The Yale expositor., 1912-05-23
ADVERTISING AS AID
TO SALESMANSHIP
By FRANK M. pu MOVER.


those INSCRIPTIONS and incompetent
advertising agents whose only stock
in trade is being able to arrange for
placing accounts with inferior publica
tons.
An enthusiastic man will create en-.
thusiasm in others-not only by word
of mouth but by means of the written
word. 1t is so with a commonplace
news item dressed up by a live man
who has an imagination. and equally
so with ad writer's. Enthusiasm will
take you right through to the GUS
toner.
The subject of clerk hire Is always
though his ads have the pulling power
to fill merchants store, unless the
clerks are well posted on the mGr-
chandise that is featured from day to
day; unless they are courteous, alert.
painstaking and obliging it is obvious
that results will not be satisfactory.
/ have asked why Indifferent and in
competent clerks are so often found
In important positions. Sometimes
the answer is that this Is a mill town
and efficient help can command big
pay In the mills. Now. that answer
would not satisfy you If you were an
advertising man with your heart and
soul in your work, for you know from
observation that one good clerk is
worth more to merchant than four
incompetents. But conditions in that
respect are rapidly changing, and we
are all studying efficiency and how to
get the best results for the money
expended. There are many things that
people must buy somewhere. and they
are apt to buy most OF these things
hrough persuasive ads. And there
are many more things they would buy
If they were properly waited upon.
There is always a reason for every
thing whether it be success of failure
The great success of John Wanamaker
Of course is not due to any one par
ticularly good idea that emanated
from that brilliant mind, but there is
one rule in his big Philadelphia store
that surely has helped toward that
end--it is that no clerk must see a
customer stand waiting If 1t is pos.
toner he is waiting on and approach
the one waiting with a remark some
thing like the following: IL will be
pleased to wait on you very soon;"
and this must be said pleasantly; in
fact the clerks must be pleasant and
agreeable at all times under all cir
cumstances to customers.
The text of an ad may be ever so
well written. but ii it is not attrac-
lively illustrated or displayed it will
not arrest the attention-and is lost.
This is a technical feature of adver-
Using and | will pass on to the text.
The text Of an ad should always
contain the facts. But just plain facts
is not enough. Unless the ad contains
that spark of life that is born Of en-
thusiasm-unless the writer is really
interested in this work and is able by
what he says to hold the interest that
has been awakened by the illustration
or display, the ad will surely fail OF
its purpose. This principle is we'll
known to local news writer's. The en-
thusiastic local scribe who is able to
a commonplace news item
with a lively imagination will get 1t
past that city editor, unless 1t is n
big day for news, without a mark on
it is readable and has hui
man interest.
When a concern has been doing
business the old way, without adyer-
Using, for several years. and has been
successful. it requires patience, perse-
verance and much persuasion to get
them to look toward the light. have
in mind the very trying experience Of
an advertising man with the head of
a very old and conservative business
A young man just through
college secured the assistance OF the
advertising man and they undertook
TO show the father the new and better
way to do business. Or course there
was some objection on the start, and
the adj man was subjected to the in.
dignity of being referred to in uncom-
terms very often. But the
ardent young college man said we
must not mind father-the ad man
must bear with him until the turning
Of the tide-when results began 10
show he would be on our side One
line day the ad man called the young
fellow in and told him he didn't think
he could stand any more jolts like the
one he received from his father that
day. Among other things he said that
the bill for advertising last month
was outrageous and asked If he had
come up that day to blow In the re-
of the plant. The son admit
ed that was pretty tough treatment.
and said he wouldn't care to be pres
ant when the next months bill ar
rived--about four times as much as
The last one. Well, about this time
results from the advertising began to
show, and the life Of that ad man
was more fit to live. But that same
man had the satisfaction at the end
Of four years of being told that the
output of that concern had been mul-
tiplied by three. and that II was due
in large part to judicious advertising.
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