The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1906-11-17


make special orders unless they filled
them exactly, they had left that item
out Of the shipment. immediately
wrote back for them to select some
other patterns and make them up in
stead. Back came another letter asking
me what sort of material I wanted. BY
this time | was mad as fire. and
merely wrote on the bottom OF his let
ter, Let your Office boy select cloth
And-so help me.-they wrote back
again saying they hardly felt like
making up this size from cloth which
their office boy would select, because
If the material didn't suit the half
dozen shirts would be dead property on
their hands. What b1ockheads some
people are, anyway! This thing was
getting to be a sort Of a joke with me,
SO wired in for them please to send
over to my clothing house and have the
man from whom bought my cloth Sc
lect the patterns for the shirts. Mean
time my customer was coming in every
day stood him off from time to time
wanting to know ii his shirts had
come.
We'll. sir, I received a long letter
stating that the clothing salesman /
had asked them to have select the ma
terial, was out of toWn,-What should
they co? Then / wrote in and told
them that they should either make me
some sort Of shirts or else send out a
troop Of militia to guard me from my
angry customer; that he had been
waiting for those shirts for six weeks;
to please make me six shirts that were
Is inches around the neck and that had
sleeves 36 inches long; that they could
make them out OF chinchi1la, mackin-
tosh material, silk, linen, calico, or
lawn; that didn't give what
sort OF stuff they used SO long as they
made them to flt. I never did get that
special order from that house had
to place it elsewhere before could get
1t filed
Standing Behind Goods Sold.
"a man must stand behind the goods
he makes, too, . spoke up the hat man
ufac.urer, and once in a while make
good for his over-zealous salesman, or
keep quiet an unreasonable customer.
One Of my salesman had the habit of
guaranteeing goods sold in this way
he would say to the customef-and
couldn't stop him-if any hats I sell
you do not give your customers salts
faction, or If one Of your customers
make 4. kick on any hat you buy from
me, whether that complaint is justifia-
BILE or not, give him new one and
charge II up to my firm. One day, when
a man made remittance he made a
deduction of six dollars from the bill,
saying that three of his customers had
worn the hats they had got from us for
II months, and that they had come in
and made a complaint; that, according
to instructions Of our salesman, he had
charged up that amount. Now, this
customer was a straightforward, hon
est mani could tell that from the let
ters he Wrote-and what else could I
do bur credit him with the six dol
lars?''
THAT was good sense remarked
| Watkins A customer that isn't worth
six dollars to wholesale house isn't
worth anything. The trouble with a
great many houses is that they see
the orders rolling into them through
Uncle Sans mails just as easily as the
one-cent advertisements that they
chuck into the waste basket unopened.
they forget how their statesmen on the
n Ia ffa&S col
however good they may be. I once
sold a customer of mine lot of fur
nishing goods. I asked him when he
wanted them shipped. He said Sep
TENDER /. He was away up in centra7
| Idaho, and it would have taken three
weeks to get his goods to him by
| freight A letter came into my house
the first of September saying that he
had not received any invoice for his
| goods, and asked whether they had
| been shipped. The old gentleman in
the ofIice-this boys father, here
continued Watkins, pointing to joan
mis- CarioIanus, called me into the Of
and wanted to know if there was any
express Office there. I said Yes. but
surely you aren't going to express
goods away out there, are your Why
not?' said he. I gather that this man
wants his goods in his house and not
in ours by September /. It is true he
| didn't make this clear when he gave
| you the order, but at the same time
| think I'll just send these goods out by
express prepaid, and let him pay us
back the amount the freight charges
would have been Why said I, sif you
/ do that you'll lose money on this bill
That may be true, said he. with a
tone OF assurance, but I will make it
/ up on his future business.
That old gentleman is the king Of
| them all when il comes TO taking care
of a customer, tell you, one Of the
/ best ways to build business is to take
/ care OF the business you have built.
/ Take Care OF the Business.
Il learned that a long time ago when
was a salesman, remarked a large
manufacturer Of frst-class clothing
who had joined the party of business
/ men as they walked through the office.
/ One CT the very best accounts I have
/ to-day came to me because one of my
| strongest competitors a few years ago
/ did not treat one Of their customers
exactly as he felt he should be treated.
You know this selling a line of goods
I to a second man in town when you