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CHECKING SALESMEN
TO INCREASE VOLUME
HE present situation in th?
retail music business de-
mands not only intensive
selling effort but, what is
even more important, systematic
and well-directed selling effort.
It may sound well to have a large
number of salesmen out in the
field and certainly shows the
proper business courage, but if the
salesforce is allowed to work at
random much money and time is
wasted and selling costs become
prohibitive.
That this waste of sales effort
can be prevented has been proven
on numerous occasions by mer-
chants who have developed proper
methods for routing and checking
salesmen. One of the systems that
works, for instance, is that fol-
lowed by the Franklin Parlors,
music dealers of Englewood, N. J.,
where, recently, seven salesmen
worked up an annual sales total
of over $125,000 in radios alone,
among a very limited population.
Their success was due, in large
measure, to the method adopted
by the proprietor, Harold Veith,
for checking the salesmen through
daily and weekly reports.
Under the system nothing is
taken for granted, and verbal
statements do not go. In short,
no chances' are taken with faulty
memories. Each canvasser must
report at least once a day and file
a written record of his previous
day's work on the printed form
shown herewith. The salesman
must list all new prospects and all
call-backs on this Daily Sales Re-
port, making comments on the re-
sults of interviews if he does not
close sales. The first thing Mr.
Veith does each morning is to
check these reports closely, then
the new prospect names are carded
in duplicate, one card going into
the office file and the other card
given to the salesman. This card
contains the name and address of
T
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
WEEKLY SALfcS REPORT
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Harold Veith, the Franklin Parlors, Engle-
wood, N. J., demands accurate informa-
tion regarding what his salesmen are
doing and are going to do. The result
is more intensive sales effort and a ma-
terial cutting down of waste time.
DAILY SALES REPORT
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REVIEW,
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A p r i l , 1932
the prospect, the merchandise in-
volved, whether radios, pianos or
washing machines, all of which
the Franklin Parlors push with
door-to-door canvassing; the date
of the proposed call-back and the
initials of the salesman. If a lead
is turned over to another man, his
initials are also placed on the card,
likewise, with the comments
under the heading "Call-backs and
comments" on the daily report
form. This information is placed
on the old prospect cards with the
date, so that the office file tells the
story of every live lead from the
first call to the last. An office
clerk files these cards in a tickler
system according to dates and
when the call-back dates arrive,
she pulls them out and Mr. Veith
checks up the canvassers to see that
they follow up all prospects
promptly. He says that it is im-
portant for canvassers to make
call-backs on designated days. If
they are allowed to rely on their
memories, they will occasionally
forget one or two valuable ap-
pointments 1 , which will mean lost
sales, and the only method of
checking canvassers to see that
they do make call-backs properly
is to keep a master record of all
prospects on file in the office.
The Daily Sales Report has a
summary section in the left-hand
corner wherein the canvasser lists
the number of new prospects, call-
backs, night calls, demonstrations
and sales. This shows each man's
daily work at a glance. The daily
reports are supplemented by the
Weekly Sales Report, a copy of
which is also shown here. This
report classifies the various sales
made during the week. Floor
sales are those made on the floor
either by the floor man or an out-
side salesman doing floor duty.
Once each week this radio-music
merchant gives each canvasser an
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