The Irish standard., 1914-12-12
TYPES OF SALEsG|RLs

There is oftentimes an opportunity
for a young girl to enter the dry goods
store of a town or city as salesgirl,
or clerk. It is safe to say that in
that work she will soon be designated
by her employers by one of these
three titles: First, failure; second,
an average clerk; third, successful
saleswoman.
The girl who is a failure in any
store is usually untidy in appearance,
flashily dressed, and flippant in man.
ner. She does not remember direc-
tions or the faces of customers. She
is disorderly, and wastes much time
in hunting for articles. She does not
know whether certain goods are in
stock, and she knows very little of the
quality Of the goods. She is careless
in making out sales slips and giving
change to the customer. The stay
of such a girl in any store is brief
one.
The young woman who belongs to
the type labeled "the average clerk"
is usually neat and not unpleasant in
appearance. She knows fairly we'll
what goods are in stock and some
thing of their quality. She is accurate
in making out sales slips, and in CIV
ing change to the customer. The
faults of the average clerk lie in what
she does not do rather than in what
she does. Her routine duties are per-
formed faithfully, but without energy
or enthusiasm. She is apathetic. Her
manner is what might be called per-
functory. She never takes any extra
pains to please customer; conse-
quently, she does not make warm
friends among them for the store or
for herself. The customers regard
her simply as necessary medium
through which to secure goods. She
has no drawing power. AS she knows
little more about the goods at the end
of three years than she knew at the
end of three months, she receives no
increase of salary, for she is of no
more value to her employer than she
was after a very brief term of service
in the store.
The successful salesgirl knows her
stock thoroughly and is constantly
learning something in regard to the
goods brought into the store. The diff.
ferent fabrics, the articles of glass
and china, all are interesting to her
because she knows something of their
production, the best places in which
to buy them, etc. This type of girl
not only knows her goods, but also
her customers. She remembers that
Mrs. Jones likes certain kind OF
crochet cotton and that Mrs. Smith
prefers very narrow ruching. She
gives each customer a little extra at
tention whenever it is possible to dc
so. She never makes the mistake
however, of forcing goods upon an un
willing customer for the sake of max
ing sale.
One day lady was attracted to q
bargain sale of hats in one of the
largest stores in New York. Selecting
one that she thought satisfactory, the
customer said she would take it. The
clerk spent some moments in looking
over the large pile of hats and then
said: "Here is one, madam, like the
one you selected, but Of a softer, bet
ter braid" The customer left the
store with friendly feeling toward
that immense establishment because
of the extra effort to please her made
by one of its humblest saleswomen
A neat, alert personality, thor
ough knowledge of ones goods, and an
orderly arrangement of them, a pleas
ant, tactful manner, and the willing
ness to take extra pains to please each
patron of the store are the chief char
acteristics of the successful girl clerk