Automatic Age

OVERCOME C ON FUSIO N
AND YOU SELL
A man goes into the average
store to buy an average item
and'an average salesman waits
upon him. The average salesman
shows the average man the aver­
age item and the average man
asks: “You say it is better.
Why is it better?”
Then the salesman proves
that he is only an average sales­
man— he doesn’t know. He mur­
murs something about quality,
reputation of manufacturer;
some banal thing like that.
Sometimes the average man
buys. Oftener he does not.
One man was telling about
how much difficulty he had had
in finding out the difference be­
tween a first- and a second-line
tire. This was in the good old
days when you could buy a tire.
The price difference he knew—
$4. He wanted, to know what
he’d get for that $4. He asked
the salesmen.
One said: “I don’t know. One
is better than the other or it
wouldn’t cost more. That stands
to reason, doesn’t it?” Another
said: “It has more rubber.” No.
3 opined: “It will last longer.”
“Not so much danger from
blowouts,” said No. 4. Not one
could answer the simple ques­
tion.
To ferret out the real reason,
this man wrote to the manufac­
turer. He learned that there is a
difference which makes the $4
price discrepancy seem small.
The better tire is made of long
staple cotton, twisted into cords,
which forms a much stronger
fabric, able to withstand greater
pressure, provide more safety,
give more life, bring more for
the money.
Customers are confused these
days. The salesman who sets
himself out to do a job of over­
coming that confusion will get
the lion’s share of business in
his line.
+
tests, as inaccurate as they are
unscientific. But the customer
believes in them and acts upon
his belief.
A survey recently made re­
veals that it is easy to fool the
public about quality, if one
wants to, because the public
really judges quality by the
“window dressing”— that is to
say, by the environment in
which the goods are shown.
Packaging, store interior, even
prestige advertising all give the
public its ideas of quality.
The quality of the product
can be low and the public will
stick to the idea that it is high,
just so long as the surroundings
suggest quality, luxury, high
class.
In the long run, of course, the
public discovers its error, and
rebels, and no man can put over
shoddy merchandise on a large
scale or for a long time.
H O W CUSTOMERS
TELL Q U A LITY
A good many customers be­
lieve themselves to be experts on
quality. They rub a fabric be­
tween thumb and forefinger and
pronounce it wool; they smell
the olive oil and tell whether it’s
genuine or not; they apply other
SPECIAL SMALL CANDIES FOR VENDORS
Pistachio Nuts
Boston Baked Beans
Chocolate Peanuts
Ind ian Nuts (P inion Nuts)
Charms
Salted Peanuts
Ball Gum
Midget Burnt Peanuts
Rainbow Peanuts
Pee Wee Licorice
Pastels
W R IT E F O R O U R P R IC E L IS T
PEANUT SPECIALTY CO.
400 W . S U P E R IO R ST.
C H IC A G O
fiS IV
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IT’S IN THE BARREI____ 7 2 0 Holes . . . 5 / per sale . . .
Barrel-style tickets . . . . Takes in $ 3 6 . 0 0 . . . . Pays out
$ 1 7 . 5 2 . . . Total Average Profit $ 1 8 . 4 8 . . . THIN DIE-
CUT board . . . A real “ Hoop Chest” of profit!
SUPERIOR PRODUCTS
14 N. P EO R IA ST.
September, 1942
© International Arcade Museum
CHICAGO,
AUTOMATIC AGE
ILL.
13
http://www.arcade-museum.com/