The San Francisco call., 1913-07-20


nishing store under what 1 thought
to be most auspicious circumstances.
My store was representative in all the
word implies.
My shelves and counters were bright
ly vanished, good quality of lin
oleum covered my floor, my stock was
composed of articles that were nation
ally advertised. I had little money in
the bank as a reserve fund. Taken In
its entirety, my store was one Of the
anywhere in the city.
I took much pride In my window
displays. Many of these were fur
nished by the manufacturers of certain
articles and their advertising agents
saw to it that they were up to the
minute in every detail.
My trade, however did not come up
to expectations. My newspaper adver-
tisements were carefully written and
convincing My stock was fresh and
new Every article l carried was we'll
known to the home trade. Despite these
advantages l didn't get the trade I
should have cornered
My wife gave me the idea. Sum-
mer was approaching. Il dread 1t,
said she. Think of standing over a
hot stove during the next few months
and cooking big dinners"
Right then and there I saw that
had neglected my opportunities. ]
thought 1 knew a lot about the die
tionary. / didn't, though. I never had
looked up the word demonstrate"
had the exclusive agency in my terri
tory for some of these household neces-
stiles and it was up to me to make a
showing or lose what could be made a
profitable business.
One of the articles in my store was
a fireless cooker. 1t was displayed
prominently where every housewife
could see it the minute she entered
the store The trouble was, however
all of them didn't enter the door Why
| not make them come in and look over
my stock?
The majority of merchants consider
| it a waste of time to make personal
! demonstrations They believe that
! printed circulars and catalogues which
come with every extensively advertised
! household necessity do all that is worth
! doing in convincing the good woman
| of the house that she needs the article
| they describe. l. too, had had some
| such notion.
I concluded that these special articles
should be demons trated. 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 If 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 pre-
dicted that the coming summer would
be a record breaker for heat. I printed
that statement on a big card and hung
it in my window. Under it in promi-
nent letters I added:
Let the Fireless Cooker Make the
Summer Pleasant"
Then / tore out my window display
and installed one of these cookers.
With 1T I put in a roasting stove. At
o'clock the following morning 1
/ placed a good big chicken in the cook
er. This l had seasoned and prepared
| for the cooker before the crowd of
women who had gathered in front of
my window. At 11:45 o'clock we
/ opened the cooker. The chicken was
roasted delicious brown, gravy was
! plentiful, the meat tender, and well
cooked. Placed on a garnished platter
| 1t looked most inviting and one OF my
clerks was instructed to ask the
women to come in and sample the
! chicken.
That's the psychology of demonstra- :
ton, something for nothing" No mat
| ter how trivial the thing is the mer-
| chant 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 brown
| ing potatoes with them. Pans of bis