The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1906-11-29

but doG't Believe in it, as said, be-
cause it makes a clerk dishonest. A
corps of clerks who do not treat a
mans customers right will soon tear
down his business; a corps that
treat customers fairly will build a
business.
Commission System.
No. sir; no more OF this spiff sys.
TEN for mel OF course, | can see
where the commission system is bet.
ter-that is, if you give the same per.
centage of commissions on all sales.
That would enable the clerk still to
be honest with the customer and at
the same time sell him higher priced
goods, which is never a disadvantage
to he person who buys them"
We'll, now, hat strikes me as be-
Ing a very good idea" remarked Hoov-
er, thoughtfully. This had never come
to me and / am going to adopt that
system in my business. l believe, too,
II had a very large trade like the
man you spoke of, Watkins, | should
not only pay a commission on sales
but would give an additional CON-
mission for the sale of goods above q
certain standard.
To be sure, l should adopt the sys.
tenn of the other man you spoke of,
who calls his clerks together and has
a sort of a school. 1t 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. believe really that this comes
about because a great many clerks be-
come respondent. They get their lit
tie Sl2 or SIS a week and they see
the same mount 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 bust.
ness. To make a clerk interested in
your business, make him interested
in every sale. Instead of growing de-
spondent, stealing, knocking down and
BOOKING, a clerk should feel that he
has a 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 a 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 mar
he can trust.
The clerk should not grow despond
ent and steal and booze-but instead
of that, he should take a vital inter
est in the business, knowing that each
attention and hard work and honesty
are sure to bring him material reward
as well as a good conscience.
81 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 no how much that
salary may be. should net be the fna'
goal Of any young man. 1t should be
to become a proprietor himself. Now
for example, ! know of one young man
who for 20 years worked for one es
adjustment. He was a splendid sales
Enan, strictly honorable and all that
but n day he had a lnock-down
drag out scrap with the buyer in his
department. The buyer was thought
well of by the head of the house and
this young clerk knew it. In fact, he
felt so ashamed of himself for get
ting into the brawl that he rendered
his resignation. He was asked TO keeE
on. but he said: No, | can't stay
around here any more He was a
married man. too, and had a couple
Of 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. l have
$4,000 here and I'm going to sink tina
$4,000 before | so to work for anybody
else, and l am going to have a bust
ness of my own. He talked the thing
over with his wife and she had nerve
enough to tell him to go ahead.
This was in the city of st. Louis
That man went downtown and rented
a room for s12 a month. He went tC
New York and bought a little line o.
goods-special patterns in dry goods
He sent out cards inviting those whom
he had known and others to come IL
and see his dress goods. Think of IL
Asking the bon-ton of st. Louis t
come and see dress goods in a room
that cost $l2 a month. But he did it
These ladies began TO ask him where
they could get these dresses made up
Then he got a few dressmakers Il
take an adjoining room. Business be
gan to boom. 1t then struck him tina
the thing TO do vas to pay thest
dressmakers a salary and profit b,
their work. His next step was to bu!
a few irst-class ready-made garments
He started his little shebang on tn,
fourth floor of a little building OF