The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-23
JEWELRY SELLING TACTICS.
S1LESMEN VHO ARE REQUIRED TO
 RE SOCIAL ExPERTS.

amonds-Men and Women at the
 JewoIer's.
 How do you know so much?"
 The salesman at the diamond counter
 had just bowed a customer out and the
 question was asked by a listener who
 had heard him ask her, as she let a
 string of pearls run through her tin-
 gers, how she found the weather at
 Nice, whether Mrs Blank who married
 the cousin of her divorced husband
 hadn't come over on the same steamer,
 and if she met the Smiths in Paris
 The salesman laughed.
 How do I know it all?' he repeated
 as he rearranged the necklace. Be
 cause it's as much a part of mans
 training in this establishment as learn
 ing the price of these stones. The two
 go together, in fact. If you don't know
 the latest society news and who every
 body is you simply can't sell the st ones.
 Do you know what the big jewellers
 expect their stlesmen to- do? They eX-
 pect them to be familiar with the news
 in every paper devoted to society
 They expect them to know by sight ev-
 erybody mentioned in those papers, and they expect them to know where every one of them is at different times in the year. When a man is primed with such knowledge he can afford to forget prices as small matter that one of the minor clerks can refresh him about.
 "A good many people who walk into | a jewellers think that the man behind | the counter of precious stones has a | very envlable occupation and an easy | one. because of the fact that apparent
 ly all he has to do is to take out scntil-
 lating gems and admire them with wo-
 men who may or may not buy them.
 "They don't know that before that
 man could reach that position and
 command the salary attached to 1t he
 had to become an encyclopaedia of in-
 formation about the smart set of New
 York and of other cities and of the American colonies abroad.
 "In order that their statesmen may keep in touch with society for trade reasons nearly all the big jewellers send their salesmen of precious stones to the . opera once or twice week. That ena- f bles them to become familiar with all the faces of the society people. I
 Then again it enables them to get a f line on their tastes in jewelry, so that ] they will know just what will appeal to $ the customer. It also supplies them [ with information as to who is in town q and who is away. q
 When a man has all this knowledge S stored in his head he can command a. a good salary. that is. if he uses it to ad- k vantage To be able to address by her fl right name a woman conspicuous in the T Ia yUh n n c over the latest thing in pearl necklaces, i, to run over some of the social news of q the day as she looks over the pearls, now and then calling attention to the f, extraordinary color of this pearl or 6, that and to appear to be familiar with a red journeyings-thati is what man e, has got to be able to do before he can fl be very sure of making a customer out a of that woman or any other woman f, that figures much in society i, Some women spend the greater part of an afternoon now and then idling in h one or two jewelry stores, They have fl accounts with at least two and some e, times more. If a necklace or a tiara n catches their fancy perhaps they will lc have 1t sent home. n, Sometimes they keep it for month IF or even two without a word from them h, as to whether they have bought it or 2, not and in that time no jeweler who ca fl ters to fashion would think of sending a, a bill or even memorandum.
 "A case in point not very long time r, ago was that of a woman whose hus- th band is banker and who. herself, is si one of the social leaders. h. She happened in here one day and as picked out a diamond necklace worth a good many thousand dollars of That woman kept that necklace for dr several months without our being able M to tell whether she had decided to buy ra it or not One of the men here after va some time had passed without any us word from her. was assigned to go to in the opera on nights when she was in we the habit of going, just to see if she by wore it. ''The first night she was there with do plenty of iewelry on, but not the neck m, lace The second time it was the same m way. but the third time the man saw us her in her box and around her neck the do necklace. Then we knew for the first pl; time that she had decided to keep it do and felt justified in sending a bill, ou "To make a mistake in the matter Is th to lose customer and no of md of tact and delicacy has to be used. we That is why one has to know who are lbroad as it is recognized as a fla mT ,rant breach off propriety to send a II Jill until their return.
 There is one thing, of course, that he Fifth avenue jewellers particularly ave to be on the lookout for and that o,, s the people whose names may be in o,,, he Social Register and yet whose cred cid is not good. Even in this matter a ser eweler has got to take lots of chances Nr nd if he fails to get his money why, wa ften it is charged up to profit and loss det ather than let a business rival chuckle o1, yer the fact that he was taken in by tea Q and So, chl "To guard against this danger the hor swelers have a book which they keep ega arefully guarded. It is called the Blue yer
 the
 WITHOUT MEDICINE. ing
 tha |