The Washington herald., 1913-07-27
Demonstrate the Goods You Sell;
Give Something for Nothing. :"
By IRVING L. STAYART.

4 OPENED my own household furnishing
store under what thought to be most
suspicious circumstances. Ny store was
representative in all the word implies.
My shelves and counters were brightly
vanished, q good quality Of linoleum COW
cred my floor. my stock was composed OF
articles that were nationally advertised.
had q little money in the bank as reserve
fund. Taken in its entirety my store was
one OF the best looking establishments to be
found anywhere in the city.
I took much pride In my window displays
Many Of these were furnished by the manu-
facturers OF certain articles. and their ad-
vertising agents saw to II that they were up
to the minute In every detail.
Ny trade. however. did not come UP to ex-
pectations. Ny newspaper advertisements
were carefully written and convincing. My
stock was fresh and new. Every article
j carried was well known to the home trade.
Despite these advantages I didn't get the
trade should have cornered.
Ny wife gave me the big idea. Summer
was approaching. 81 dread It," said she.
Think OF standing over hot stove during
the next few months and cooking big din
nsrs"
Right then and there I saw that had
neglected my opportunities Thought knew
q lot about the dictionary. i didn't though.
/ never had looked up the word demon
state" I had the exclusive agency in my
territory for some OF these household neces-
stiles and It was UP to me to make 4 show
inR or lose what could be made q profitable
business
One Of the articles in my store was freless
cooker. II was displayed prominently where
every housewife could see 1t the minute she
entered the store. The trouble was. how
ever. all OF them didn't enter the door. Why
not make them come in and look over my
stock?
The majority Of merchants consider II q
waste OF time to make personal demonstra-
tons. They believe that printed circulars
and catalogues which come with every ex-
tenslvely advertised household necessity do
all that is worth doing in convincing the good
woman OF the house that she needs the arti-
Gle they describe /. too. had had some such
notion.
I concluded that these special articles
should be demonstrated. A good selling talk
is essential to any business, OF course. but
there are thousands Of women in every big
city who must be shown. Once they came
into my store. even IL they didn't buy the
article that was being demonstrated. they
would. In many cases buy something else
they saw on my shelves.
Something for Nothing" Wins.
The prophets at Washington had predicted
that the coming summer would be a record
breaker for heat. / printed that statement
on a big card and hung il in my window
Under 1t. in prominent letters. ! added:
Let the Fireless Cooker Make the Sum-
mer Pleasant"
Then / tore out my window display and
installed one Of these cookers. With II I
put in q roasting stove. At o'clock the
morning placed good big chicken
in the cooker. This had seasoned and pre-
pared for the cooker before the crowd Of
women who had gathered in front of my
window. At Has we opened the cooker.
The chicken was roasted a delicious brown.
gravy was plentiful. the meat tender. and
well cooked. Placed on a garnished plat
ter It looked most inviting and one Of my
clerks was instructed to ask the womento
como in and sample the chicken.
That's the psychology of demonstra-
ton. something for nothing" No mat
ter how trivial the thing is the merchant
may have to give away. there always are
plenty Of people who will gladly accept It.
Following out this general procedure We
roasted other meats. usually browning pota-
toes with them. Pans Of biscuits and cakes
were baked in the afternoon. for 1t was then