Automatic World

Sixteen
April, 1930.
THE BALLY-HO
Agents - - - SalesInen
DeInonstrators
(
)
An Exclusive Department for Men and Women who Sell
T HE "BORN" SA LESMAN
They t ell us that salesm en are born and not made.
That may be very tru e, but . . . born or made . .. there
is not a sales man alive that co uldn't be "jacked up '.l
peg" and indu ced to study and analyze the product ')r
products he r epr esents that he may become a past mast.!r
in the knowl e dge of his own goods
There is not a "born" salesman alive that couldn 't
be shown a new sales angle . . . one that would freshen
up his sales presentation . If the average salesman, born
or otherwise, could stand aside and listen to his "spiel"
... he would realize how trite, lack-luster and st ereotyp ed
it can become after calling on th e same trade, year after
year. _ Try a n ew angle. R enovate the old bag of tri cks.
Polish and brush up the old line. The dividends will
show up in the shape of a big new batch of orders.
SALESMEN SHOU LD R ESPECT TH EIR C US TOM E RS
A ND PROSPECT S
A lady said to me not long ago. when the subje<.:l
of salesmen happen e d to come up, "I refused to give a
man a $300.00 order be cau se h e persisted in using Ian··
guage unbecoming to any well cultured salesman . Of
course, his words were not the type of a drunke n brawl ·
er, but th ey were words not pleasant to th e ears of any
listener. He used the word 'damn' and 'hell' ni a way,
he thought, was putting over his sales talk, while th e
truth of the case was. h e lost my order."
The above case is uncalled for. Such action on the
part of a salesman is not even excusable. Why don't salefi-
man remember that th ey are going into the homes of all
kind s of people, people who al'e clean minded, church-
going people, moral mind ed people, who dislike the u se
of vulgar language in th e slightest form. There may be
som e who will accept th e uncultured line of sales talk
with a degree of satisfaction, but they ar e few and far
between. Even this mentioned class will respect th e clean
talking salesman more than the other.
When one opens their private home to the salesman ,
they are bestowing a co urtesy u pon the one selling, and
that one should r esp ect the favor with the greatest of
courtliness. Th ey should realize that that home is a
sacrEd place, th e private abode of a family of people
and he is now in that hom e to show his wares, and solicit
their business with a n air of civility. H e s hould, in every
insta n ce, make hi s sa les talk impressive and at t he sam '!
tim e interesting. Ths ca n always b e done without r e-
sorting to t he use of t h e vai n and v ul ga r portions Qf
one'l; vocabulary.
Another mistake some salesmen make is that ')f
creating a belief that h e is wiser than his customer
thinking that every prospect is a "sap" and he is th e
smart one. There is an old saying that goes like this :
"The world is full of dull pigs preaching to foxes." TheTe
are smart people doing the buying as well as there are
smart people selling. Th ~ salesman will do well to hold
him or herself up on a high standard of wisdom but at
the same time it is n ever n ecessary to under-estimatc
the wisdom of others.
The man in the office or even the housewife at
home, may tak e a little drink now and th en, yet, if a
~.al esman enters their presence di stributing a high power-
ed di stillery a tmosphere they will become dis courteous
toward him . Most folks are never sold by sales talks
floated to them on a whisky breath. The man or woman
who forms t h e habit of drinking liquors while calling
up on their customers and prospects, will eventually go
to the scrap-heap. whE're all inco nsiderate salesmen ter-
minate. Drink has n ever, and will n ever, be an asset to
anyone selling.
There are m en laboring in machine shops, factorie ~
and other places that have failed to place their suit
orders with a certain salesman because he attempted
to break thTough, or gain th eir confidence by telling'
a "smooty" story, or relating some questionable expe-
rience. There are women who have refused an audience
to the caller on accou nt of hi s not displaying the thought-
fulness of discardin g hi s cigarette before ringing th e
door bell.
A certain salesma n related this one to me. While
th e act within itself is a di sco urteous one. yet this par-
t icular man did n ot mean to be unth oughtful in his man-
n p.r. but just the same it cost him some good orders.
"I was receiving a lot of 'cold shoulders' and 'dagger
e ves'." he exnlained. "The housewives or maid would
stand far bri ck in the room after answering my ring.
and alJlJarentlv wer e afraid. I just could not gain theil'
a ttention or perm ission to show mv goods. At last.
after sufferinp.: the loss of much business. I discovered
TY1V fault. I w"s 'crowding' the door. standing too closp.
Rfter rinp.:in!!: thp. bell. Now. when I rin!!: th " door hell
I advance b fl.('k a few ~ t. p,us "nd rp.main there whUp,
TY1 " ldn!!: my oTlenin!!: r eJ11"rk". Thi'l little aC't of courteR"
will alw(l.vs h" n oticed bv thp. one answering yom' call
a nd will usuallv show mor e r eslJect for you."
The over-di!!:nified salesman will never meet with
th e rlDTlroval of thp mfl sses. His tVDP. is n ever enr.ouragerl
bv any pl'osuect . Folks aI' p, just fol1{s. reganl1ess . fI nd
sales~p,n in particular should always b e themselv p,s. K ee))
yourself on a standard with th e wisdom and culture of