The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-04-02
COUNTRY CUSTOMERS.
40" "Drunmors". Capture Unsuspecting
Buyers In New York
From the Now York Herald.

s"ous mouse on broadway gave fun
ny classification Of tho customers Of
the hrm. lie was little, sharp-f.lced,
Hcci-hoscd man, and was pronounced
Doy some Of his associates to be the very
dcan OF the profession, Or, to use their
vcritablc old rat" ~
1--WE have three classes Of CUSTOM
.ers, said he, with al air of mcthotlicnl
dclibcration which was as comical i'm
its effect rs he meant it to be serious ::
"our regular customcrs-that's the
| first class" -.
"lioW Go you secure thesc?"
"IhrOu9h the proper Introduction,
Ihosc are the men whom we secure in
tue legitimate ways OF the tratlc--therc
arc some Legitimate ways, You know"
"Well. conccding that, what's the
second class"
"They are what we call the sdrops.'
Ihey arc the country merchants who
usually drop in' on their way down
or up town. That's why we call them
'drops.' We Gun recognize 'droD' in
stranger the moment he comes in"
Every good d-amd the third class?''
'Ihcy arc the pick ups'-the men
whom we don't know and have TO
catch in the best way we can. They
are the men on whose capture we have
to show the scienrc Of our tlmdcl :Ah.
you'd laugh to hear Of some of the
ways in which we have to catch them"
'For instance"
SHARP DoDGES rRACTIsED AT HOTELS.
"Wcli, one of the main things in the
business is to be friendly with every
h"icl clerk, So that he'll tell you at
once when You look over the register
which OF the names are those Of coun-
try merchants"
II should think, from the general
reputation Of hotel clerks for amiabili-
ty, that this in itself would be a task of
no slight maguitudc?'
con. not nj all. We live round in
different hotels till we get to know the
clerks well. Now ! am living at the |
Grand Central, for instance. When |
become friendly with the clerks there's !
no use in my living there any longer, |
aAd move to some other hotel. / |
move round The hotels all the time. !
And then lie clerks must be friendly !
Will us because we have it in our
power to bring our customers to their ,
hotels or to take them away"
""ell, surprising the clerk is friend
lv, what th"n?'
eve lounge about the desk till our
man, whose name has been pointed
out to us by the clerk, comes in. We
Know tho number Of his room-snv it's
NO. 7S. In comes our man and asks
' w the Key to room No. 7S. We know
him then. We go up and say: sAh,
how do you do, Mr.. Smith? You,
perm tps, don't remember me, but
have been all through your country,
amd how is everybody in Smithcrs-
vliief Then we probably know some
body IN his own or Il ncighboring
town. and 80 the acquaintauceis made.
ih's ~ Is w hat we call the 'kcy dodgc.'
Ihen we have the 'envclope dodwc.'
which is like this. We find out throt1vh
he clerk or by any other means that
Mr.. So-and-So Is a merchant from tho
We take an envelope. mt
nothing inside it, but address it to his
name. If we'd put either q card or
lote into the envelope he would see
through the game at once, but in this
way lie docs not discover our little
TICK. When our IMAM comes along
ne supposed letter is handed to him.
lhats all we want-wc know him
hen-and while he is puzzled to see
lim." WI
rIvlNa Tup<E CUSTOMERS.
"But don,t>F the other drummoro
'o,netin~t6s intercept your custnmo.s
lftXfr YOU think that you have safely.
s16ured thcmf" '
T "4cs, some Of them are very ,noo,
about that. Sometimes they proctisn
what we cnll 'hivine,, which is somo.
what like this. a drummer for dry
goods house will meet one for boot
allashoc manuiacturcr and still unoth-
er ior q hardware firm, and they'l con-
sohuate their interests and agree ia
Keep all the customers they get hold
or to themselves and take them 70 some
ooaGolng or lodging house hp: (oWii.
where they will let no one 90 noai.
them. They hive them there, as we
call it,. The great thing after vou Get
hold OF customer is not to lcnvn ~,
until he has made his pu.,hosos 90
your house. Supposing I mW:e the
acquaintance of a c0untryman IN .ho
afternoon. Well, the thing to do is t.
keep him for dinner and take him out
for the evening to some theatre or
other amusement, so rs to keep him
away from all the other drummers who
are sure ut night to come to his hotel
after him."
FAvoRlTE ARGUMENTS USED.
"And what arguments do YOU use to
induce men to purchase after you'havc
made their acquaintancc?'
"It depends on what sort Of, men
they arc" he veteran replied, with a
very wary look. "If it's man who
never wants to buy anything that isn't
fthc ,ncancsl and cheapest descrip-
| tion then we tell him that we 'are Just
closing ont and are selling out some
bargains dirt cheap just to get rid of
our old stock. That brings him down.
Again, if it's Il man who ~ after very
choice and novel goods, always wants
the latest and best styles, then, we'll
tell him that we have just received n
very fine line Of goods, fresh from
Paris by Yesterdays steamer, that we
have ] jn>t got them through the GUS
tom House and.tha! he will have the
very first pick out Of the whole lot.
That ict"hcs him. Our rule is, always
adapt your argument to the man."
THE NEWSPAPER TRICK" -