Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1912-10-04
SELLING INVOLVES
FOUR BIG FACTORS
Advertising Expert Expounds
Business Building and Art of
SaIesmanship.
BY w. T. GOFF.

-tne WOTK OF business DullQlnS-auu
the principles of service, 1t is essential
in SO far as may be possible, that our
facts shall be organized and classified.
say, We must arrive at basis"
truths, ere We can proceed satisfacto-
rily in the discussion Of business sci
ence. Its higher name, of course, Is
efficiency. And this applies to the
institution itself, as well as to each
individual employe. 1t embraces ex-
actly four factors-no more nor less.
These are, first, one who sells or
makes proposals of sale to another.
Second the proposition which is made,
including the thing for sale. Third,
one to whom proposal is made or goods
sold. And fourth, agreement or tran.
saction consummated between the first
and third factors, the seller and his
customer. In short, the linking-up of
the buyer with the seller in full agree
ment regarding the goods or propos-
al.
These elements, the seller, the buy
er, the goods or proposition, and the
agreement or sale, constituting, as
they do the whole of any transaction.
commercial or otherwise, and without
all Of which no trade can exist, 1t
becomes both interesting and instruc-
tive to examine into the facts and see
how far knowledge of them has been
organized and classified, If at all, and
how much truth there is in the saying
of Mr.. Sheldon, /. e., that business
is science, and the practice of it is
profession"
A successful salesman's equipment,
in addition to his goods, comprises a
rational knowledge of the factors
which enter into a transaction or
agreement of any kind Rational
knowledge is the result of systematic
reading and study-and please believe
mel do not speak this as an attor-
ney for cause. 1t is systematic
study plus personal experience; and
it adds to our own personal expe-
rience, that of others born in the same
way.
Many men have deluded themselves
into the belief that a knowledge of
the goods is the only essential thing.
They have not realized that a knowl
edge of the goods really represents but
one-quarter of what one needs to know,
and that all the factors entering into
sale must be corlprehended, as we'll
as tha laws and principles that under
lie each. And the laws underlying
the art of selling are the same, no
matter what the article may be. That
is true, just as the science Of music
is the same, quite regardless of the
particular instrument which is being
played.
Everyone who is normal is a bun
die of wonderful possibilities. Each
has undeveloped powers. Professor
James, formerly Of Harvard univer-
sity, who was one of the greatest
psychologists this country or any 9TH
er ever produced, discovered before he
died and announced that the average
man habitually uses but one-fourth of
his physical powers and one-tenth of
his mental powers.
said that there were four factors
in every transaction or agreement
The individual himself is one of them
the first one. The second factor in
a sale is the buyer or customer. Your
success must depend in a very great
measure upon your ability to get a
hearing with the customer-and you
can do this most successfully after you
have learned how to approach and
adapt your methods to the customers
character and temperament-"to rub
the fur the right way" as the saying
goes. Through habit the customers
nary appeal. That is, the seller, wheth
er in person or by the written meth
cd, more often than not, finds the pros
pective patron behind a wall of men
tai resistance, which only the ablest
and best trained men and women car
get over and gain a proper hearing.
The study Of human nature wher
properly viewed in the light of sys
tematized and classified knowledge Of
man, is of the greatest possible impor
tance to every one The student o.
human nature learns how to quickly
and accurately read and measure the
customers mental activities, motives
ideas, and so forth, and how to judge
different men and women from evi
dence furnished by their bearing, ia
cial expression, eye and head move
ments, tones, emphasis, and so on
thus learning how to adapt himsel
more often to the various types. Dit
ferert methods are necessary with diff
ferent types, as for example: Their,
are pugnacious people, who reason
definitely. There are also evasive PEG
| Pile, who are very difficult to bring t,
decision. and 80 1t goes with man,
| styles and types of men and women
| To be able to measure individuals &C
surately, and to place each one in hi
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