The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-10-04
rHE ART o. sToREKEEplNo.
A Good Thing for Clerks to Keep in
Mind.


Mind.
In a previous lecture" said the
professor of the art of storeke2ping,
Il said to you that success in keeping
a small store depends much upon the
personality of the storekeeper; and
cited to you, as you may remember,
various of the qualifications required.
Today | would speak to you more par
ticularly Of a single one of these re-
quisites, namely, that of politeness.
1T is easy to be polite to everybody,
that is, superfcially polite; but not
SO easy to be truly polite. Here is
Mrs. Jones just home from trading at
Mr.. Robinson's store, and she says;
What nice man Mr.. Robinson
isl
You can make up your mind that
Brother Robinson is a really polite
man, of whom it is a pleasure to buy
goods, and who is certain to attract
trade When Mrs. Jones went into
his store today to be, by chance, walt
ed on by Mr. Robinson himself, she
found him, as she always does, really
interested in her wants. AS matter
of fact, when he waits on anybody
Mr.. Robinson forgets himself and his
profits and thinks of this individual
customer alone.
de is not only ready to show goods,
but he wants to show them. He real
ICES that to the customer this pur-
chase may be a matter of real import
ance, and he is interested accordingly.
Not only does he try to see that she
gets what she wants, but he really
wants her to get it; and that Mrs.
Jones should be pleased with all this
is perfectly natural
''Mr. Robinson waits not only on
Mrs. Jones in this manner, but ne
waits on one and all of his customers
in the same way. And, of course, you
know the result-Robtnson sells more
goods than all the rest of the clerks
in his small store put together.
"a staggering thing it is to me that
so many clerks in stores big and lit
tie fail to realize the value of polite
ness and so fail to turn it to their
own great advantage, as they might
really do. You go into store to be
waited on perhaps with purely per-
functory politeness; the clerk isn't
really interested in you or your wants
at all; he shows goods to you, but it
appears to make little difference to
him whether you buy or not, and real
ly he doesn't more than half try, if so
much, to please you.
If you do buy and you are to car
ry your purchase away yourself he
sends the goods to be wrapped up and
then stands stolidly till they come
back. If you don't buy he mechani-
cally replaces the goods he has taken
down to show you, as you rise to de-
part and you say to yourself as you
go that you will never go there again
if you can help it,
LET me tell you, young gentlemen,
that there is no salesman with any
sort of goods at all to sell but can in
crease his business and his pay sim
ply by the exercise of real politeness;
by taking pains. If he will but seek
in good faith, honestly and politely
and with real endeavor to satisfy
each customers wants, he will find
customers coming to him individually
when they want things and finding a
pleasure in buying Of him; he will
build up following, trade, that will
go with him, steadily increasing,
wherever he goes; and you know what
that means; it means money.
Let me adjure you, young gentle
men, to cultivate and practice a point
of genuine politeness. New York
Sun.