The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-02-26
BOYS ON The ROAD
REAL Statesmen
BOOKING AN ORDER is NOT LIKE
HANDING OUT HANDFUL OF
CIGARS FROM BEHIND A coUN-
TER-MusT BE DONE lNTELLI-
GENTLY.

Standing behind a cigar counter.
handing out roll of the weed, re-
ceiving the nickle or dime as the case
may be, and dropping the same in the
cash drawer, closes that transaction.
But the salesman on the road, who
books an order, has taken only one
step in deal which has yet to pass
through many other hands. The .order
must be passed on by the credit de-
partment, entered on the books, handled
by the stock men, shipping and bill
clerks. posted by the bookkeeper and
finally the bill must be collected.
In view OF these facts. it Is highly
important that the first step in the
transaction shall be intelligently taxi
en-, and the order written so plainly
that none of the officials, whose hands
1t must pass through, can possibly
make a mistake from unintelligible
penmanship and error in stock num-
bers. II mistake is made in getting
out an order of all the agents of the
house through whose hands 1t must
pass, none will suffer as much as the
salesman, hence he of all is most in
terested in having no errors to occur.
q
house, costing time, money and fire.
quently the loss of a good account, but
frequency of these may cost a man his
job on the road. An order clearly and
correctly made out can be filled in a
much shorter time. To illustrate: The
stock man with salesman order sheet
in hand, stands puzzled over some IL
legible item and he goes over to the
bill clerk, and then the shipping clerk
is called into the consultation. Even
the trio fail to solve the Chinese riddle
and a guess is made as to what is
wanted. Now it may be that this very
item is one upon which that buyer
placed the greatest stress. Possibly 1t
was this which caused him to give the
order. Now when the goods are re-
ceived, he finds a mistake and then
we'll the salesman has trouble on his
hands. No matter If every other item
is exactly right, and the goods other
wise are better than was expected, that
one error will make. a stronger and
more lasting impression than anything
else. Further. it may be that the sales
man had made a favorable impression
on the merchant and he had inwardly
resolved to give him more Of his future
business. But this error makes it much
easier for the next competitor coming
along to get in his work.
OF course everybody knows that arti-
cles of merchandise are all known by
stock numbers, and here is a source
of endless worry to many firms. These
numbers If put down wrong on the
order, again the busy house men must
stop, call a consultation OF all hands
and finally again take chances by
guessing as to what is wanted.
Taking Things For Granted.
One trouble with some statesmen is
that they take too much for granted.
This is often seen in the reports on
credit which should go with every or
der, unless of course that of an old
and we'll known customer. Going into
a store, and seeing things moving
along in good shape, the salesman takes
1t for granted that the merchant is
worthy of credit, or he may make an
investigation, which is but meagerly
reported to the house. since he feels
sure that the credit man will not hest
tate to ship. This salesman entirely
forgets that this official of the firm
did not see and hear the things that
he (the salesman) saw and heard.
Therefore the credit man goes to work
to look up the case. Possibly he finds
something unfavorable and turns down
the account, whereas had he known
as much as did the man who was on
the ground and sold the goods, he may
have taken a different course.
The result of this is that the COM
merciaI traveller loses an account
which he might have saved, and he
proceeds to give the credit man
"cussin'." This of course Is done at
distance and his sentiments are con-
siderably softened before he again
faces that official. A full, clear-cut
report is what every credit man wants,
and with this before him his task is
made easier and he is much more, apt
to fill the order.
Nesectins the Out List.
Then comes another important ir-