 Lessons in Salesmanship their requirements that they need no special attention here. In the first class, the customer is anxious to buy. In the second class he is willing to buy. In Class 3, however, we have an entirely different situation — the customer is neither willing nor unwilling- to buy, the matter never having been brought to his attention. Often such customers can use the goods offered and will buy if the right impression is made. They do not have to be convinced of the value of the goods through argu- ment, and the salesman may so impress such customers with his personality that he can secure the order easily. For instance, take the same simple illustration of the con- cert tickets. Two people with these tickets for sale reach the customer at exactly the same time. The customer has not considered the matter yet, but needs no argument to bring him to a favorable conclusion. Neither one of the salesmen has to argue about the value of the tickets. It is merely a question of which one can make the best impression upon the customer. A forceful personality is an important requirement of the successful salesman. While it is desirable for one to have a good proposition, a well-known house and skill in argument, there are many cases in which these things do not count as much as personality alone. Personality gives strength to the salesman's argument and inspires in the customer confidence in the house for which the salesman works. This ought not, however, to discourage anyone from the pursuit of selling goods, for there is nothing vague or mystical about a con- vincing personality ; nothing that cannot be acquired through effort and study. One purpose of this course is to show you how you can improve your personality and make it more effective for the work of salesmanship. If you have any doubt that this can be accomplished, please consider the following statements before yielding to your doubts. (1) Personality depends upon the development of the physical, intellectual and moral man. (2) All these Elements of Salesmanship 13 can be improved. (3) The word physical does not refer merely to the height, weight, or strength of a man. It em- braces also his general state of vigor and his personal appear- ance, both of which can be improved by following the common laws of health and cleanliness. (4) By "the improvement of the intellectual man," reference is made especially to the sales- man's mastery of the details of his own business, which can be secured through study. (5) The moral elements of per- sonality in the salesman are the ones that inspire confidence, and these can be acquired by clean living and right thinking. The requirements of Class 3 are (1) Accuracy, (2) In- dustry, (3) Strong personality. Class 4. But while his personality may gain for the sales- man an audience with a buyer and an influence over him that frequently controls the sale, there are certain points beyond which mere personality cannot go. Here the salesman must use, in addition to the requirements already mentioned, a skill in argument, which is based upon his knowledge of the goods and his ability to convey this knowledge of the goods to the mind of the buyer. The requirements of Class 4 are (1) Accuracy, (2) In- dustry, (3) Strong Personality, (4) Argument. Class 5. This is the hardest class of sale. The customer is absolutely unwilling to buy. After all the powers of energy, personality, and argument have been brought into play, a final faculty is required of the salesman to enable him to accom- plish one of these most difficult sales. This is the art of persuasion. Suppose you have argued your point with a customer until he is thoroughly convinced of the value of the goods, but for some unknown reason does not buy. In many cases, you must exercise your power of persuasion. Undoubt- edly, when buying a hat or a necktie, you have had that peculiar mental impression that you were convinced of the value of the goods but had not yet been persuaded to buy them. This is the frame of mind in which you will find a great many 14 Lessons in Salesmanship of your customers, and the art of persuading without appear- ing to gush or plead is one of the things you must learn. You will thus see that sales have been arbitrarily divided into five classes according to their simplicity. In Class 1, the customer is anxious to buy. The sale is very easy. The only requirement is accuracy. In Class 2, the customer is willing to buy, but not anxious. The sale is easy, but not as easy as before. The requirements are accuracy and industry. In Class 3, the customer is indifferent. The sale is neither easy nor hard. It requires accuracy, industry and personality. In Class 4, the customer is unconvinced. The sale is hard. The requirements are accuracy, industry, personality and argument. In Class 5, the customer is unwilling. The sale is very hard. The requirements are accuracy, industry, personality, argument and persuasion. Fix in your mind the following tabulations : Class 1. Customer Anxious. Class 2. Customer Willing. Class 3. Customer Indifferent. Class 4. Customer Unconvinced. Class 5. Customer Unwilling. Requirements : Class 1. Accuracy. Class 2. Accuracy, Industry. Class 3. Accuracy, Industry, Personality. Class 4. Accuracy, Industry, Personality, Argument. Class 5. Accuracy, Industry, Personality, Argument, Persuasion. Student's Exercise for this Lesson 1. Read again the paragraph which describes sales of Class 1, and the illustration which follows it. Write an illus- tration of your own, in a few words, of a sale of this class. 2. Write an illustration of a sale of Class 4. Elements of Salesmanship 15 CHART TWO IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION (Facts to be learned about the customer) 1 . Name 2. Address 3. Extent of his business in your LINE 4. Attitude toward article you SELL 5. Attitude toward your especial MAKE (see chart 3) ^6. His personality (see page 22) Read the above chart before studying Lesson 3. Refer to it as your study of the lesson progresses, comparing it with the matter studied, as you did in studying Lesson 2. LESSON 3 The Customer One of the first things a salesman must do is to find out certain facts about his customer which are sure to be neces- sary or valuable to him in his work. These facts will vary in different cases. There are certain facts that it is usually necessary to know, such as the name and address, when they are essential to the transaction or desired for future reference. There are certain facts of personality and business conditions in respect to which no two customers will be exactly alike, and these facts (especially such of them as show a difference from the normal on the part of the customer) are of extraordinary importance to the salesman. In short, the salesman must understand his customer, and his understanding must be based on facts. • A perusal of any of the Sherlock Holmes stories will in- terest the salesman in the quality of observation which the salesman must cultivate. Sherlock Holmes had a remarkable 16 Lessons in Salesmanship faculty for finding out what sort of people he was dealing with, through powers of close observation. The author, Conan Doyle, takes pains to explain in every story that Sherlock Holmes did nothing by chance, and did not rely upon any invisible, peculiar or mystic power to aid him in making his deductfons. He had simply cultivated a remarkable shrewd- ness of observation. This is a quality that the salesman must cultivate. It will enable him to understand his customer. It is true that some people are able to judge the character- istics of others at a glance with unusual facility. It is popu- larly supposed that the ability to do this is a kind of strange and unexplainable power, but this is not true. There is un- doubtedly some basis for the belief that the ability to under- stand and judge the character of others comes naturally to some people ; but the assumption that this is a vague, mys- terious power, and not a definite, practical faculty capable of cultivation, is entirely wrong. Those who have this power by nature, have it through inheritance. They have it because their parents had it, and their parents had it because their fore- fathers cultivated it. But even ah inherited quality is valueless unless developed, and an uninherited quality may be acquired. The ability to judge men and women, like every other ability in the world, comes as the result of study and effort, either on the part of the student himself, or his ancestors. Careful study will increase the power of any man or woman to judge others correctly. Do not allow yourself to think that your judgment of a man must be an ''off-hand intuition." It should be a matter of careful, definite study. Classifying Customers Suppose you are a salesman for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Before you begin work with any customer you desire if possible to find out to what class he belongs. 1. If he belongs to Class 1, he will send you his order without solicitation, requiring of you only accuracy in the Elements of Salesmanship 17 statement of your proposition and in the performance of your contract to deliver the goods on time and in good condition. 2. If he does not belong to Class 1, you may call upon him and hold a conversation something like this : You: "Good morning, Mr. Jones; I am Mr. , rep- resenting the Singer Sewing Machine Company." Jones : "I am glad to see you. I need some new machines of some kind right away." You: "I came just at the right time, then, because if you need some machines, you are certain to need the Singer." Jones : "I don't know about that. Brown, the Wheeler & Wilson man, was in yesterday and I have done business with him for so many years that I hated to put him oif. But I thought I'd better see your new model first." In Jones' reply to your first question he showed that he did not belong to Class 1 or 2, for if he had he would not have used the words "of some kind." He also showed that he was probably not in Class 5, as he said his business would require him to buy some machine at once. In his reply to the next question, he showed that he was not in Class 3, as he had refused to give Brown an order on the mere strength of Brown's personality. He must therefore be in Class 4. •The following is an interesting table of things about the customer that the salesman should usually find out. (1) Name. (2) Address. (3) Extent of his business in your line. (4) Attitude toward the article you sell. (5) Attitude to your special make. (6) His personality. The special points that the salesman should find out about his customer vary according to the kind of commodity he sells. Take as an example of a specialty, the business college busi- ness. The information usually desired by the salesman is: (1) Name. (2) Address. (3) Parent's name. (4) Age. (5) Previous schooling. (6) Life plans if known. (7) Atti- tude toward business college education. (8) Attitude toward the school the salesman represents. 18 Lessons in Salesmanship Almost every business requires one or two unusual points of information about its customers or its prospective customers. For instance, the name of a person is Fay Emerson. If Fay is a woman, the knowledge of the name and address is of value to a milliner as that of a prospective customer. If Fay is a man, a men's clothier will be interested in knowing about him. But the photographer can use the name whether Fay is a man or a woman. The salesman for an artificial limb con- cern is interested only in people with limbs gone. The sales- man of cigars wants the names of smokers. The promoter wants the names of investors. In this way nearly every sales- man needs to know special things about his customer that may not interest other salesmen. Student's Exercise for this Lesson As a typewriter salesman, name five things you would like to know about your prospective customer, aside from his name and address. Q oo HO HO r If a User CHART THREE One who purchases' for his own use One who purchases for others >< If a fProprietor Dealers ^ ^ [Agent or Buyer", Is he prej diced against iu-f nstj You? Your firm? Your article? Is he open to argument ? If not, why ? Can this cause be re- moved ? Read the foregoing chart carefully before studying Lesson 4, comparing it with the shorter outlines given in the lesson as your study proceeds. Elements of Salesmanship 19 LESSON 4 The Customer — Continued It is important to find out certain facts regarding your customer's tastes and character, and, if he is a dealer, the size and quality of his stock, so that you can learn how to approach him. Much depends in this case upon whether you are a wholesale salesman, retail salesman, or canvasser, since this fact gives the key to the special things you must learn about your customer. Generally speaking, however, we may say that your customers will be divided into two classes. 1. Those who purchase for their own use. 2. Those who purchase for others. In the first class you have the simple task of enthusing a customer over your commodity, and the better you under- stand his desires, tastes, and character, the more readily you will be able to make a sale. In the second class we are obliged to make two subdivisions as follows: a. Those buyers who purchase goods to be sold to the trade. b. Those who purchase on behalf of some friend for the friend's personal use. In either class (a) or (b) you have two distinct classes of customers with whom to deal. 1. Those who are willing, regardless of their own personal tastes, to purchase of you what they actually think others will desire to use. These are the customers whose keen business sense simplifies your problem. You have but to convince such men that the public demands your article at the price at which they can afford to sell it and you win your case. If a person is buying to present the article to a friend, then you have merely to convince him that the friend would want or could use that article. 20 Lessons in Salesmanship 2. Those who have hobbies and prejudices which must be overcome before they are wilhng to consider the purchase of any article. Here you have the double difficulty of over- coming the prejudice of the customer and of convincing him of the salability of the goods. The more you engage in selling goods, the more you will recognize the truth of the above. One merchant will be so unprejudiced in mind and so absolutely unsentimental that he would buy anything in the world if you convinced him that he could sell it at a profit. Another who has a dislike for gaudy neckties will refuse to buy the late nobby colors that his com- petitor is selling by the dozens and scores every day. An interesting illustration is the case of a clothing merchant who recently went to the wall because he was bitterly and violently opposed for religious reasons to what he termed the "sporty" in clothing, and handled only plain or old-fashioned goods. In Class B the salesman encounters a double difficulty notwithstanding the fact that sales of this class are usually small and ought to be easy to make on this account. This double difficulty is that he not only has to overcome the preju- dices of the buyer, but also to convince him that the article will be acceptable to the person for whom it is intended. When your customer has a personal hobby, you can usually overcome it more easily by having a generous sympathy with it, than by obstinate opposition. For instance, if you are sell- ing a pneumatic auto tire and your customer favors a solid tire that will not puncture, it is usually best not to start in by ridiculing the solid tire, but to begin by saying something like this: *'Yes, Mr. Steele, if a man could have a soft tire that would never puncture it would be a fine thing, and the man who invented it could sell the patent for a million dollars in twenty-four hours. But the trouble with these hard tires is that they bump over rough roads so violently that they injure the machinery of the car, and really cost more in that way than they save in tires." Elements of Salesmanship 21 A calm, reasonable talk like this* will often make a sale where a heated debate would lose it. In selling to those who purchase for their own use, the salesman's first great problem is to find out what general quality of goods the customer prefers to use or wear and whether he is one who would be able to pay the price for goods of the quality mentioned. It is a serious blunder on the part of the salesman to go ahead showing handsome articles to a customer who he should know is not able to pay the amount of money they will cost. Such a blunder means that the salesman has educated the customer's taste in favor of a superior quality and make of goods, and that when he is obliged to show him those of a quality that he can afford they will not look attractive. Suppose, for instance, a gentle- man goes to a store to buy a suit of clothes, and the salesman, without noticing how the customer is dressed, or without inquiring as to what grade of clothes he wishes to purchase, proceeds to show him ready-made suits selling at $30.00, $35.00 and $40.00. Eventually he finds a suit that pleases the customer. The customer inquires the price. He is told that it is $40.00. He then says he cannot afford to pay more than $15.00. The salesman has put in all this time hurting his cause because now the customer is not likely to be pleased with any of those that sell for $15.00. He leaves the store without making a purchase. He goes into the establishment of a competitor two or three days later. The competitor's salesman is clever enough to guess that the customer wants a $15.00 suit of clothes, or has common sense enough to ask hirti. He shows him $15.00 suits exclusively. The customer has by this time been away long enough to have forgotten the fascination that the $40.00 suit had over him, and now the $15.00 suit looks attractive and respectable, whereas, in com- parison with the $40.00 suit seen several days before, a $15.00 suit had no allurements whatever. The customer is likely to purchase the $15.00 suit at this second store. 22 Lessons in Salesmanship Student's Exercise for this Lesson Write an argument of fifty to seventy-five words stating what you would say to a buyer who admits that his customers Hke your goods, but says he is prejudiced against them. Special Exercise Come to class prepared to discuss the customer, consider- ing all the points mentioned in the following outline as they might tend to indicate his taste, intelligence, disposition, enter- prise, or financial ability. THE CUSTOMER Physical elements His Height Weight Age Health Voice Manner Expression Intelligence of speech Intellectual ele- COURTESY OF BEARING | mcnts Knowledge of the art of buying Cleanliness | Elements indicating taste Clothing j Appearance of his office Cleanliness Order Expense of equipment Appearance of his Clerks Personal appearance Efficiency Evidence of good supervision Elements of Salesmanship 23 LESSON 5 The Customer — Continued You have now considered methods of finding out the dealer's attitude toward your proposition; that is, methods of determining to which one of the five classes of customers (according to the simplicity of the sale) he belongs. You have also considered methods of discovering his personality, that is to say, his tastes, desires, character and disposition, by observing his surroundings, appearance and conversation. You will now study another important series of facts that must be determined before you proceed to make a sale. You must find out about the size, needs, methods, responsi- bility, etc., of his business. The two simplest sources of information are : 1. Your own observation. .2. Direct inquiry of the customer. The fact that appearances are deceptive and also that some customers, for the purpose of securing credit or satisfying vanity, might misinform you, makes it necessary sometimes for you to seek other sources of information. We will call them: 3. Inquiry from others. 4. Investigation of reports of Commercial Associations. This does not mean that it is always the salesman's province to busy himself about an investigation of the customer's stand- ing; but there are many salesmen of whom this is required in every case. In some instances, salesmen are held respon- sible by special contracts for the payment of bills of customers ; and when the proprietor is himself the salesman, he is liable to incur a heavy loss if he fails to investigate the customer's business standing. But there are other things to be considered besides the mere condition of the customer's credit. There is the question of 24 Lessons in Salesmanship the needs of his business. It would be very poor judgment upon the part of a salesman to expect t"o secure business year after year from a customer, after he had sold that customer everything he could persuade him to buy regardless of his needs. A salesman of great ability and long experience, who makes nearly $10,000.00 a year, is authority for the statement that the hardest part of his work with many of his customers is to prevent them from "overloading"; that is to say, buying more goods than the size of their business will warrant. Of course there are irresponsible salesmen who never expect to sell to the same man twice and who never hope to sell to friends of their customers, but such men as these are not in honest business and need not be considered in our series of lessons. The salesman should make it a point to observe also the methods of the man with whom he is trading. If your cus- tomer is a genial, up-to-date, hustling, energetic fellow, he will be likely to have customers of the same sort. It is quite likely that the salesman will find that this dealer needs entirely a different kind of goods from the conservative, slow-going retailer whose list of customers is composed of old citizens of the unprogressive sort. If the salesman wishes to learn any of the above facts through observation, he must take care not to let that observa- tion get too pointed. A salesman who walks through the length of the store, inquisitively eyeing every clerk and offi- ciously examining every item of merchandise he can see, makes a serious blunder. Salesmen of this sort usually make them- selves offensive during the process of an argument or sale by attempting to tell the customer too much about his own business. The same objection often holds good when a salesman finds out about the business and its needs by direct inquiry from the customer. Questions well intended may be impertinently asked. Elements of Salesmanship 25 But the salesman often reaches the limit of impudence when he makes inquiries of third parties. Sometimes these men report his inquiries to his customers, and if his questions were of an unnecessary and critical sort, it is likely that the salesman's chances to do business with that house in the future will be very slim. The last method (4) is always a safe one. If a man's credit is in question, it is never objectionable for a salesman to examine the commercial reports of Dun and Bradstreet and others, including merchants' lists compiled by associations in the customer's town, if they are reliable. Altogether, the above can be summarized in the statement that, if the salesman makes inquiries regarding his customer's business, he should always make them in a gentlemanly and interested way. A man of good heart- judgment and common sense will not be liable to err in this matter. Often a con- versation can be conducted in such a way as to gain for the salesman all the desired information, and at the same time to convey the impression that the salesman is interested only in the success of the customer's business. There are exceptions to all rules, but most men are not averse to telling of their successes ; and, if the salesman can get his customer to talking about some of the lines he has handled successfully in his business, he will usually find a mine of information as to the desires, tastes, and disposition of his customer, and as to the methods and needs of the business as well. Suppose, for in- stance, you are selling a hat and notice that many men on the street are wearing this hat, which you know they must have purchased from your customer. A well-directed remark upon this topic will naturally start your customer into a discussion of the very matters about which you wish to hear. For instance, suppose you say: "Mr. Jones, you know the first thing I saw when I got off the train this morning was a group of four men standing in front of the station, and three of these had that Sphinx hat on." The chances are 26 Lessons in Salesmanship that Mr. Jones will say: "Yes, I had a good season with that hat." Often you can induce a man to talk freely about the sale of an article in some such way as the one just mentioned. In conclusion, it must not be forgotten that your object in ascertaining various facts about your customer's business shcfuld be to enable you to help him in his buying, and not merely to gratify your curiosity. Student's Exercise for this Lesson You are selling a line of lawn mowers. Write a paragraph containing fifty to seventy-five words asking Mr. Robinson, a hardware dealer, what lines he carries, telling him that you are asking the question in order to find out what machines you must compete with for his trade. Elements of Salesmanship 27 CHART FOUR n. 'Goods ^ Q O m O ^\ X H W X H 2. .Services Description of Goods r Staples and Specialties -j Luxuries and Necessities C Other Classifications 1. Sizes 2. Qualities 3. Colors 4. Styles 5. Shapes 6. Quantities 7. Prices (including dis- counts, etc.) 8. Methods of use 9. Reputation of house 10. History of article 11. Methods, manufac- ture 12. Methods, production 13. Extent of use 14. Opinions of others 15. Efficiency 16. Ingredients 17. Equipment Your House — Especially the plans and proposi- tions of sales department Competitor's Goods Competitor's House The Market and Fashions [6. How to Handle your Sa„,ples{g-e o^yTs'l'^ples Your Personal Services Your Firm's Services Advertising Auditing Advisory Transportation Storage, etc. Read the above chart before studying Lesson 6, and com- pare its outlines v^ith the smaller outlines given in the lesson. Consult it in review after completing Lesson 6. 28 Lessons in Salesmanship LESSON 6 The Thing Sold A statement that we are now leaving the consideration of the customer and passing to the consideration of the thing sold would be improper. This is because we must, throughout our entire course, have in mind all three factors of the sale; the salesman, the customer, and the thing sold. Let us say, therefore, that we are adding to what we have already considered, the specific consideration of the thing sold. This refers not only to goods or merchandise but to anything else that may be offered for sale; as for instance, personal services. Broadly considered, things sold are divided into two classes : Necessities, Luxuries. It is very hard to draw a line of distinction between a necessity and a luxury. What is a necessity differs with different people. To yourself, for instance, clothing is a neces- sity. To a sick person, medical attention is a necessity; to a well person it is not. To one used to hardships, many articles of food and clothing are luxuries, which have become neces- sities to us. Things sold may also be divided into the two general classes : Staples, Specialties. By staples, we refer to all of the principal commodities of trade, those things that are regularly produced or manu- factured in large quantities. By specialties, we refer to other lines of goods not so well known or universally used, though at times and for certain businesses, they are perhaps even more important than certain staples. Attention is called to Elements of Salesmanship 29 these classifications to impress upon you the fact that different arguments must be used by the salesman in disposing of a luxury from those he used in selling a necessity, and similarly that a very different style of selling talk must be used in accomplishing the sale of a specialty from that used when the thing to be sold is a staple. A thorough study of his goods is the most important re- quirement of the salesman. It is not logical to think you can sell one thing because you have sold another. Herewith is presented a list of points concerning which the salesman of any product must be informed. 1. Sizes. 2. Qualities. 3. Colors. 4. Styles. 5. Shapes. 6. Quantities. 7. Prices (including discounts, terms, etc.). 8. Methods of use. 9. Reputation of house. 10. History of article. 11. Methods of manufacture. 12. Methods of production. 13. Extent of. use. 14. Opinions of others. 15. Efficiency. 16. Ingredients. 17. Equipment. Study the above very carefully. Add other items if you can. The list above is not arranged in any logical order except that some of the less easily understood points are men- tioned toward the end. To illustrate, in a small way, how each of these points should be studied, discussions of "size," "color" and "terms" are presented. These discussions are not at all complete, but are merely suggestive. 30 Lessons in Salesmanship Sizes The absurd mistakes made by many customers in the matter of size afford to salesmen much amusement and vexa- tion. This is especially true in the retail trade. It is well known that many ladies, and men too for that matter, insist upon having a size of shoe or glove which the salesman knows will not fit. The trick of putting a wrong size-mark on goods in order to persuade the customer that they fit, is an old one. The annoyance from customers of this sort is so great in some lines of business that merchants leave size marks off the goods in order to avoid any discussions with customers. Often the matter of sizes is an important consideration in the making of a sale. A simple illustration of this is seen in the case of the linen collar for men. Several years ago, these ran only in half sizes. Then certain dealers brought out quarter sizes and had great success with them because it enabled them to meet the needs of customers better. There are many other articles in which the matter of sizes is a very important consideration. In the sale of large articles, such as stoves, furniture, etc., it is evident at once that this is one of the important matters. In selling stationery it is essential to know the sizes that are in most common use for various purposes and what sizes will cut to advantage from the stocks regularly carried by the house. In making displays of goods it is essential to know what sizes represent the most ideally proportioned and perfect models of the styles to be shown. It is not sufficient for a salesman to know the sizes in which the brand he carries run. He must know all about the sizes of the article wherever manufactured. Colors There are very few articles of merchandise manufactured in which the selection of color is not important. Sometimes Elements of Salesmanship 31 one color will be cheaper than other colors. For instance, any unbleached or undyed article is usually cheaper than an article that is bleached or dyed. Probably the difference in prices on account of color is most marked in the case of precious stones, where certain rare colors will command fabulous prices, though the stones may not differ from other stones in any other respect. Often colors are chosen because of their dura- bility. A red or black stripe in a fancy cloth will not fade as readily as a pink or lavender. Again, men often select gray clothes because they will not show dust easily. Fre- quently the matter of color is determined upon for the sake of convenience or comfort; as for instance, green is used on a billiard table or for a lamp shade for the purpose of pro- tecting the eye. It will pay any salesman to look carefully into the color of the goods he is selling so that he will be informed as to the reason why certain colors are to be pre- ferred. The clothing salesman or the dry goods salesman, of course, realizes this readily. But salesmen in other lines are too apt to pass carelessly by such a matter as not worthy of their thought. Terms The terms offered in various lines of busmess are very wide in their scope. One method of expressing terms is as follows : 2 off 10 1 off 30 Net 60 The first one means that if you pay within ten days from the date of the bill, you may take 2% off. The second, if you pay within thirty days, you may take 1% off. The third, that the bill must be paid at net price (i. e., without discount) in sixty days. Cash discounts. Small discounts like the above are usually offered for the purpose of securing a prompt settlement Z2 Lessons in Salesmanship of account. These are called cash discounts. Though sep- arately considered they are small, in the aggregate they usually amount to a great deal, depending, of course, on the size of the business of the buyer. Many large firms consider their saving from discounts as one of the most, if not the most, important feature of their business. It can readily be seen that, quite apart from the fact that it will strengthen his credit to pay promptly, a buyer can save money by taking advantage of all his discounts. Suppose a customer is offered 2% if he pays within ten days; that is at the rate of 6% a month, or 72% a year. Many a man who looks with scorn on 2% would be shocked to learn that he is losing $500.00 to $1,000.00 in the course of a year through his failure to take advantage of discounts. Men frequently fail in business because they do not look to this matter. The thing works two ways. They not only lose discount money, but they injure their reputations, for people think them unable to pay ; which, indeed, they soon become. Discount as a consideration Often discounts run to very large amounts, even 50% or 60% being offered as an extra inducement to secure trade. There is, unfortunately, a large class of people in the world who will not buy a hat at $3.00, but if you mark it $6.00 and then offer 50% discount they will buy at once. These are the men who look wide of the fundamental principle laid down in Lesson 1, that a fair bargain must benefit both parties. They imagine that the only way to make a profit is to compel the salesman to part with his goods at far below their actual value. Men of this kind are rarely informed as to prices, being as a rule ignorant buyers, and the salesman accomplishes his purpose by putting his price up in the first place. Another interesting feature of the subject of terms and discounts is that often a series of discounts is offered on the same purchase. For instance, a well known corporation secures discounts from some firms somewhat as follows: 10% off from the list price simply as Elements of Salesmanship 33 an ordinary trade discount ; 10% off what is left in considera- tion of the trade of all branches of the corporation for the article in question; 3% off the remainder for cash. Trade discounts. Articles sold in the hardware trade run to innumerable sizes. Discounts are used largely to save cor- recting the whole list when prices change, one change of dis- count often covering prices on one hundred articles, each at a different list price. The f. o. b. specification is an important part of the terms of sale and should never be overlooked. It makes con- siderable difference whether you or the customer pays carry- ing charges, and the point should always be plainly specified. Dating is another point that is a natural part of the terms oi sale. Many houses allow long dating in order to induce early buying, as many factories make up all goods "to order" and carry no stock made up. In some lines goods must be paid for in ten days from date of shipment, which often necessitates payment while goods are in transit. In such cases it is customary to draw on the customer, and if such draft is to be made, the customer should always understand the arrangement thoroughly. In General Each of the points mentioned in the list at the beginning of this chapter should be studied thoroughly and in detail as you have studied sizes, colors, and terms. The relative im- portance of each point will depend upon the kind of article studied. Student's Exercise for this Lesson (The student may select any one Exercise.) 1. You are a collar salesman. Write fifty to seventy-five words to convince Mr. Johnson that he should buy your collar, because it runs in one-quarter sizes, while your competitor's runs only in half sizes. 34 Lessons in Salesmanship / 2. You are a farm implement salesman. Write fifty to seventy-five words to convince a farmer that he should buy your plow because you will extend to him better terms than your competitor who asks a slightly smaller price, but whose terms are cash. 3. You are the competitor of the salesman mentioned in exercise 2. Write fifty to seventy-five words to convince the farmer that he should take your lower price and pay the cash. Note. In exercises 2 and 3, consider that the difference in price is exactly equal to the discount offered by one of the salesmen. LESSON 7 The Thing Sold — Continued Examine once more the list of points suggested in Lesson 6, under the heading "Description of Goods." Take one of these points, the topic of price, and see how it is affected by the other items mentioned in the list under "Description of Goods," and other points. L Sizes. Ordinarily smaller sizes of articles cost less and larger ones more. Yet there are some cases, as for in- stance, certain kinds of watches, in which it is cheaper to make a large article than a small one. 2. Colors. Sometimes the beauty of a color is a justifi- cation for increasing the price of an article. Sometimes the expense in manufacturing that color affects the price. Some- times the serviceability of the color affects the price. 3. Styles. Many elements are to be considered in the style of a piece of goods. Sometimes it is expensive because it is unusual or difficult to make; sometimes because it is attractive. 4. Quantities. It is not sufficient to know the quantities in which your goods are measured. Find out why they are Elements of Salesmanship 35 measured as they are, and be prepared to show every advantage that can be shown from this when talking price. Certain articles once sold by measure are now sold by weight, to arrive at a fair method of fixing price. The proper handling or care of an article may require that it be sold in the quan- tities in which you sell it. The purchase of unusually large or unusually small quantities, however measured, affects price. 5. Purposes and methods of use. If the article is adapted to many purposes, each one must be understood and explained. If it is simple of operation, this may affect its price. If it is a time-saving or labor-saving device, its price will also be effected by that fact, as will be the case if it is a pleasure- giving device. 6. Terms of its sale. The nominal price of goods is often affected by the terms of its sale. If there are discounts, they, of course, affect the price. Or if there are time payments, that frequently has an important effect. Sometimes a great deal of money can be saved through payment by installments, and, in any of these cases, the salesman must be thoroughly prepared to present all arguments in favor of the particular plan. 7. Reputation of your house. If your firm's reputation is such as to serve as a guarantee of quality, naturally the price will be affected. If the reputation of the house is all right, the price will be right. This is frequently an interesting and convincing argument. Sometimes the popularity of the make also has an influence on the price which the customer should be asked to pay. 8. The history of the article affects the price in many instances. This is especially true if the article is valuable because of its associations, or its foreign make, or because it is a curio. The salesman who is thoroughly acquainted with the history of an article, therefore, has arguments at his com- mand that will prove convincing when the price is under dis- cussion. 36 Lessons in Salesmanship 9. Cost of production and manufacture. The salesman must explain the cost of production and manufacture to his customer in such a convincing way as to make the price seem reasonable. Furniture can be varnished by dipping into a barrel of varnish (a favorite method with cheap chairs, etc.) much more cheaply than it can be varnished by hand with a brush, but the results are different. 10. Extent of use. If the public demands a certain article, the dealer can be required to pay more for it on account of that demand, because he may not have to advertise it so extensively or push it so energetically. Sometimes it can be sold at a much higher price than its actual intrinsic value on account of this popularity. For instance, the recently popular Teddy Bears sold for $2.00 to $5.00, when intrinsically they were worth nothing near that amount. 11. Opinions of others. Frequently a customer thinks a price is wrong but can be convinced if he is clearly shown that others whose judgment he values consider the price right. 12. The increasing value of the article is often a most important feature in settling its price. For instance, a man buys a lot sometimes at more than its ordinary appraisement because he is convinced that the price is going up. 13. Sometimes the article is "self-supporting" — that is, it pays for itself. This is an argument frequently advanced for the typewriter, adding machine, business phonograph and other machines that enable employers to conduct their business with fewer employees. This argument can also be advanced in favor of productive articles, such as flowers, trees, live stock, etc. 14. The guarantees your house makes often affect the price considerably. For instance, if you agree to refund the money or make some other reparation if the goods are not found to be as represented, you can more readily secure the price you ask. Elements of Salesmanship 37 15. The PRICE OF YOUR competitor's goods often affects the reasonableness of your price. A buyer may beHeve that you are asking too much profit, yet if you can show him that you are asking less than your competitor he may be persuaded to buy of you. 16. The reputation of your competitor's goods or your competitor's house, if unfavorable, will have a tendency to enable you to get better prices for your goods. It is a bad plan, however, for a salesman to use this argument too boldly. 17. The fashions, if they have created a demand for the goods you have, affect the price favorably. This lesson has gone into considerable detail in naming some things that affect the price of goods, yet it barely skims the surface. There are innumerable points affecting prices, and since the same is true regarding sizes, colors, styles, and all the other topics to be considered in gaining a thorough knowledge of your goods, then the study of your goods is a matter of prime importance. Study the foregoing suggestions until you are able to apply them to any item that you have to sell. It is as foolish for a salesman to try to sell goods without learning how to describe them attractively, as it would be for an advertiser to commit the same error. Always study the article you have for sale so that you know every possible thing you could say about it that will be of interest to your customer or of assistance to you. Student's Exercise for this Lesson (Fifty to Seventy-five Words.) You are a clothing salesman. Describe the advantages of your line as to color, using the name of your customer, Mr. Kemper, in your exercise. 38 Lessons in Salesmanship LESSON 8 The Thing Sold — Continued Let us see how another of the items in our Hst of descriptive points can be affected by the remaining items on the Hst. We shall take "size" as an illustration. The QUALITY will affect the sizes in the case of some articles where large sizes would be too expensive; also, in some cases where a better quality can be secured in some sizes than in others. The COLOR would affect the size of an article when the coloring matter used is expensive. The STYLE would affect the size in a very marked degree especially in the case of clothing, furniture, or ornaments where there is necessity of fit. Style regulates the size of almost everything when there is not a mechanical reason that it should remain in a fixed size from year to year. Quantities affect sizes in a very direct way, as the sizes of some articles are regulated by the quantities in which they must be sold or used. An advertiser issuing 100 circulars may not give any attention to whether the sheet is 8 x 10 or 9 x 12. But if he issues 1,000,000, the slight difference in size will be a matter materially affecting the cost. Price and terms regulate sizes in cases where the cus- tomer's desires as to prices and terms must be met by selling smaller sizes. Methods of use affect size ; large, heavy articles will some- times stand wear better than small ones, and small articles will often prove more convenient than large ones. The reputation of the house has a decided effect upon the size of the product, when an article of a certain size is ordered and promised. The history of the article, of course, affects the size and shape, since we are prone to do what our forefathers have Elements of Salesmanship 39 done, and to use articles of a given size and shape because they have been in that given size and shape for many years Methods of manufacture affect sizes; economy in pro- duction demands that certain things, shall be made in certain sizes, so as to cut well out of the piece. What is true of methods of manufacture is equally true of methods of production. The extent of use also affects the size; certain articles must be made in certain sizes to prevent the damage that it is known certain sizes will receive in transportation, changes of climate, etc., which might not be true of other sizes. Certainly nothing affects sizes much more definitely than the opinion of users; this is the very thing that causes certain articles to be made in given sizes. To prove that the size of an article is affected by its shape requires no argument ; a brittle article designed to pass through a six-inch hole could not support its own weight if it were half a mile long. The efficiency of an article certainly affects its size; if it can be made of more use by being made small or large, the maker will at once increase its efficiency by altering its size. The EQUIPMENT of an article affects its size; in many cases a large size is desired to contain a large equipment. Size is affected by location, when the space in the given location requires that the article be small or large in order either to fit or to be appropriate in appearance. The INGREDIENTS of which an article is made also have a most direct effect upon its size, since some ingredients will cause the article to shrink and others will compel it to expand. Some materials are stronger than others. If a wooden beam is replaced by a steel one, the steel beam can be much smaller and will do the same work. Just one point has been mentioned in connection with each item above, merely to show you that each one of these items or facts about your goods must be taken in correlation with % 40 Lessons in Salesmanship all others. The above paragraphs can scarcely be taken as anything else than merely suggestive. We shall not consume time by taking up each one of these items or points of interest regarding an article, and showing how all the others affect it. The student may do so for himself with a few or all of the articles, but at least with one. The point to be gained is, that such an exercise as this will impress upon the student the necessity of his understanding every detail about his goods because the investigation or examination of the salesman's goods in any one feature is sure to bring to his attention other features connected with it, to which he has never before given his attention. After all, your success as a salesman will depend upon your knowledge of the three factors of a sale, of which the thing sold is one. The salesman undertaking the study of any product can scarcely do it in a better way than to consider, all the points named in the foregoing list, and to consider each point as it is or may be affected by all the rest. This is a big task. If there are nineteen points, each to be considered by itself and in its relation to eighteen other points, there will be a total of nearly four hundred points about the goods to be thought over and analyzed — a laborious task, but one that will result in an analysis of your goods that it is scarcely possible for you to make as thoroughly in any other way. If the student will take up each of the points mentioned in Lesson 6 as we have already taken up the topics of prices, terms and sizes, applying them to a specific article, he will learn his article in a wonderfully definite way. The following story will illustrate the value of study and analysis of the product one is handling. A soap salesman wrote his house that a competitor was selling a certain scented toilet soap of same weight, odor, color and wrapper as his own at twenty per cent less than his price, and that he could get no business on that article. The manager went out and bought a piece of the competitor's soap, cut it up and examined it. Elements of Salesmanship 41 He found that the color did not run clear through. It was bathed. The wrapper alone was perfumed — not the soap. It was easy to sell the good article when this was known, but the salesman should have discovered it for himself and saved sev- eral orders that he lost. Student's Exercise for this Lesson Write as tersely as possible a paragraph showing how styles are modified or influenced by one of the items in the list given in Lesson 6, selecting any article for illustration. LESSON 9 The Salesman's House In addition to knowing about the goods themselves you must know many things about your house. History of the House You should know the history of your house. You should know the names of salesmen and proprietors who were in- terested in it before you came. Otherwise you will be con- stantly running across customers who know more about the history of your house than you do yourself, men who may desire to talk to you about these old fellows — and you can give them no information. How disappointed an old customer often is when a new salesman comes to town who can tell him nothing about what the former representative of his house is doing, where he has gone, or anything else of interest about his house. This is, however, only one of the minor reasons w^hy you should know the facts above mentioned. You must be in thorough touch with the history of your house, if pos- sible, for many reasons. It will strengthen your confidence in your firm to know how it has done business for forty or fifty % 42 Lessons in Salesmanship years. Or if it is a new firm that has just become prominent, it will be of interest and value to you and give energy and spice to your work to know that. Any good firm will bear looking into; and if a firm has not a clear record, you should know that also. It is as important for you as a salesman to know the his- tory of the business with which you are connected, and of other houses in a similar line, as it is for you as a citizen to understand the national history. We learn lessons from his- tory. A knowledge of the mistakes and successes of the busi- ness in the past will prevent us from making the same mistakes and inspire us to repeat the successes. The Sales Department It is especially important, however, for you to understand the plans and propositions of your own department, that is, the sales department. There are many firms that go on the principle that if a salesman is thoroughly familiar with their goods and with their propositions, the sale will take care of itself. There is a great error in this, of course, for no selling will "take care of itself" ; but it points the way toward a great truth. The fundamental preparation for your work as a salesman is a thorough knowledge of what you are trying to sell and the terms upon which it will be offered to customers. Facts About the Business There are possibly no two firms that expect their salesmen to know exactly the same facts about the business. The variety of opinions on this topic runs the whole gamut. There are some houses whose salesmen never go inside the office or the factory and never have any acquaintance with their employers except by correspondence. There are other firms that refuse to put a man on the road until he has spent a year or two in the factory or stock room, learning all the details of the manu- facturing or buying end of the business. Elements of Salesmanship 43 It is safe to say, however, that the average business house of today prefers its salesmen to be thoroughly conversant with all of the facts pertaining to the goods and their manufacture, handling and transportation, since these facts and the argu- ments based upon them are frequently, even usually, very important factors in a salesman's success. Suppose you are selling an article that is required by law or public opinion to be made under sanitary conditions to prevent the spread of disease or to guarantee freshness, a good state of preservation, or other points of quality. Such require- ments are essential in the grocery line. A salesman of canned groceries not informed as to how his goods are protected against disease germs, would miss many sales that would be readily made by a competitor thoroughly qualified to inform his customers about the sanitary conditions under which his goods were manufactured. The same illustration holds good regarding almost any characteristic or attribute of the goods. For instance, take the matter of size. In many cases it is necessary for you to guarantee that the size will remain the same, that is, that it will not expand or shrink. A knowledge of how the goods were manufactured may help you explain this point. Again, take the matter of color. A man can see what the color is when you are showing him the goods, but only a knowledge of how the goods were made will enable you to explain to him why its color is fast color and will neither fade nor change in any other way, why it is non- poisonous, etc. From the above we have discovered that a knowledge of the inner workings of the house is valuable in helping you understand your goods, but there are many other ways in which it is beneficial. It will enable you to tell interesting things about your product, and often you can arouse a cus- tomer's interest in your goods by telling him some peculiar and remarkable fact about their manufacture or the way they are handled. How much better it is to say to the customer, 44 Lessons in Salesmanship "When I was in the house three weeks ago, I saw over a carload of these books ready for shipment to every state in the union. The manager told me that the sales have reached 82,500." How much better it is to say something like the above than merely to say, "These books are sold in large quan- tities." Of course, many facts can be learned from your house by correspondence, but it is generally conceded that the salesman will never tell them as enthusiastically if he knows nothing about methods of manufacture, as he will if he is filled to the brim with information gathered from personal observation. You have learned that the salesman will know more about the goods, will describe them more enthusiastically, will make fewer errors, will impress his customer more favorably, and will understand the plans and propositions of the sales depart- ment more thoroughly if he keeps in close touch with his house. It will be seen at once that in addition to all of the reasons above given, the salesman will get an inspiration through frequent visits to the house, and an understanding of its processes of manufacture, that will be of great value. But the salesman must bear in mind constantly the very important fact that while it is desirable to know all these things about his house, it is very much more important that he learn not to worry or bother about things that are going on at the house, nor to become unduly busy in concerning himself with the affairs that are not connected with his daily work. It is the failure of some salesmen to recognize this important principle, that causes certain houses to discourage visits to the house by their salesmen. A man can get into more difficulties in one day attending to other people's business than in a year attending to his own. Remember that, and remember that you are to sell goods. Whatever investigation you may make of the history and matters of your house must be solely for the purpose of helping you to sell goods. Elements of Salesmanship 45 Student's Exercise for this Lesson Select any article from the following list* : Typewriter. Hat. Dictionary. Suit of Clothes. Automobile. Diamond Ring. Sack of Flour. Lawn Mower. Advertising Space. Fountain Pen. Rug. City Lot. You are salesman for this article, or you may select any other article if you wish. Write fifty to seventy-five words in answer to the statement, "Your goods are not well made." Refer in your answer to some method of manufacture or production used by your house to produce well-made goods. LESSON 10 Your Competitor's House Not only must you know about your goods and your house, but you will find it much to the point to learn about your competitor's goods and your competitor's house. As a general rule, it pays a salesman to talk about and think about only his own goods and not to spend much time in the dis- cussion of those sold by his competitor. You can always get more business by pushing your own article than by speaking disparagingly of your competitor's article. It is true that there are times when every salesman must be prepared to speak precisely and truthfully of the goods of his competitor. Remember, however, that you have accomplished nothing when you have destroyed faith in your competitor's goods unless by the contrast you have fastened the buyer's mind upon the excellence of your own. What would you think of a pencil salesman who would advance to the buyer and say, handing *The teacher may add to the above list the names of any other article of merchan- dise in which he knows that certain of his pupils are interested. 46 Lessons in Salesmanship him a pencil: "What do you think of this for a pencil?" The buyer would use the pencil, whereupon the point would break, and the buyer would say that it was not a good pencil. To this the salesman would say: "Of course it is not; for that is sold by my competitor"; and immediately leave the store without any attempt to sell his own goods. You would undoubtedly think him a fool; and yet many salesmen con- stantly talk against their competitor's goods in much the same manner, forgetting that it is far more important to call atten- tion to the virtues of their own goods than to point out the faults of their competitor's. Let the competitor's goods be secondary if mentioned at all. The Market and Fashions Other important things that must be studied by the sales- man are the market and the fashions. The salesman who does not subscribe regularly to the trade magazines and other publications devoted to the interests of his business, makes a serious mistake, as does the salesman who fails to collect all the advertisements of his own house and his competitor's house that he can possibly secure and study them thoroughly. In addition to these things, the salesman should make use of that keen power of observation which we discussed in Lesson 5. His observation should include not only the desires, tastes, character, and disposition of his customer, but it should broaden out and take in the entire field of retail trade upon which his customer depends. He must always have an open eye to see what people want, what people are having, and what they insist upon. having. What would you think of a salesman who sold plate glass and art glass, who upon going into a stylish city would not take the pains to look at the windows of houses and great business establishments to see what the world was doing in the line in which he was in- terested? Do not take anyone else's word for these things. Form the habit of observing for yourself. Elements of Salesmanship 47 Summary The last five lessons have given a method of analyzing an article of merchandise. The same rules of analysis apply to the study of anything else that is offered for sale. Advertising space, services, privileges, concessions, office room, seats at an entertainment, or anything else to be sold, should be analyzed by the salesman by a' similar method before a sale is attempted. The salesman should understand the thing sold; he should "know what he is talking about," no matter what special thing he has for sale. We now have the five general divisions under the heading "The thing sold." They are : ^ 1. Facts about your goods. 2. Facts about your house. 3. Facts about your competitor's goods. 4. Facts about your competitor's house. 5. The market and fashions. How to Handle Your Samples Many salesmen fail without knowing why, when the reason lies entirely in the fact that their samples have not been handled carefully and have either been broken, injured or soiled. The care of samples is a matter of the utmost im- portance, for no buyer will look favorably upon the purchase of goods if the samples are not in good shape. The same is true of the display of samples. These subjects are worthy of the most careful thought, and salesmen who succeed must realize their importance. It is not honest for samples to be made of better material and quality than the goods to be delivered, but it is certainly not only fair but extremely im- portant that they be fully up to grade and exhibited in the most attractive way. 48 Lessons in Salesmanship The Sale of Services There are many other things to be sold other than mer- chandise, and it is important for the student to reahze this. Every man's services must be sold to his employer. Per- sonal services are bought, just as goods are bought. The lawyer sells his services to his client, the doctor to his patient, the preacher to his congregation, the President of the United States to his nation, the railroad "hand" to his section boss. The elements of salesmanship are the same, namely: Accuracy Industry Personality Argument Persuasion and all other qualities akin to them. The factors are similar. The Salesman (Employee) The Customer (Employer) The Thing Sold (Personal Services). If the student should never be a salesman of merchandise, the rules of this course in regard to scientific salesmanship would apply to him with equal force in his effort to dispose of his personal services. His success in selling his personal services depends on his knowledge of these three factors and how to combine them to bring about a sale. He must 1. Study to improve himself (The salesman), 2. Study the employer (His customer), 3 Learn to analyze his personal services (the thing sold) so as to successfully describe or demonstrate its value to his employer, the customer. Besides the direct sale of personal services, there is the Elements of Salesmanship 49 Sale of a Firm's Services Advertising. Many big firms do nothing except write and handle advertisements for others. Ad-writing speciaHsts are to be found in every large city or town in the United States. Auditing. Firms and individuals make a business of auditing books, systematizing records and accounting systems, etc. Advisory. There are thousands of men employed in the world as advisors. The directors of large companies are sometimes retained merely for their advisory services. A large part of the work of lawyers and doctors is merely advisory. Transportation. This is the thing sold by railroads, steamship companies, street car lines, taxicab and livery com- panies, express companies, the U. S. Post Office Department, etc Transportation is one of our largest industries. Storage and living accommodations. The owners of buildings which are rented for the occupancy of people, animals or merchandise, must sell their privilege of occupancy. They, or the real estate agents whom they employ, must be good salesmen if the income on the property is to be steady. In short, every person or firm with services for sale must depend upon the salesmanship element of business for success just as a manufacturing or retailing establishment does. It is this consideration that gives the topic of salesmanship its broad significance as the fundamental science of modern business. Student's Exercise for this Lesson Select any of the articles referred to in the list in Lesson 9, and write either of the following exercises: 1. Give three interesting facts that might arise from your knowledge of the history of your house. 2. Give three facts that might be interesting arising from comparisons with the competitor's goods. 3. Give three facts that might be interesting about the markets and fashions in this particular line of goods. % 50 Lessons in Salesmanship CHART FIVE THE SALESMAN (Special points in his person- ality to be im- proved) Physical Vt li-u / Freed Health I Vigor Freedom from Disease f Cleanliness Appearance I Clothing (. Bearing Intellectual Inspirational < 'Knowledge f Correct Speech of English ( Forceful Speech ^General Education 'Ambition Self-Confidence Determination Honesty Agreeableness Courtesy Purity Truthfulness Other Moral Qualities LESSON 11 The Salesman We now come to the consideration of the third factor of the sale — the salesman himself. The most important factor connected with any proposition is the man behind it. The argument that salesmen are born and not made is partly true but mainly false. The element of falsity lies in the fact that those who make the statement forget that a strong personality can be cultivated. This would be a sorry world indeed, if the only respects in which one could improve himself were those the measure of which may be taken by the yard stick, the computing ma- chine and the scales. It is illogical and unworthy to believe Elements of Salesmanship 51 that it is possible to improve knowledge and impossible to improve personality. One may broaden and deepen his inner self just as he may add to his knowledge of facts, or to his bank account. Shall we say that a man may study his goods and increase his knowledge of them, but that it is impossible for him to increase his understanding of himself? Shall we say that a man can analyze his customer's state of mind and learn to understand it, but not be able to increase his own power to win the customer's mind over to himself ? The fact is that personality, like everything else in the world, is not a vague, intangible, indescribable, undefinable, nebulous and hazy attribute of man, but is in truth a definite and positive factor of a man's being that is capable of being improved by direct and practical methods. There is no more absurd and dangerous opinion for the student to have than that a good personality is purely a "gift" in the sense that it cannot be acquired. The problem of the salesman is to study his various points of personality in accordance with the outline given in these lessons (or in any other good outline), and then find out how each and every point can be improved. Please examine this lesson then with special reference to yourself. Take up each topic discussed and ask yourself what your own condition is in respect to the topic referred to and how you can improve that condition by the means named. Lord Bacon in his essay on "Study" suggests that frailties of the mind, like diseases of the body, should have appropriate exercises. Is not the study of one's self an appropriate exercise for the improvement of personality ? Let us take the three well recognized divisions of one's personal make-up — the physical, intellectual, and moral. Let us first discuss the physical under the subheads: L Health. 2. Personal appearance. 52 Lessons in Salesmanship Health The object to be attained by the salesman in keeping him- self in perfect health is not simply to prolong his life, or to keep himself out'of the hospital. The average men will state that he is in good health when he means merely that he is not ill, having no malignant disease. This is the most base view one can take of the divine possibilities of the human body. The most important characteristic of perfect health is vigor, and vigor both of mind and body is the fundamental require- ment of good work in salesmanship. A poor bookkeeper may stumble along from day to day, slowly, keeping his books accurately and drawing his pay, without any marked physical vigor behind him. The same is true of almost anyone engaged in routine employment. It is absolutely untrue of the sales- man. If he is held down by a lack of physical vigor, he will probably be unable to sell anything to anybody. Vigor is far more important to him than freedom from disease or illness. Many men who have been invalids have achieved great success through vigor of mind, but no man of vigorless mind has achieved triumphant success in salesman- ship, or in anything else except sleeping. The practical method of securing freedom from disease is so apparent that it is only mentioned here because the outline would be otherwise incomplete. 1. Observe ordinary sanitary precautions with regard to cleanliness, air supply and water supply. 2. Take exercise and keep your body in a state of strength in which it is able to resist the attacks of diseases. 3. Make a proper study of the common diseases or ill- nesses to which people in your community are subject and study special means of avoiding them, especially such as you may be inclined to by heredity. A long discussion of the above is not in order here because it is a medical topic, but every one should understand these Elements of Salesmanship 53 things, by making a special study through a reHable, simple text-book on the prevention of diseases. The student should study each one of the common diseases and learn how to avoid them, especially remembering that the way to wage war against every disease is to keep the body in a healthy, strong condition. The articles and books on these topics by Dr. Woods Hutchison are among the best common sense articles for the general public to read of any that have been written on the subject. By a curious and fortunate circumstance, the attainment of vigor is greatly facilitated by the adoption of means to avoid disease or illness. Let us consider some of these means, remembering that the promotion of vigor of body is made possible mainly by the exercise of vigor of mind and that the exercise of vigor of the mind becomes easy as the vigor of the body becomes greater. The rule for the attainment of health is much the same as the rule for the attainment of wealth — the hard thing is the start; if a person has secured a good start the remainder is fairly easy. It is not necessary to say here that one of the first rules for the attainment of vigor and health is that any injurious habits must be abandoned. If one is injuring himself by smok- ing, or by drinking, or by keeping late hours, or by the use of too much medicine, or by over-eating, or by any other physical excess, the first step in the attainment of health is the correc- tion of this habit. Vigor and health depend not so much upon avoidance of bad habits as upon the formation of good ones. Let a man see to it that he has an ample amount of sleep every night, in fresh air always, and let him see to it that he eats enough good food, but studiously avoids over-eating, and compels himself to take sufficient exercise for physical well-being. Great good can be accomplished by five minutes' practice in the morning and evening at flexing the muscles, before a mirror whenever possible, and by careful deep breathing at all times. 54 Lessons in Salesmanship The trouble with most people's health Is that the digestive organs are too full and the lungs too empty. Reverse these conditions. The attainment of vigor is much more a matter of the mind than the avoidance of disease, because vigor is largely a state of mind. In the question of health a man is frequently what he thinks he is, and what he wants to be. There are many people who want to be ill. They wish to engage in conversations that will permit them to comment upon their own ill health. A neurasthenic of this kind will expect sym- pathy- and be actually insulted if some friend remarks that he is looking well. There is probably not a reader of this sentence who has not seen people of the same sort. Of course, any germ disease will attack a person no matter what his state of mind and body, but a strong mind will enable him to throw off many illnesses. The student should pursue this subject further on his own account in some book, on physical culture. The Physical Cul- ture Magazine offers many helpful suggestions, as it is edited by a man of common sense. The attainment of strength is usually secured simply by the exercise of the general rules of health, on account of the fact that nature provides certain forms of exercise and re- freshment that help one automatically. You cannot take a walk, for instance, without bringing into play most of the muscles of the body that need exercise ; and walking is said to be the most thorough and complete exercise there is. It is possible to improve the vigor and health of every part of the body by careful attention. Study the different parts of the body one by one and see what special exercises can help them. Here again it is unnecessary to be a physician or a physi- ologist in order to get the benefit of a common sense course of physical training. You do not have to know the name of a muscle in order to give it the proper exercise. At the same Elements of Salesmanship 55 time it is a little more interesting and pleasant to exercise when you do know the names and locations of the various muscles of the body. Student's Exercise for this Lesson (Fifty to Seventy-five Words.) You are salesman for a patent window ventilator. Your customer is Mr. Taylor, a hardware dealer. In talking to him refer to the importance of your ventilator to the health of the user. LESSON 12 The Salesman — Continued Personal Appearance The other division of the physical side of the salesman's personality comes under the topic Personal Appearance. Per- sonal appearance depends upon three things : cleanliness, cloth- ing, and bearing. There are some buyers who do not insist upon a salesman being clean, but the percentage of those who are irretrievably set against a dirty or an untidy salesman, is large enough to make this an important consideration. Finger- nails, hair, neck, and above all, teeth should be as clean as they can be made. The peculiarity of this terrible disease of dirtiness is that the aflflicted person has no desire to reform. Let him have slouchy clothes and you can frequently talk him into dressing more neatly. Let him have humped-over shoulders and a woe-begone expression, and you can often convince him of the value of a smile and an erect bearing. But let him be dirty, and it is not wise to advise him on this subject unless you are a bigger man than he is. % 56 Lessons in Salesmanship Dirtiness is a peculiar thing, and more peculiar than we ordinarily think, because of the fact that customers will not explain their aversion to dirty salesmen and will simply refuse to buy of them without stating the trouble, such is the in- dignation with which most dirty people accept any suggestion or counsel on this topic. The second matter is clothing. Unless you are a salesman of extreme styles, always avoid extreme clothing styles. There are many salesmen whose natural bearing is such that they can wear the most novel cut of clothing attractively ; but ordi- narily it is wise to avoid both extremes in clothing; wear neither jewelry nor rags. Don't be better dressed or worse dressed than the majority of your trade. Many salesmen adopt the principle frequently employed by public speakers, of hav- ing no jewelry or other ornament upon the person to attract the attention of the observer. The habit of toying with the spectacles or watch fob has spoiled many a sale. You would not expect a man running a foot-race to be taking a pair of nose-pinchers on and off his nose and whirling them around on his finger while he is running. If a salesman would con- sider that it is just as important to make his sale as to win a race, and requires the same concentration, many of these habits of a nervous and distracting sort would be replaced by con- vincing and forceful habits of speech. Then, being clean and well clad, see that your attitude is erect and your expression pleasant. Smile, don't grin. Be pleasant, not effusive. Be vigorous, not offensive. Remember that the reflex action of the smile is great. Not only does it create a pleasant impression on the mind of your customer, but it is quite likely to bring pleasant thoughts to the mind of the wearer of the smile. Let the salesman approach his customer with vigor radiat- ing from him, and let his personal appearance be attractive. So much for the physical. Now let us consider the purely intellectual. Elements of Salesmanship 57 Correct and Forceful Speech Every salesman should cultivate his knowledge of the English language. It is one of the most valuable of all studies to him. The study of this language must teach him two things, first, the ability to talk correctly; second, the ability to talk effectively. It is not necessary to produce any argument in favor of the above. The salesman who is not making it a point to read the best books written, is failing to educate himself in a way that is most vital to his success. Other common school studies should be mastered, at least to a reasonable degree of proficiency, for the sake of general development of the mind ; but the power of speech is all important. The salesman should seek to cultivate his mind-power regu- larly by study as he begins his life work, remembering that he only advances who studies constantly. The value of no study is lost to the salesman, especially the study of great books. The salesman should train himself, or seek special train- ing elsewhere, in the art of talking effectively. This is one of the most important attributes of the sales- man. It involves both a study of arguments and a training of the voice. The former is what these courses are designed to give to the student. The latter is something that he must learn for himself, unless better instruction is available. When a man tells you that the cultivation of the powers of the voice is not distinctly necessary on the part of the salesman, because salesmen succeed who do not do this, he forgets that the salesmen to whom he refers are men who win in spite of their faults and not on account of them. Fifteen minutes spent every evening for six months in the cultivation of a good, smooth, even and forceful tone of voice is a splen- did investment ; and certainly if there is any business on earth where the human voice is valuable, it is the business of sales- manship. Your voice is likely to make you friends or enemies without you knowing it. No man can afford to use anything 58 . Lessons in Salesmanship but a pleasant, smooth, business-like voice, and if this is true, then it must also be true that no man can afford to let his voice go uncultivated if he can improve it ever so slightly by practice. You do not need the services of a vocal teacher, or an elocutionist. You need your own ears and a silent room. You need to regulate the tone quality of 'your voice. For instance, speak to yourself now as you read this, in a high, rasping tone of voice. See how that sounds. Finally, after you have experimented with objectionable tones of voice, which you will not use in your work, try to produce a smooth, even tone, such as one should always employ; and remember that this is part of the business of the salesman. Your voice must not sound like the voice of one who has gone asleep, neither must it sound like the voice of one who is nervous and excited. Is it not possible that your voice has a trace of these deficiencies in it? It is possible that you have a deficiency of speech, such as lisping or stuttering. It has been scientifically demonstrated that these faults can be cured through proper practice. Here, once more, you must be warned against the man who tries to make you believe that these are qualities with which a man is born and that there is no possibility of es- cape from the objectionable ones. Think again about what was suggested a few lessons previous, that the man who has attractive qualities has them because of effort put forth by himself, as well as by his parents. It is said of the great French orator, Mirabeau, that his face had been marked by small-pox, and was repulsive beyond description, but nature had been so changed by the inner fire that the most beautiful women of France were enraptured by the vigor of his expres- sion, the illumination of his eyes, and the wonderful force of his manner, qualities cultivated by him though he was handi- capped by a terrible disfigurement. It should not be forgotten that general education along all Elements of Salesmanship 59 liberal and practical lines is as valuable to the salesman as to any other person. It broadens the mind, exercises the imagina- tion, and cultivates an interesting and attractive personality. A vain display of general educational attainments is to be avoided, but the incidental power these bring is of great value. Student's Exercise for this Lesson (Fifty to Seventy-five Words.) You are selling a' book entitled "Common Mistakes of Speech Corrected." Your customer is Mr. Rice, principal of a school. Refer, in your talk, to the value of correct language. LESSON 13 The Salesman — Continued Inspirational Qualities The preceding lesson has referred more to the machinery of the mind, and not to the spirit or soul behind it that moves it to endeavor, and inspires it to succeed. It is true that certain things must be studied just as it is true that certain things must be done to cultivate the body, but beyond both of these things there lies the cultivation of that inclination toward motion, activity and enthusiasm that we refer to as "spirit." In other words, there are two divisions of intellectual power. (1) The purely technical, (2) the inspirational. Fundamentally, the salesman's success, like that of every other man, depends upon the quality of his "spirit." Those who do not think deeply, say, "I know it is true that you can cultivate the body and the machinery of the mind, but the quality of' a man's 'spirit' is a natural gift." These persons are in error. It is just as possible for a man to cultivate spirit and ginger as to increase his powers 60 Lessons in Salesmanship along physical and intellectual lines. To test the truth of this statement, consider the most important of the qualities just referred to, and how they can be cultivated. Ambition. The desire to win is stronger in some people than in others, but can be cultivated by all. There is no basis for the popular idea that ambition is unattainable unless born in a man. The average person becomes ambitious through the fact that in his childhood wise parents and* teachers read to him stories that point him to success and achievement. Through- out life, he is constantly educated by his school book, by the daily newspaper, by the preacher, by everyone with whom he comes in contact, to the belief that he can attain greater things. The very fact that certain men around him have attained suc- cess is itself a part of this education. Writers, newspaper men, preachers, parents, teachers, all find that their labors in instilling ambition meet with success for the reason that as soon as they succeed m getting one hundred people to try and try hard, they have from ninety-five to one hundred who will succeed; these will buy more books, buy more newspapers, pay more preachers, pay more teachers ; and the more they pay these great inspirers, the more they will be inspired; and so the whole cycle of improvement goes on, because Truth is on the side of the man who says, *Tf I try, I can win." It follows very closely and very logically that if a man can be inspired by the teachings of others, he can in a similar way inspire himself. Let the man who feels that his desire to win and struggle and fight is not strong enough, go to the library in his town and look up books of inspiration, biog- raphies of successful men, whether in his own line of business or not. The principle is exactly the same as explained in the preceding paragraph. Just as a teacher can inspire him by pointing out these truths, so can he inspire himself by reading about them. Did you ever look at it in this light before? If Elements of Salesmanship 61 you will secure Mr. Crewdson's book "Tales of the Road," or Mr. Moody's book, "Men Who Sell Things," you will find them full of stories of success. Suppose added to this you study the biographies of famous salesmen like Andrew Car- negie or hundreds of others whose names and histories will be found in Mr. Sheldon's magazine, "The Business Philoso- pher," which is devoted to salesmen more exclusively than any other magazine in this country. Your ambition will be aroused. If then, it is possible for you to cultivate ambition by read- ing of the experiences of others, it is also possible for you to take the next step and cultivate it by planning for your own future. Suppose you spend a period of time every day in- thought, contemplating the possibilities of your own success. Do you not believe that you can cultivate ambition ? Of course, if you figure too high, you may over-shoot the mark, fail and be disappointed. You must guard against this disappointment by trying again. Ambition, like everything else in the world that is worth having, can be secured by effort. Sufficient time and labor spent in securing the object of one's desire will make that desire a thousand times stronger than at the first. Self -Confidence. This quality is next in logical order to ambition as a great spiritual quality pointing toward suc- cessful salesmanship. Reference is not made here to conceit or egotism which leads men to undertake tasks without neces- sary preparation, but to that stalwart faculty of mind whereby a man knows that he. will succeed because he knows that he understands his subject, that he is willing to put into his work the necessary amount of effort. Self-confidence in a young salesman who has not as yet tried his spurs, must be based on hopefulness and willingness to try. These two qualities can scarcely fail when backed by a reasonable amount of intelli- gence and an unusual amount of determination. The man who expects to win has ten chances for success to one that he would have otherwise. A salesman can hardly 62 Lessons in Salesmanship do anything more harmful to himself than to adopt the atti- tude of one who might say, *'I don't think I shall sell you this, but I am going ahead' with this miserable selling talk because I have been paid to do it. Stop me if you want to, and I'll go." The test of a salesman's self-reliance frequently comes when he is required to face the question of whether he wants to work on salary or commission. Among incompetent sales- men, who have no confidence in their propositions, or in them- selves, the salesman is constantly on the lookout for guaran- teed salary, and his house is struggling to get him to work on commission. But among the better class of salesmen, the .problem is exactly the reverse. The salesman prefers the com- mission plan and the house often endeavors to limit him to a salary. The reason that the commission plan should be preferred by anyone, is evident after a very little careful thought. If a salesman gets a position on a salary, he cannot keep it any longer than he is able to earn it, and in case of unusual success, he cannot reap the benefit in an increase of pay. If he works under the commission system, however, he can get pay for all the work he does. The trouble with incompetent people, however, is that they imagine they can fool their employers into thinking there is some good reason why they should be retained when they are not getting business, and that their employers will retain them — a most absurd and impossible state of affairs. The best way to cultivate self-confidence is to put yourself in a position where you will have to rely upon yourself. Self- confidence is perhaps as hard a quality to cultivate as any, because if it is not foolhardiness, it must be based upon a certain knowledge of ability and strength, and even though one has this ability and strength, he is not. likely to find it out positively until after it has been tried many times. And yet, strange as it may seem, this quality is often best developed by rebuffs and failures. Many of the strongest men we have, Elements of Salesmanship 63 are men who have met with discouragements and measured themselves against adversities until their grasp of a difficulty is accurate and their strength to meet it is fully adequate, purely through the effect of experience. The next quality is expressed by the words — determination, patience, persistence, preseverance, and endurance. It is the quality that must come to the aid of ambition and self-con- fidence if actual results are to be obtained, for it makes ambi- tion effective and self-confidence useful. Just as you can cultivate ambition by studying the suc- cesses of others and self-confidence by welcoming hard tasks, so you can cultivate this quality. There is no better way to cultivate patience and perse- verance in work than to fix the eyes upon the future. At the time it is being performed, work seldom seems to pay for itself in the doing. He is indeed a lucky person who has so found his work that he enjoys every minute of it more than he would enjoy relaxation or amusement. It is poetic and delightful to think of work as being more pleasant than amusement is, but we know as a matter of cold, solid fact that to the majority of people it is not. It is the warm, fighting persistence of a man that makes him stick to his work at times when others have deserted, or at times when discouragements are heavy upon him, but the man who fixes his eyes on a point ten, fifteen, or thirty years ahead can thereby cultivate a brand of patience and endurance that will fit him for the struggle — not the sort of patience that will free his mind from any worry or ambition or desire connected with the future, but the kind of patience and en- durance that persuades him to hold on because he can see the goal ahead. There are other "ginger qualities" that need not be con- sidered here, as the rules for their attainment are practically the same as the above. 64 Lessons in Salesmanship Moral Qualities It must be very distinctly understood that when we speak of the moral side of a man's nature we are not referring even indirectly to any particiilar religious belief, but simply to a man's attitude toward the great moral questions of honesty, faithfulness, cheerfulness, and the like, and their direct bearing upon the success of the salesman's work. Honesty. Certainly the man who said, "Honesty is the best policy," spoke a great truth. The reason that one who is honest is likely to be successful is not simply that others come to find out in time that he is dependable, and that there- fore it will pay them to trade with him. It is true that they do find out this, and that the cultivation of a strong moral character does bear fruit indirectly in this way; but it bears fruit in a far more direct way — its influence On the life and character ot the salesman himself. It gives him the right to feel that whatever progress he is making and whatever success he has, is founded upon solid rock. He is not pursued by the thought that he is injuring those with whom he deals. He is not harrassed by the idea that he is doing anything for his customers less than the very best he knows how. What could possibly make a man stronger than such a feeling as this? How can a salesman expect to go through life perpetually acting a part, pretending to be the friend of his customers while he knows that he is not, and that when the customer finds out the facts, he will never buy of him again? Such a salesman must hunt up new purchasers every trip. He knows that he can only do business with the weakest and least intel- ligent of men — men whom he can deceive. Is it not many times better to start into the salesmanship business recognizing the truth of the principle laid down in the first lesson that a fair bargain must benefit both parties? Is it not easy to see that the salesman who recognizes this principle at the very start will attain a success that he could not otherwise attain? Elements of Salesmanship 65 This does not mean that immoral men do not often succeed, nor that there are no morally upright men who fail. But the chances are nearly one hundred to one that the salesman can only attain the highest success in his business by working along lines that have the constant approval of his inner self. Can a leopard change his spots? Can a man cultivate honesty ? There are many who believe that a man can not cultivate honesty as a merely intellectual process, many who believe that a man is either honest or dishonest by nature and that the only method for a dishonest man to become honest is a sudden conversion of some sort. How absurd this is. We all read and believe that a man's fall from a position of honesty to that of dishonesty is gradual. We hear stories of men finally landed in the penitentiary who began by slight deviations from the path of honor, whose consciences became gradually less and less tender, and who eventually sank to the bottom, overwhelmed by a desire to cheat, lie, and steal that was irresistible. If this is true, is it illogical to believe that a man can advance upward by the same gradual steps that marked his downfall ? If a man feels himself lacking in the quality of honesty, he can correct it by careful, earnest thought when questions arise, in which he assumes himself for the time to be the other person, providing he agrees with himself that he will always act upon the decision that he would come to in the matter if he were the other person. It is impossible to con- ceive how a man can contemplate the hardship brought into thousands of lives by his robbery of a bank,' and yet proceed with the operation. Men are dishonest because they do not try to cultivate honesty in a positive and definite way as sug- gested above. Agreeableness. "Never become angry" is the first rule of prudence for the salesman. Its advantages are twofold. 66 Lessons in Salesmanship 1. The salesman loses a customer when he loses his head, whether he is right or wrong. 2. The salesman limits his own ability to think and act cleverly or intelligently when he becomes angry. Angry men can't think clearly; and clear thinking is the salesman's stock in trade. Many other moral qualities must be considered by the sales- man. For instance, Courtesy, Purity of Action and Speech, Truth (a form of honesty), etc., All of these cannot receive special consideration here. The salesman is urged to reflect upon their importance in all busi- ness affairs, however, and to strive earnestly to cultivate them. As a concluding thought along this line of cultivation of personality, please consider the following suggestion. Many of our greatest men have come from surroundings not at all conducive to the cultivation of such character and accomplish ments as they attained in later life. These men did not leap at once from positions of unattractive obscurity to great fame and fortune. It takes years of struggle for such things to be accomplished. If any of you have joined this salesmanship course with the idea that at the conclusion of your course, no matter how clownish or rough or uncultured you have been at your beginning, you would be polished gentlemen and ladies ready to transact business with the biggest men in the land, you are doomed to disappointment. Books will never teach the world and lectures will never make much change in human lives. It is the task of this course merely to point out to you the paths along which your personality can be properly culti- vated, and especially to suggest points in which your selling ability can be improved. The rest lies entirely with you, and not so much in the next six weeks as in the next six years. The cultivation of an attractive and winning personality is a matter of many, many years, but if you heed the instructions Elements of Salesmanship 67 given in this course, and if you then keep your eyes open to observe what people Hke in you and how they Hke to have you meet them, you cannot fail in the process of years to develop yourself into a strong and efhcient salesman. Student's Exercise for this Lesson (Fifty to Seventy-five Words.) You are selling "The Bookkeeper," a magazine that makes a specialty of the biographies of successful business men. Your custorner is a young man named Middleton. In what you say, refer to the inspiration and help everyone gets from reading about the lives of successful men. SELECTING PROSPECTS CHART SIX ' I. Your Former Customers 2. Dun and Bradstreet Reports 3. City, State and Rural Directories 4. Trade Lists 5. Church School, and Club Membership Lists 6. Subscription Lists 7. Lists Compiled by Other Merchants 8. Lists Sent in Answer to Advertise- ments, ETC. ^9. Lists Secured by Correspondence 68 Lessons in Salesmanship LESSON 14 Selecting Prospects There are some salesmen who are not obliged to select their prospects, but are given a list of those whom they must visit, and are expected to see no one else. This class of sales- men is comparatively small. Most salesmen must always be on the alert for new customers, and many salesmen are re- quired to look after this matter with very little assistance from the house. The following lists will be found of value. As many of these suggestions should be used as the special case demands. L Your Former Customers. This is the most valuable list you can possibly have. A salesman can make no greater mistaken than to ignore, forget, or mistreat a former customer. Names of all your former customers should make up the backbone of your entire list. 2. Dun and Bradstreet Reports. The commercial agencies of R. G. Dun & Co. and the Bradstreet Co. and other commercial agencies of the United States furnish customers not only with ratings of business, but with lists of names that are valuable. The names in Dun and Bradstreet are those of large and responsible firms. For many salesmen these lists will not be complete enough, but others will find that they contain nearly all the names that are desired. 3. City, State and Rural Directories. These need no explanation. Where obtainable, directories will always be found valuable to salesmen who wish to cover the ground thoroughly and omit no one. 4. Trade Lists. Trade lists are numerous in kind, and of different grades of value. There is the special list from an authoritative source. In this class come lists of members of societies, local associa- Elements of Salesmanship 69 tions, etc. They do not necessarily include all of the enter- prising merchants of the district represented, but are likely to include most of them. Enterprising merchants usually belong to such associations. There are also general trade lists pub- lished. Their reliability will depend upon the reliability of the publisher. Many such publishers are absolutely reliable, as in the case of Dun and Bradstreet mentioned above. But there are others who sell names by the thousands, making strong claims for the correctness of the lists, when as a matter of fact the lists are very inaccurate and unreliable. The third class consists of merchants' local lists. When such lists are honestly published by merchants who have the good of their city at heart and are not attempting to boycott other merchants, they can sometimes be depended upon. Often, however, merchants' "Black Lists" are published by prejudiced and evil-mJnded persons, and are not reliable. 5. Church, School, and Club Membership Lists. These lists are extremely valuable to salesmen who have articles for sale that appeal to any one of the classes of people listed in them. 6. Subscription Lists of Magazines and Newspapers. It is generally difficult if not impossible to secure these lists on account of the fact that the publisher fears that the list may fall into the hands of a competitor and be used to his damage. However, they are sometimes obtainable. 7. Lists Compiled by Other Merchants. Frequently a merchant will get up a list of his own custom- ers, and sell this list to other merchants who are not com- petitors. 8. Lists Sent in Answer to Premium Offers, Cou- pons, OR other Requests. This sort of list is one of the most frequently found of all. A dealer takes it for granted that the enterprising retailer of his article will read the magazine in which he will see it adver- tised. He then makes it a point to prepare an advertisement so 70 Lessons in Salesmanship attractive that it is sure to draw the attention of those who would be interested, and either through a premium offer or a coupon he secures possession of their names and addresses. 9. Lists Secured by Correspondence. It is best to secure a Hst by direct correspondence when pos- sible, but of course you must have in advance a list of the peo- ple to whom you may write in order to determine whether or not they are interested. There are two classes of names to be se- cured by correspondence, namely, those who write to you first, thus showing an interest in your proposition, and those to whom you write first. It is taken for granted, of course, that most salesmen will give very careful attention to any customer whose name is secured in this direct manner. Planning Visits Having now secured your list of customers you are ready to plan your visits. This should be done with great care. The salesman should not rely upon memory except in very unusual cases. A list of customers should be kept in a pocket card file or a note book, and in some cases a map of a town, with a "plan of march" carefully outlined, will be found ex- tremely valuable. A salesman with twenty or thirty customers to call on, can waste a great deal of time by not following a systematic plan in calling on his customers. The commercial salesman with a select trade experiences no great difficulty in planning his visits in a certain town. He experiences a greater difficulty, however, in arranging the order in which he will visit the towns on his list. Economy of time in calling upon his customers in any town can be provided for by simply looking over the list of his customers, preferably in the evening when he has plenty of time, so that he can mentally determine the order in which he will visit them. Sometimes the list of customers is so small that even this is not necessary. :, With the canvasser, however, the planning of visits is a Elements of Salesmanship 71 very important question. The canvasser can make no more serious mistake than that of caUing upon his customers in a haphazard order, and perhaps skipping a large number of them altogether. If a canvasser is honest and has a good proposition, (and, of course, no other sort of person should be taking a course of lessons of this kind) he will find that one of the secrets of his success will be in making a thorough canvass of everybody in the neighborhood. In this way he can secure a strong local interest in his goods. He can also create a strong local confidence in himself, especially in the country. He can really make personal friends if his stay in the community is- long enough ; and this is of great value. A salesman can make no more serious error than to pick out certain houses and cer- tain stores as most promising, and skip those that do not look so promising. Where the country roads or the city streets are cut in regu- lar squares the best plan in the country is to start at one end of the road taking all houses on both sides of the road, and all houses that are near the road on cross roads. Travel in this way five or six miles and then come back on the next road. This is the method that has been found by canvassers to be most economical of distance. If you will draw on your paper a map of a township six miles square with regular roads, and trace the route as suggested, you will see how one can cover a township thoroughly in this way with very little "doubling on his track." In town, a very similar plan may be employed, where the streets are regular. Sometimes the canvasser goes up one side and down another on all the streets running east and west. But in general it is preferable to go up one side of the street, taking up cross streets on that side, and come straight back on the other side of the street without stopping for cross streets. Repeat this on the adjoining street, and then on the third street, etc., and you will see that the ground has been covered com- pletely by an economical plan. 72 Lessons in Salesmanship Student's Exercises for this Lesson No. 1 Select any one of the articles mentioned in Lesson 9, and tell how you would choose your customers were you to go into a strange town of 10,000 people to sell the goods, (a) by wholesale; (b) by retail. No. 2 In Smithville, the streets running north and south are let- tered from A to M, and the streets running east and west are numbered from First to Twelfth, as shown in the following diagram. The house numbers begin at zero where A Street crosses the east and west streets, and run east one hundred to the block, with the odd numbers on the north side of the street. They begin at zero where First Street crosses the north and south streets and run south one hundred to the block, the odd numbers being on the east side of the street. N ^. , ABCDEFGHIJKLM First ■' Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth W "I I I I I i I i |i Elements of Salesmanship n Prepare a route list for the following addresses, starting from your hotel corner Fifth and K Streets, planning to walk the smallest possible number of blocks in your trip. First place an X on the diagram for each house to be visited. Then arrange your addresses in the order in which you would visit them, and state the number of blocks required. 1110 Fourth 110 M St. 1085 Second 53 M St. 913 Second St. 1040 First 1093 Third 80 K St. 1150 Second 844 K St. 1115 First 86 Third 390 H St. 680 K St. 670 Fifth 1130 Eighth 950 Ninth 450 Second 810 Fifth 109 C St. 230 Second 170 Fifth 1033 Twelfth 835 L St. LESSON 15 The Normal Selling Talk If every man were precisely like every other man, the question of salesmanship would be an easy one because it would only be necessary to test one man to find out exactly what kind of selling talk appeals to him, learn that selling talk, and deliver it over and over again. Fortunately for the fascinating interest of salesmanship, this is not the situation. Every man varies from the normal at least a trifle, and your selling talk must be revised to suit him. This suggests the most logical method of studying the selling talk, which is the consideration before us now. Let us construct a normal or standard talk that must appeal to a man with no prejudices or peculiarities. Having this normal selling talk, we will see later how it must be modified for customers of varying types. 74 Lessons in Salesmanship What does this normal seUing talk consist of? 1. A correct, accurate description of the goods which are exhibited on the spot. 2. A statement of the price and terms of sale. -^ 3. An invitation to the customer to buy. Of course, in the above the question has been stripped of all side issues such as the necessity for correct conduct and conversation, the necessity for choosing the proper time to present the case, etc. I mean that, in the case of a normal customer, that is, a customer who can handle the goods and needs them, there is nothing for the salesman to do but the above, since this customer has no peculiarities and it is simply necessary that he see the goods, understand the proposition, and be invited to buy. Such a man would not be influenced in his judgment by anything the salesman might say of an attractive or enticing nature. On the other hand, he would not be influenced against the goods on account of any personal short-comings of the salesman. He would be like a god in his ability to see the exact truth about those goods. Perhaps "normal" man is the wrong name to give this imaginary person. There is no such person in the world. Possibly the best name for this imaginary customer is the "Standard Customer." There are only three questions for this man. They are : 1. What are the goods ? 2. What is your proposition ? 3. What is your price? While this "Standard Customer" is not real, making an outline of a talk for such an imaginary and ideal customer will show what are the bare essentials of a selling talk. Your description of the goods to this man must contain no comparatives or superlatives. In fact, it must contain no adjectives, except those referring to the technical construction Elements of Salesmanship 75 of the goods. It must be merely a description based upon measurements, weights and quaHties and a statement regarding the facts and conditions of the sale. It is only natural that all buyers should attempt as far as possible to be like this standard or normal man with a judg- ment so perfect that it can be influenced neither for or against a proposition by any outside consideration. But the majority of them fail, like the blustering fellow who said to the book agent, "Now, young man, there is no use in your coming here and giving me a lot of that guff to the effect that I am one of the leading citizens of the town, and that it is absolutely necessary for you to have my name at the head of your list. I have heard that kind of talk before, and it has no effect on me. No man can make me change my mind by giving me any of that soft soap." "I know that," said the book agent, "and that is just why I came here. I am sick and tired of having to hand out that line of talk to prominent men, and I came here just because I knew it would be a relief to sell this book to one man on its own merits because of his judgment." He sold the book. The student will see that all the lessons thus far have led up to the construction of the normal selling talk to which the first part of this text has been devoted. The study of this lesson really involves a consideration of all that has gone before. If all men were alike, it would be necessary to have only one selling talk. As it is, the best way to understand the psychology of selling is to take the man who represents the standard, or nor- mal, or average, find out what are the bare necessities of description in talking to him, and construct a normal selling talk which will consist of : 1. Introduction. — For audience. 2. Statement of purpose of visit. — For attention. 3. Description of goods. — For interest. 76 Lessons in Salesmanship 4. Statement of price. — For desire. 5. Invitation to buy. — For action. We will learn later to deviate from this "Normal Selling Talk" in accordance with certain rules. Student's Exercise for this Lesson (Fifty to Seventy-five Words.) Select any article from the list in lesson 9. Describe one feature of it in detail, using the name of your customer in talking to him. LESSONS 16-24 Answering Objections We have seen that the fundamental basis of a selling talk must be a description of the goods. We are not yet ready to introduce topics for discussion regarding the different sorts of description that are necessary for the different sorts of people, nor different methods of presentation that must be adopted to meet different situations. These and many other similar matters must follow after the next nine lessons. In the next nine lessons is a series of objections to various points brought up in the fundamental or normal selling talk that we have just considered, and for the present one of these objections is assigned for discussion in each of the following lessons. The object of the lesson will be in each case for the class to devise, compose and arrange in order all of the various answers that might be given to these objections. The student will see in later lessons which of these replies should be made in various cases; in other words, how to suit these replies to the personality of the customer and incidentally how to adapt them to your own personality as a salesman. Elements of Salesmanship 1*] For the present, however, during this and the eight lessons to follow, the problem will be merely that of presenting all the possible answers to these objections. "Your Price is Too ffigh" There are few salesmen who understand the dignity of a price, and among those who do understand this there are still fewer who understand exactly when a price ought to lose its dignity. That is, there are few salesmen who understand why a man should usually hold his goods at one price with great rigidity, and there are fewer still who understand how and when to lower prices in extreme cases. Most buyers have learned never to try to induce a salesman to lower his prices because the salesman soon learns what to expect and puts up his prices next time. Similarly the sales- man will usually find that it is to his benefit never to make a reduction, because if he does it once, it will be expected always. Almost all salesmen will be provided with instructions from the house on this point. Below is a specimen of the instruc- tions issued by one house to its salesmen. "It is sometimes advisable to make a regular schedule of concessions. When this is deemed wise, treat all your cus- tomers, in the same locality, exactly the same. These conces- sions should in all cases be by 'giving in,' without charge, something in addition to their regular purchase, and never by 'throwing off' from the regular price. Some of our sales- men have secured excellent results by means of a definite sys- tem of 'giving in.' Assuming that a customer has evidently ended his selection, you may say then, Tf you take eighteen, I am allowed to give an extra one without charge.' Always re- member that this 'throwing in' is to induce the custom.er to in- crease his selection from a smaller to a larger amount." This principle might be applied successfully by almost any salesman, the point being for him not to definitely lower the price of any article but to add something to the order. The "J^ Lessons in Salesmanship suggestions given above were given to canvassers, but the general principle is interesting and suggestive. For instance, there are wholesale houses that refuse to give special reduc- tions from special articles, but will give a general reduction on an entire bill of goods, thus protecting themselves from the charge of underselling any given item. A simple illustration of this is from the magazine business where certain magazines can not be secured below a given price if purchased singly; but if several different magazines are purchased in a "club," a smaller price is accepted. The public, however, does not know which publication is being reduced in price. "You sold these goods to Jones for less money than you did to me," is a complaint which almost always means you will get little future business from the customer who makes it. The art of making concessions gracefully when it is neces- sary to make them at all is a very valuable one to the salesman and it will therefore be of interest for us in the exercise for Lesson 16 to answer the objection, "Your price is too high." Student's Exercise for this Lesson Let each student be assigned one exercise until all are taken. (Fifty to seventy-five words.) As an illustration for the exercises below, consider the following answer to the objection "Your price is too high." The answer must show the purpose for which the article is used. The article in mind is a large office safe. "Mr. Anderson, you might well say that the price of this safe is too high if its only purpose were to protect your cash from burglars ; but you must remember that it protects your cash, your valuable papers, and your books. Remember that it not only protects these from burglars, but from mice, vermin, fire, and water as well. You might lose in a single fire papers that would be worth to you many times the cost of this safe." Elements of Salesmanship 79 In each of the following, you must select a given article and have it in mind before proceeding. Mention the name of the article in your exercise. Write an answer to the objection "Your price is too high," referring to: Exercise 1. The size of the article to be sold. Exercise 2. The color of the article. Exercise 3. The style of the article. • Exercise 4. The productiveness of the article. Exercise 5. The fact that your system of installments makes the price very reasonable. Exercise 6. The reputation of your house as a guarantee that the price is fair. Exercise 7. The value of your article as a curio. Exercise 8. The cost of production and manufacture. Exercise 9. The public demand for the article. Exercise 10. The opinion of others as to the fairness of your price. Exercise 11. The fact that the article is increasing in value and that the present price, while it may seem high, is perfectly fair. Exercise 12. The fact that the article will pay for itself. Exercise 13. The offer of your house to refund the money if the dealer is not satisfied that the goods are worth the price. Exercise 14. The fact that competitors are charging more for the same goods. Exercise 15. The fact that the article can be adapted to many uses. Exercise 16. The fact that the article is fashionable. Let each member of the class come prepared with a reply of fifty to seventy-five words, which shall embody only one point. Do not combine several reasons in this little exercise, but confine yourself to one point. 80 Lessons in Salesmanship Student's Exercises for Lessons 17-24 (Fifty to Seventy-five Words Each.) Lesson 17. Answer the objection "Your Hne is not up-to- date." Lesson 18. Answer the objection "You do not sell in small enough quantities." Lesson 19. Answer the objection "I never heard of your house before." Lesson 20. Answer the objection "Your goods are not popular." Lesson 21. Answer the objection "I do not like the colors in your line." Lesson 22. Answer the objection "Jones & Co. tell me they lost money on your line." Lesson 23. Answer the objection "Your terms are not lib- eral." Lesson 24. Answer the objection "I would have no use for your article." GENERAL REVIEW CHART ^KlNDS OF ^Name Address "^^ SALESMANSHIP Facts of Extent of business _ ■4-) identification Attitude toward article rt and Attitude toward your X! u Kinds of description (See Chart 2) make (See Chart 3) Personality s SALESMEN . (See page 22) 'Customer < 'Observation Factors ^ Thing Sold How to find out about < customer 'Inquiry of Customer < 4 OF A SALE (See Chart 4) Invest!-^ Inquiry of ^ ^ gation others CD Selection of Commercial w Salesman prospects Associations < in L(See Chart 5) V. (See Chart 6) Sales .CLASSIFIEI D PART II A Study of the Influence of the Salesman Upon the Mind of the Customer LESSON 25 Mind Control The first part of this lesson is devoted to a discussion of Mind Control. Read the following chart carefully at this time. MIND CONTROL CHART SEVEN I Acts through the five^ Proper <{ avenues of the mind Is attained by correct process of presenting an argument Sight Hearing Touch Smell Taste Audience Attention Interest Desire Action Improper — fHypnotism or Attained through i Mesmerism ^Trickery We have now studied the three factors of the sale : the salesman, the customer and the goods. These are what might be likened to the flesh, blood, and bones of a sale, out of which the salesman's knowledge is constructed. But they are the mere body, simply half of the salesman's being, a perfect physical structure without soul or spirit. The soul and spirit of this body is the psychological element that enables a sales- si 82 Lessons in Salesmanship man to make a sale through the influence of his mind and his knowledge of the customer's mind, while another salesman who may understand his goods and propositions just as well and be as familiar with the three factors of the sale in a tech- nical way, is unable to accomplish anything at all. Just as a body composed of blood, bones, and flesh may be a dead body, so it is possible for a salesman to understand the facts recited in the previous lesson of this course, and be a dead salesman. It takes the breath of life to create being, and it takes the breath of life to make a salesman; but while we cannot breathe the breath of life into a dead body, we can show a dead salesman how to arise and make a success of himself through a study of the action of the mind. It may be an attractive figure of speech to say that the pre- ceding lessons have contained a study of the physiology of the sale while what is to follow will refer to the psychology of the sale. Part I can be compared to the study of the body; Part 2 refers to the study of the mind. At the risk of seeming for a moment to engage the reader's attention with the vague and mysterious, it may be said that the whole question is fundamentally a question of mind-con- trol. When you have studied the' remaining lessons, however, and discovered what is meant by mind control, you will see that this does not mean anything that is hazy or nebulous, or in the least degree indefinite, but that it refers merely to the proper influence that every mind may have over every other mind. These lessons will show you how this can be improved, strengthened and directed by the salesman, in the interest of his work. First let us clearly understand that there is a distinction between proper mind-control and hypnotism or other forms of mesmeric influence. For example, the salesman who arranges his thought and presentation logically, so as to lead his customer into the proper attitude toward his goods, is well within his rights. Making a Sale 83 So, also, is he who introduces new and overwhelming argu- ments, and he who studies methods of so impressing his per- sonality on a customer as to inspire confidence. Certainly one cannot justly criticise a salesman for studying his cus- tomer's face and manner in such a way as to find out the exact minute when he would be most likely to consent to a purchase, or for any other studious effort to learn exactly when to urge his strongest points. The salesman must learn when his argu- ment is at its best, and, conversely, when the customer's mind is in its most receptive condition. That is the minute for action. The salesman must be able to recognize it when it comes, and must practice every fair method of bringing it about. He must compel the buyer to minimize any objections in his mind and to become enthusiastic over the advantages that the salesman has presented. This is proper and legitimate mind-control. It has nothing to do with hypnotism, mesmerism, making a vSale to an intoxi- cated or demented person, or any other unfair method of taking advantage of an abnormal condition of the buyer's mind. The following are illustrations of legitimate mind-control: 1. A salesman finds a buyer opposed to his article because he does not understand its merits. A simple explanation compels the buyer to change his mind. 2. A salesman finds that a buyer is impulsive and enthusi- astic. He therefore describes his goods enthusiastically and secures the order "on the spur of the moment." 3. A salesman finds it difficult to secure the buyer's sig- nature to an order. He watches his customer's face until it shows a keen interest, then hands him pencil and paper with a request to sign, at exactly the right moment. 4. A salesman learns that his customer is inclined to favor those salesmen for whom he has a personal friendship. He therefore cultivates a feeling of friendship between himself and his customer, and uses it to secure an order. 84 Lessons in Salesmanship These are simple illustrations, but they make the meaning clear. The student will no doubt be able to add many similar illustrations from his own knowledge or hearsay, such as the use, at the proper time, of the names of well-known pur- chasers, etc. Mr. W. D. Moody, in Chapter 13 of "Men Who Sell Things," discusses "The Mind as a Magnet." He says: "There is no question that the power of attraction which gives one man ascendency over others can be cultivated by any one who is sufficiently persistent and painstaking in the effort. Psychologists have not given us any formula for developing this quality. Any one who is interested, however, can suggest ways and means for himself, which will help toward the de- sired end. "The first step toward accomplishment in this direction is a careful study of the successful men who are described as 'born salesmen/ and who get their results by exercising this mental force. It will be found that all men possessed of personal magnetism are very much in earnest. Their intense earnestness is magnetism. Their minds are filled with one controlling idea — success in whatever undertaking they have in mind." He enlarges on this idea for some time and then says, "The second step toward gaining the end in view is for the salesman to put himself as far as possible in entire har- mony with all the conditions under which he works. To do this, his relations with his house should be candid and agree- able; there should be no rankling remembrances of differences which he may have had with the manager or others in the house. He should have absolute faith in the product he is selling; he should feel in entire sympathy with every pros- pective customer with whom he talks." He finally sums up the whole matter in the following lan- guage : "No one should confuse the mental action described here with hypnotism. It is not recommended to make an attack on Making a Sale 85 the will power of a customer, for that is neither fair play nor practical business. One can, however, develop a power to arouse the interest and good-will of others, so that they will sometimes do voluntarily what a hypnotist seeks to make them do involuntarily. Such power, when acquired, assures some measure of success at least." The formula for developing this quality is very simple. It is a study of the five senses and the manner in which they influence the mind, and a constant eflfort to apply in practice what is learned. The Five Senses CHART EIGHT r Sight THE AVENUES TO THE MIND < Hearing Touch Smell Taste The student learned, in the early grades at school, that the five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. These five senses may be called the avenues to the mind. It is impossible for any sensation to reach the objective mind except through one of the five senses. The student should give some time to this thought. Classify all the facts you can know about anything. Did you see them ? Did you hear them ? Did you hear about them ? Did you touch the object? Or taste it? Or smell it? Is there anything you ever learned or could learn, except through one of these five avenues to the mind? Memory connects the mind with the past; imagination, with the future; but memory and imagina- tion cannot grasp any impression except through its association with one of the five senses. With this thought in mind, we see that, in learning to con- trol the mind of the buyer, it is essential that the salesman learn 86 Lessons in Salesmanship to appeal to each of the five senses successfully. Let us take them up one by one. Sight First, the appearance of your goods is important. As stated in a previous lesson, whatever you are selling must be clean, attractive to the eye, and well arranged for display. Dirty, mussed-up samples are likely to do the salesman more harm than good. The importance of this is well illustrated in the sale of expensive and valuable articles, such as jewelry, in which great care is taken to make an attractive display. But this should not be confined to expensive articles only. Even the cheapest, most inferior article should be displayed as at- tractively as the salesman knows how. The salesman should learn that the personal impression that he creates depends largely upon the same thing. He must be so dressed and groomed that he cannot fail to make a pleas- ant impression. He must have an agreeable expression upon his face, and on the other hand he must not overdo matters by being over-dressed or hypocritically polite. You will see from the foregoing that we are merely gathering together certain facts that have been told you before, and are showing why these things help the salesman in his work by enabling him to influence the buyer through the sense of sight. The salesman must not only influence the buyer through the sense of sight, but he must cultivate his own sense of sight in such a positive way as to make careful observations of what he sees. You will see that the rule works both ways. Not only can the salesman influence his customer, but he can help him- self by giving careful study to the sense of sight and how he can serve it or make it serve him. Hearing The salesman should endeavor to cultivate a pleasant and interesting voice. It is as essential to his success as it is to the Making a Sale 87 success of an orator. This does not mean that it is necessary for every successful salesman to have a beautiful, well-modu- lated tone, but it does mean that he must study the question of using the voice effectively. He must speak clearly and dis- tinctly. He must avoid giving offense by using a rasping, quarrelsome tone. He must endeavor to make his voice sound like the voice of a cultured person. He must study his lan- guage so that errors of grammar, blasphemy, and other things that offend the ear will not creep in where they are likely to injure his cause. If the article he is selling is a machine, he must remember that the noise made by the machine is likely to be an important consideration. Typewriters, for instance, are not noiseless machines, but some typewriters sell far more rapidly than others because the maker had sense enough to give some consideration to this topic. IMachines that make grating, harsh noises are often not satisfactory on this account. There is in existence today a regularly-formed Society for the Prevention of Unnecessary Noise. People do not like noisy machines when quiet ones will serve the purpose. There are certain articles, such as musical instruments, in which the sound produced is the important feature of the article. Here, of course, the sense of hearing becomes the chief factor. Let the salesman remember, too, that he must exercise his own sense of hearing, through attention, so that nothing im- portant that is said will escape his own attention. Touch There are many articles in the sale of which the sense of touch is important. It is a common art in selling clothing to get the customer to feel the quality of the goods. The sales- man of men's hats asks you to run your fingers over the hat and feel how smooth it is. The smoothness of the hat might not be a matter really worthy of any consideration, because the hat 88 Lessons in Salesmanship is to be on your head, and people are going to look at it rather than touch it. But the salesman knows if it is pleasant to the touch, the impression will be an agreeable one, and will convey an idea of good quality. The matter of touch is important when you are shaking hands with a customer. A firm, cordial handclasp is a valu- able asset. Smell It should be unnecessary to state that the salesman should be very careful of the way his clothing smells, but there are many salesmen who are careless in this regard. People are much more particular about this than we usually think they are. For a man's clothing or his breath to reek of some filthy smell, whether it is of tobacco or catarrh, or anything else objection- able, is very damaging to his personal influence. A barber may lose a great deal of business because he insists on chewing tobacco while serving his customers. A dentist's business may suffer from the same cause, and some salesmen have breath so offensive as to cause the loss of considerable business. Customers refuse to talk to them. In the case of certain goods such as perfumery, the sense of smell is the chief factor in the sale. Taste The sense of taste is important in case of groceries, drinks and other things the sale of which depends materially upon the taste. In other cases it cannot have much to do with the salesman's business, if anything. A very limited number of illustrations have been given of the way in which the five senses must be appealed to by the salesman. The student will readily add many illustrations to those that have been given. There are many important questions connected with the salesman's influence over the customer to which it is likely that the average salesman gives little or no thought, in which Making a Sale ' 89 mistakes might be avoided by careful attention to the manner in which the influence of the salesman is brought to bear upon the customer through the five senses. A study of the five ''ave- nues of the mind" will help the salesman to develop the power of attraction that gives one man ascendency over others. Student's Exercise for this Lesson Suppose you are a wholesale salesman of fruit of various kinds. State how your goods could appeal to the customer through each sense in the cases of different kinds of fruit. LESSON 26 Presenting the Argument It is a comparatively simple matter to present an argument to a normal or standard customer like the one we have con- sidered, but more difficult to adapt your descriptions and sell- ing talk to the needs of the individual case. It is well enough to discuss what might be said to such a customer as we have been studying in the last twelve lessons; but the salesman's chief ability, if he is a successful salesman, must be the ability to understand men and to use with each customer the special line of argument and special methods of presenta- tion that are adapted to his case. We shall study this matter carefully in the next five lessons. The process of a sale is properly divided into five parts. CHART NINE ' 1. Gaining an audience. 2. Securing attention. PROCESS OF A SALE \ 3. Awakening interest. 4. Arousing desire. 5. Compelling action. 90 Lessons in Salesmanship Please notice the order in which these topics are named; audience, att^tion, interest, desire, action. This is the order in which you will have to present your argument. Sometimes the first two of the above topics are included under one head, but this is not a careful classification. Gaining an audience with a man and getting his attention are two quite different things. Many salesmen are clever enough to gain an audience with any man, but not forceful enough to really gain attention. We shall therefore consider these as separate topics. Gaining an Audience CHART TEN GAINING AN AUDIENCE Persuading buyer to see you Persuading clerk to let you see buyer Arranging time to suit buyer's conven- ience This presents several different problems. 1. Persuading the buyer to see you. If the buyer is busy, it may be necessary for your to tell him definitely how much of his time you want. If you do so, you must be sure that your statement is truthful, and you must not overstep the bounds of your promise. It would be well for you to show by your attitude that you are a very busy man yourself. This will indicate to him that you consider your time valuable as well as his and are not disposed to waste any of it. It may be necessary for you to devise some plan to compel the attention of the customer who thinks he is busy or who really is busy but ought to take time to see your line. This is not always possible, but sometimes it is necessary because of the fact that some customers like to assume the attitude of never having time to spend with salesmen. 4' Making a Sale 91 In any of the above cases it is well for the salesman to be thoroughly grounded in the fundamental proposition laid down in the first lesson of this course, that a fair bargain benefits both parties. Believe this about your proposition, and you will not feel that you are imposing upon a customer when you require him to take time to look at your line. The salesman should be courteous and obliging at all times, but he should never forget th^t the benefits of whatever transaction may be entered into are mutual, and that he is not asking a buyer to waste time. Sometimes a deeper difficulty enters into the question of gaining an audience. Perhaps your firm has offended this customer on a previous occasion. There are many things that must be borne in mind if this is the case. If the previous salesman gave offense without cause, he should, of course, be apologized for. If the oflFense arose through a mistake in the shipping or billing department, it should be explained that your house has taken steps to remedy the condition that made the offense possible. If the grievance is more serious, such as the customer's discovery that others have been sold goods cheaper than you sold them to him, the customer must be told the exact facts in the case, which of course should justify your house. If you know in advance that the customer has a complaint, it is perhaps well to settle the complaint without any reference to a prospective sale in order to convince the customer that you consider the matter a very serious one. A representative of the Standard Oil Company says that if he has five pros- pective customers on a road twenty-five miles long, and one complaining customer at the end of that road, his instructions from his company are to go and settle the complaint first even though he has to pass every one of those five customers on the road. There is no question about the wisdom of this policy for a house that intends to do a steady and increasing business. 92 Lessons in Salesmanship The customer must be shown absolutely that you are anxious first to clear up the difficulty and that without reference to a new order. 2. Persuading an office helper or other employee to let you see the buyer. Sometimes this is one of the salesman's most serious obstacles. Of course the salesman who is known and whose line is wanted in a store will always find the, buyer ready to see -him, but often, especially when the salesman is selling a specialty or some office device or convenience, he is met at the door by a very resolute person who informs him that the manager is not able to see him at all. Sometimes it is necessary for the salesman to explain his proposition in detail to the subordinate and convince the sub- ordinate that it is something that ought to be called to the employer's attention. Sometimes it is necessary for him to refrain from telling this person his business in order that the prospect of seeing the buyer will not be injured. Sometimes it is necessary for him to call up the buyer by phone in order to get past this obstacle. There are many amusing stories told by salesmen who have been confronted with this difficulty and have solved it in an interesting way. One of the brightest salesmen in business one day sent in his card to an old fellow named Guflfey at a time when the old man's usual gruff disposition had been aggravated until he was ready to break a blood vessel. There was a glass door between them, and when the salesman's card was handed to Guffey, the gruff old man tore it up and threw it into the waste-basket. The salesman saw this through the glass door. When the ordinary salesman sees a thing like that, you don't have to break his ribs with a club to get him out of the building. But this man was different. His brain was as quick as a self-loading repeater. He said to the boy, "Tell Mr. Guffey Making a Sale 93 • I'm sorry he can't see me, but ask him to return my card, as I have run short." Mr. Guffey granted the interview. As a rule, this salesman paid little attention to the boys who wanted his card, if he could get past them by hook or crook. "If there's no one talking to him," he would say, "I'll go right in," and in he would go. A canvasser once secured a splendid position as a result of some clever work he did. The man he wanted to sell to said, "I'm in too much of a hurry to see you today. My time is worth five dollars a minute." "I'll take a minute's worth," replied the salesman, and laid a $5.00 bill on the man's desk. He talked one minute, and then said, "Mr. Ames, I am not through. I'll take another minute, and that will cost you five dollars." He put the bill into his pocket, talked another minute, and has been working ever since for the man to whom he was selling, who admired his cleverness. 3. Arranging your time to suit the buyer's convenience. This is not always an easy task. Sometimes the buyer really has no excuse for not seeing you, and does not want to see you at all. Of course, in such a case, your best plan is to get an appointment with him if you can; if you are unable to do so, proceed to take a few minutes of his time right then and there if you can do so by means of anything short of knocking him down. You may be able to secure an order as the fellow did who, when asked by his prospective employer whether he had ever been in the penitentiary, ans- wered that he had. The employer asked what for, and he replied, "For nearly killing a man who refused to give me an order." There is no question but that the "fighting spirit" wins. More often, however, the buyer is serious in his statement that he must see you at another time. In such a case as this, you will do wisely to let him select the time, unless you have 94 Lessons in Salesmanship • some excellent reason why you cannot meet him at the time he suggests. Such a man as this will usually be reasonable in arranging for a time convenient to you both. Be prompt in keeping appointments. There is nothing that can injure you much more at the very start of your sale than tardiness. The customer feels that he has granted you a great favor in stating an exact time when he will be willing to see you. It is eminently fitting, therefore, that you do not waste any of his time — not one minute of it. It is said that Marshall Field made it a condi- tion of his becoming a director of any corporation that all meetings were to begin promptly on time. Horace Greeley once claimed that he wrote most of his editorials while waiting for others to keep their appointments with him. Nothing jars a prompt, exact, business-like man much more than to be compelled to wait. In considering the entire subject of gaining an audience, go .back to Lesson 25, and think of the number of ways in which each of the five senses of the buyer can be appealed to, to secure you an audience. In getting an audience the distinct object to be gained through sight is that the buyer must realize by looking at you that you mean business, and that you have something that will be of value to him. The same object is served if you make your appeal by showing him one or two selected samples. The same impression must be conveyed to him through the sense of hearing. A busy man is not likely to be interested in a salesman with a drawl, nor is an irascible man likely to be pleased with a display of irascibility exhibited in the sales- man's voice. Whether the sense of touch, taste or smell can be appealed to at this time depends upon what is being sold. There are very few times when the appeal to these senses would actually be of assistance in gaining an audience, though of course a salesman of perfumery might secure an audience by attracting attention to the odor of his product, and so on. Making a Sale 95 Exercise : Write fifty words asking a buyer to come to your display room at a hotel, at any hour he chooses, to see your line. CHART ELEVEN 1. By waiting 2. By interesting point of description 3. By quiet remonstrance 4. By getting buyer to your sample-room 5. By favorable first impressions 6. By impressing buyer with advantages YOU OFFER — not APPEALING TO CHARITY SECURING ATTENTION ' LESSON 27 Securing the Attention Up to this point you have merely secured the chance to talk to your man. The second problem is that of securing his positive attention. You must not allow your words to go "in one of his ears and out of the other." You must learn how to make them stick in his mind. It is important here that you describe clearly and correctly the article which you have spent so much time in studying. It is also important that you look carefully to the exercise of your ability to use your voice and your powers of observation effectively. But you have a much more difficult and important problem at this time than you have yet faced. If your customer is not giving you his attention, you must compel him to do so. This may be done in many ways. 1. By waiting until anything else he is thinking of is off his mind. 2. By saying something so attractive about your goods or talking in such an interesting way that he is obliged to give heed to what you are saying. 96 Lessons in Salesmanship 3. By calling his attention to the fact that he is not listen- ing carefully to what you have to say and insisting that he do so in his own interest. 4. By managing to get him entirely away from his present surroundings so that you can have his undivided attention. Of course, you have to study your man carefully to know which one of these plans to adopt, but you may be assured that you. will fail if you do not vigorously demand and secure his attention by some one of the above or other means. It ought to . be almost unnecessary to say that only the .vigorous, enthusiastic man who loves his goods and believes in his proposition will ever secure the undivided, enthusiastic attention of a customer. Usually a failure to secure the atten- tion of your customer after you have secured an audience with him, is a most decided evidence of weakness on your part; but it is a weakness that can readily be conquered. If a man has given you audience with him you have a right to assume that you are entitled to his attention. You must have this attention. Of course, the way to get it is to make your statement of the case so fascinating, or your personality so attractive, that the buyer will be induced to give you the whole focus of his mind. First Impressions The first impression that the buyer gains of the salesman is frequently lasting. The reason for this is hard for a poor salesman to under- stand, because he does not understand the deep principle of psychology that makes the first impression important. "Before a man acts on any subject, a decision is made in his mind," says a prominent writer on psychology. Applied to this lesson, this means that the sale takes place in the mind of the buyer before it is made. It follows that anything that can influence the mind of the buyer before the sale is made, is valuable. It does not make Making a Sale 97 any difference whether this influence is logically connected with the goods or not. Every influence that is favorable helps the sale. If men were absolutely logical, they would say, *'I do not care whether this salesman is white or black. I do not care whether he is dirty or clean. It makes no difference to me whether his breath is foul or not. I am not concerned as to whether his clothes are tailor-made or shoddy. I do not care whether his voice is harsh or pleasant; nor shall I consider whether his manner is courteous or offensive. I shall buy of him because I believe his proposition is a good one." But men are not built on that plan, — not once in a thousand times. The sale takes place first in the mind. If the mind has been unfavorably influenced by any first impression, the sale is made difficult in the mind. This is evidence that the buyer is illogical, as remarked above ; but there is one very strong, practical point connected with it ; that is, that buyers have learned that good reliable houses ordinarily put out salesmen whose personal habits are not objectionable. With an objectionable salesman, the inference must be that the house is unreliable. The salesman's entire problem, after he has succeeded in getting the attention of the buyer, is to create such a favorable series of impressions in the buyer's mind, that the goods will sell themselves. It should make no difference to the salesman whether or not the impression created is logically connected with the goods under discussion. His business is to create the impressions that influence the trade. Sometimes these impres- sions have nothing whatever to do with the goods for sale. It is not for the salesman to dispute this fact, but to recognize it, and so conduct himself that these outside impressions will always be favorable. . How to create favorable first impressions in the mind of the customer is an important question. One of the most important points to be considered in this 98 Lessons in Salesmanship connection is that it is immensely to the salesman's advantage to get the buyer influenced in favor of his article at an early stage. The salesman must therefore avoid anything that would arouse criticism of his goods or antagonism toward himself or his house. He should try to win, not by compelling the purchaser to buy of him through argument alone, because if the buyer has begun to object and criticise, he will proceed to do everything he can to uphold his position. But if the salesman has been clever enough to get the buyer's affirmative interest in the article, even before he shows it to him, his sale is almost made. For instance,^ the wise salesman finds out something the buyer wants that his house carries, and then interests his customer by describing this article to him before showing it. The buyer comments "That's good." The foolish salesman hears the customer say, 'T ordered so and so last week," and makes that an opportunity to start an argument on "so and so" even before showing his line. The first sales- man has enlisted a friend; the second salesman has made an enemy. All this has been done before the customer has had a single look at the goods. The wise salesman will remember that the sale is made in the mind before it is made in fact, and it is his duty to make the first impression upon the mind of the buyer so favor- able that the buyer will regard him constantly as a friend, and not as an enemy. Every man likes to say "I told you so." The salesman's business should be to get the buyer in such a frame of mind that when he sees the goods, he will say, "Yes, these are goods I have wanted all the time." The way to get him to do this through first impressions is to induce him, even before he has seen your goods, to express an opinion favorable to some one thing that you are about to show him. The tremendous success of mail-order advertising proves the truth of this point and proves it absolutely. The mail-order advertiser sells on the basis of impressions made on the mind Making a Sale 99 of the purchaser before he has seen the goods. The advertise- ment says in effect: "This is just the thing you are looking for. You really want this, and you may examine it and return it at our expense if you do not like it." The customer thinks this is perfectly fair, and orders the article on approval. In doing this, he has gone to some trouble, and in examining the article, he goes to more trouble, but he has said to himself, "I want this article if it is what I hope it is," and he will put himself really on the side of the article in the argument to convince himself that it is just what he wants after he has gone to this trouble, whereas a salesman who has the article and shows it in person, untactfuUy, may get this same pur- chaser's fighting blood up by insisting upon the importance of some detail that the customer does not approve of, and lose the sale. The real milk of the cocoanut on the point of first impres- sions is that the salesman must always make the buyer think something like the following: "These goods must be all right, because the salesman looks prosperous, clean and honest." "These goods must be all right, because the salesman has asked me what I want, and tells me he has exactly that thing." In short, the duty of the salesman should be to get the customer in a frame of mind in which he expects to be satis- fied, and not in the frame of mind in which he desires to criticise and find fault in order to support his previous opinion. The salesman must make the customer his friend and a friend of his goods, by creating favorable first impres- sions, and avoid anything and everything in the nature of a controversy, unless he is simply forced to fight. Salesmen not Objects of Charity It is obvious that a buyer purchases for only one reason, and that is because he thinks the purchase will be of benefit to him. 100 Lessons in Salesmanship It is equally obvious that the^ salesman who tries to induce the customer to buy because the salesman needs the money will usually fail to get his attention. The buyer will at once argue that if the salesman needs the money, it must be because he is not making money. If he is not making money, this must be because his goods are not selling well. If his goods are not selling well, this must be because people do not think they are worth the money, and if people do not think they are worth the money, it is not likely that they are. You see the train of logic is absolutely complete. On this subject the following paragraph is good. It is from the "Manual of Instruction," issued to its salesmen by the firm of Underwood & Underwood, New York. "Occasionally some one may suggest that he or she would like to patronize you *to help you along,' or will offer you an order 'just to encourage you.' Resent any remark of this sort, but do so in a nice way. Simply reply, 'I beg of you don't think of that, for I am doing a good business and making money. Nearly everybody buys these goods. They really have wonderful merit. Now, I want to take your order strictly on the merits of the goods, and the longer you have them the better you will like them, for they are exceedingly fine,' etc. Be independent in this way, and you will feel better. Besides, you will sell more goods. When people buy because they recognize the merit of the goods and want them, they always spend more money than when they 'take a few to help you/ in a spirit of doing missionary work. Josh Billings says, 'The cent pieces wuz made on purpose for charity.' " Student's Exercise for this Lesson Write a fifty word reply to the person who says : 'T would like to buy to help you out, but I don't believe I will today." Read carefully the chart given at the top of page 101 before studying Lesson 28. Making a Sale mr-^ AWAKENING INTEREST AND DESIRE CHART TWELVE L Be certain your customer should BE interested 2. Find out what features are likely TO appeal to him 3. Describe article attractively ' 4. Be sure you have no objectionable characteristics 5. Ascertain your faults as salesman, AND amend them LESSON 28 Awakening Interest You have gained an audience with your customer, and his attention. You must now secure his interest in your goods. Interest is usually lacking for one of two reasons — either you have not secured his attention, or your argument or selling talk proves a failure. If you believe you have not secured his attention, you must secure it as suggested in the preceding lesson, but for the purposes of this lesson, we must assume that you have secured his attention. If you believe your argument or selling talk is failing to arouse interest, you must investigate the cause. This will be found to be one of the following : 1. Your proposition actually has no interest for the cus- tomer and for good reasons can have none. If this is the case, the sooner you find it out, the better for you both. A salesman, however, should be very careful about giving up on this supposition. There is a constant temptation to believe it is impossible to interest a customer, when as a matter of fact, the whole fault lies with the salesman. 2. You are not understanding your customer and are not grasping the things that will be sure to interest him. -102 : , ' '- Lessons in Salesmanship 3. You are not describing your article in an attractive, intelligent way. 4. There is something objectionable about you as a sales- man. In short, you will plainly see that unless the fault is of the first class mentioned, it lies in your failure to understand and make, the most of either one of the three factors of the sale ; the article, the customer or the salesman. How shall the salesman tell? Let us look into this matter. It is very natural when the salesman is putting up the best talk he knows how, and knows that his goods are right, that he should believe that the fault lies with the buyer. The fault is rarely with the buyer. While it may be true that certain obstinate or ignorant buyers will hurt their own interests rather than purchase from a certain salesman, the reason for this is always to be found in some matter connected either with the salesman or his goods in a direct or indirect way. If the customer, for instance, is an old fogy, and will not buy a certain new style of goods, it may seem that it is the prejudice of the customer that makes the sale impossible; but the thing that really makes the sale impossible is that the salesman does not know how to over- come this prejudice. . , In short, it is wrong for the salesman to blame his failure upon the buyer. He cannot properly excuse himself for the failure to make a sale by merely saying, "I could have sold it to him, if he had had any sense." The salesman must take the customer as he finds him. If there is anything wrong with the buyer, then let the salesman find out what it is and so construct his selling talk as to obviate the difficulty. Sometimes the obstinacy of a cus- tomer stands in the way of the salesman's success to such an extent that there seems to be no other reason for failure, but usually obstinacy can be overcome by skillful salesmanship. Many men claim that they can never be moved in their opin- Making a Sale 103 ions, but the man never lived of whom this was absolutely true. Then let the salesman dismiss from his mind the idea of blaming his failure upon the customer. Let him study the customer carefully, just as he studies his article. It is not amiss for the salesman's conversation, when in perplexity over this question, to be something like this : "Mr. Jones, I see that I am not interesting you in this article as much as I should be able to. I do not blame you for it, for I realize as well as you do that you are perfectly willing to buy whatever you think will make you a profit and give satisfaction to your customer. Since the fault is not with you, it must be either with me or my goods. I am certain that it is not with the goods, and it must be, therefore, that I have failed to describe these to you in a way that will clinch the order. I feel that I must have omitted something that is vital to your interest in this proposition, and I will greatly appreciate it if you will tell me frankly what there is about my goods that you do not understand or do not approve of." Frequently, a talk of this kind will have the effect of drawing out of the customer the facts that you need to know in order to make your proposition interesting to him. It is not always advisable to make such a talk. It depends upon what kind of a man you are talking to. If you are talking to a nervous, irascible, impatient man, he might reply to you, 'Tf you cannot interest me in your goods, it is simply because your goods are not interesting." In this case, ^such a talk has done you more harm than good, but if your man is a patient, agreeable man who is willing to discuss such matters, you can do no better than to ask him plainly what he objects to. . Of course, if he tells you before you ask him, as he will in most cases, you are spared the difficulty of determining the cause of your failure. As a rule, however, lack of interest does not depend upon some little detail that you have omitted from the conversa- 104 Lessons in Salesmanship tion, but upon some larger general condition. You have not appealed to the buyer because you have never studied his personality, or that of men like him. You have not made it a point to find out what it is that will appeal to this particular man. Study him. Make a note of the experiences with him, Be prepared to do battle with him next time and win. Arousing Desire The connection between interest and the next topic, desire, is very close indeed, because a buyer is almost always inter- ested in an article for the same reasons that will make him desire to buy it. The creation of desire is dependent upon your ability to rouse the customer's imagination so that, as Atkinson ex- presses it, "The prospect will begin to thmk of the thing or proposition in connection with himself " The same rules apply to quickening the desire that applied to arousing interest, but there is one very important point that must be considered here. A man may be immensely interested in what you have to say, and may not desire the article at all. You must be sure, when you attempt to awaken desire, that the interest he has is an interest along lines that will cause him to purchase the goods, and not simply an interest in certain intellectual facts that you are presenting. For instance, it would not be much of a task for. a salesman to interest any one of us in an airship, but he would have considerable difficulty in selling us one. The point is that the salesman must be very careful to arouse only that kind of interest that points directly to a sale. With this kind of interest as a foundation it takes nothing more than the mere suggestion of a purchase to arouse a man's desire, so closely does desire follow on the heels of interest. To cultivate desire for a luxury in the mind of the user, the salesman should get his attention away from money, and use every effort to make money seem less important to him than comfort. Making a Sale 105 To cultivate desire for a line of goods, in the mind of a dealer, the salesman should center his attention upon money, and show him how to make big profits with his line. Student's Exercise for this Lesson (Fifty to Seventy-five Words.) Your customer is Mr. Peck. Write what you would say if you knew he was not interested but did not know why. O I—) H U < o ^< I— I 1 -1 w o u ^If Buyer has followed your line of thought CHART THIRTEEN 'When you are^ sure your ,^, main points Choose your are clear own time