The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-05-11
sAEEsMEN WAITING.

II Afl0unLS lO oSfShNy nv -'AA4'-S--
 Dollars a Year and the People Have i
 to Pay the Bill.
 ''The cost of selling goods" said a . New York merchant is, of course, fig ured in making the selling price, and buyers have to pay it !
 "A good buyer never keeps sales !! man waiting if he can help 1t, and yet it would be inside the truth to say that every salesman loses on an average two and a half hours time each day by be- ing kept waiting when there is no real reason or necessity for it. It may sur prise some buyers to know that they are paying for this lost time-and what price
 There are upwards of one hundred thousand salesmen on the road at an average cost. salary and expenses, of i ten dollars day. The value of this j lost time is therefore. at least two hum dred and fifty thousand dollars day, 1 fifteen hundred thousand dollars a week. seventy-five million dollars a year.
 "This enormous sum must be, and is, paid by the buyers and they get abso- 1 lutely nothing for 1t. Can anything better illustrate the value of another mans time?
 How often you hear the remark among salesmen that So and So is a good buyer This does not mean that he buys big bills, but that he uses good judgment in his selections and buys only goods that will sell quickly. Above all, it means that he realizes that the buying more than the selling is the important part of his business.
 .'I am safe in saying that not more than one merchant in ten is entitled to be called a good buyer, although each one fatters himself that he Is about the best in his inc. An experienced sales man can tell good buyer as soon as he has spoken with him for ten minutes and taken a look about his store.
 Everything about the place shows the kind of man who Is running 1t, and the good buyer will be found to be do- ing the most of the business of the town in his line, although he may not carry half so much stock as some of his competitors.
 The good buyer is always polite and cordial toward the salesmen who cali upon him, always has time to see what they have to offer and hear what they have to say. Best of all, he realizes that the salesman's time is valuable and does not keep him hanging around unnecessarily. If there is nothing do- ing. 1t is soon over; and if there is the time is well spent by both.
 Buyers of certain class seem to take pleasure in wasting saleman's time and in other ways making 1t un- pleasant for him. They belong to the bully class and, while all smirks and smiles to customers, they think that the salesman is in a position where he must stand anything they wish to say or do; but if they knew what this costs them in the course of year they would be more careful.
 These buyers are well known to all the boys, and they are never given any of the inside good things if 1t is possi
 ble to avoid 1t. In fact. they unknow- ingly pay many a long price as a sort of salve for the salesman's feelings.
 As an illustration of this, was GOV ering the middle west some years ago and became acquainted with a salesman
 calling on the same class of trade but in another line. We were together fot some days and finally landed in large
 town in Iowa
 A certain buyer in this town had a very bad reputation among salesmen
 and fully deserved it, saw him first
 and came out with small order, an6 my temper spoiled for the day. When ]
 returned to my hotel that night found
 my friend sitting at a table figuring
 away for dear life.
 Well, how did you make out witt I WI" asked him.
 For answer he handed me the orde, he had taken; it figured up to abou , $64S. 4.S Do you know what w could have got the same bill of goods for if he hac ,, been a white man"?' he asked. T gave up, but hoped he had beer , soaked as he deserved ~ Well he said, I have just been fig IuAtAAS AiiS dHu II COulQ ldVt made that bill net him about s613.'
 This may seem a strange or even al impossible statement, especially to buy : CTS who think they know it all; but olt salesmen will smile and recall many z , similar case, As a rule, salesman , handles one special line, about which h, knows all the grades of values prices etc. He must know all that there is tt
 know about it--he is up against tha , one special thing all day and every day ! 'On the other hand, buyer has t, !, keep informed, as well as he can, on ( l number of lines and he must largel, - depend upon the information that i I brought to him. It is impossible fo [ ihim to know as much about any partic ! l ular lines as the salesman representa-, 5 that line, Shrewd buyers recogniz l this and endeavor by courtesy an, g good fellowship to acquire all possibl
 inside information" ."New York Sun. : THE SLOW STORY TELLER