St. Tammany farmer., 1906-10-27

-UVS VI ''u0sOo " SAS WVouS AtAs
goods, which is never disadvantage
to the person who buys them"
The Philadelphia clothing man lift
| ed his right hand and gesticulated
with index finger; the discussion was
really becoming warm and interesting
Il quite agree with you, Mr.. Hoover
on the last point you make" he saic.
"One of my customers has this sys
TEN. He gives each clerk who viii!
sell suit Of clothes for $40 or more, a
spin OF so cents. And this Is the re.
suit. When a man comes in and
wants to buy a suit of clothes the
clerk will ask how good suit he
wants. If the man says about SIS, the
clerk Immediately goes to show him
something worth $40 or $25, and eight
times out OF ten the clerk will sell q
$40 suit If the man has that amount
OF money in his pocket. And know
from actual experience in selling that
| this mans business on suits retailing
at $40 and up has more than trebled
within two years. He does the same
thing In his hat department now and
his shoe department. If one of the
clerks sells a hat for three dollars or
more, or pair of shoes for $3.50 or
up, he gets ten cents"
well, now, that strikes me as be.
ing very good idea," remarked Hoov.
er. thoughtfully. 'This had never come
to me and I am going to adopt that
system In my business. I believe, too,
II l had very large trade like the
man you spoke of. Watkins. I should
not only pay commission on sales
but l would give an additional COM
mission for the sale Of goods above .
certain standard.
70 be sure, / should adopt the sys.
tenn OF the other man you spoke of,
who calls his clerks together and has
a sort OF school. It seems to me that
a combination of these three ideas,
backed up with plenty of capital, and
with giving the clerks reputable mer.
chandise to sell. would build bigger
any retail business in America
Faults Of Many Clerks.
"And this boozing: that's another
thing. I believe really that this comes
about because a great many clerks be-
come despondent. They get their lit
tie $12 or $18 week and they see
the same amount coming In year after
year and no advance. They have no
stimulus during the week with each
sale they make, and that keeps them
from taking an interest in the busi-
ness. To make a clerk interested in
your business, make him interested
in every sale. Instead of growing de-
spondent, stealing, knocking down and
boozing, a clerk should feel that he
has future just as much as any other
man. There are lots of men in bust.
ness who intend, after awhile, to re.
tire from business-perhaps not alto.
gether, but by degrees-who would
like to have some one to put in lit.
tie money with them. and give the
business their attention. Who is the
man they will first look for to take
an interest? Not some stranger-but
the man he knows-the man who has
been In his eye all the time-the man
he can trust.
The clerk should not grow despond-
ent and steal and booze-but instead
Of that, he should take vital inter.
est in the business, knowing that each
attention and hard work and honesty
are sure to bring him material reward
as we'll as a good conscience.
Il believe the greatest fault with
clerks is that they haven't enough
nerve. To be sure, to be a clerk on a
salary, it matters not how much that
salary may be, should not be the final
goal of any young man. 1t should be
to become proprietor himself. Now,
for example, know of one young man
who for 20 years worked for one es-
tablishment. He was a splendid sales.
man, strictly honorable and. all that,
but one day he had a knock-down,
drag out scrap with the buyer in his |
The buyer was thought
well u Ny Lu6 ucdO VI lu0 house ana
this young clerk knew 1t. In fact, he |
felt so ashamed of himself for get |
ting into the brawl that he rendered |
his resignation. He was asked to keep
On, but he said: No, I can't stay |
around here any more He was !
man, too, and had a couple
If children. He had saved a couple of |
thousand dollars or SO. He thought
that he would work for some other
firm. All at once he said to himself.
I am not making any progress even
Il do find another place. have
3, 900 here and I'm going to sink that
3 900 before so to work for anybody
else, and am going to have q bust.
1ess Of my own. He talked the thing
over with his wife and she had nerve
enough to tell him to 30 ahead.
'This was in the city Of st. Louis.
That man went downtown and rented
| room for $12 month. He went to
New York and bought little line of